Green kitchen cupboards
Forest, olive, black-green and blue-green shades in the makers' own words, whether dark green suits your room, what to pair with it, and how to sample it.
Updated 29 October 2026 · The Kitchen Resprayer
The short answer
Dark greens lean three ways: towards blue, towards olive and khaki, or towards grey and black. The paint makers say which, and that decides how a green behaves in your light.
Makers disagree on dark green in a small or dim kitchen, so it's your call. If light is short, put the green on the base units, keep the worktop and floor pale, and light under the wall units.
Which greens this covers
Farrow & Ball says greens run "from soft, silvery sages to lush forest tones". Naked Kitchens puts it as dark greens adding "depth and sophistication" and mid greens "a sense of liveliness and energy". Soft grey-greens have their own page: sage green, shade by shade. This one covers the rest.
Two dark greens can both be called forest or bottle green and still lean opposite ways: towards blue, towards yellow-brown, or towards grey and almost black. That lean decides how the doors look under your light more than the name does.
Named greens, in the makers' own words
| Maker and shade | Maker's description | Leans | LRV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Farrow & Ball Green Smoke No. 47 | "A smoky green blue" | Blue | Not published |
| Crown Collage (J0131P) | "A beautifully rich, dark green blue" | Blue | 13 |
| Crown Ivy Grey (J2261B) | "Dark green" on Crown's retail site, filed under Aquas & Blues on its trade site | Blue | 26 |
| Crown Emerald Vision | "Dark aqua green" | Blue | Not published |
| Tikkurila Boating Party Grape | A forest green with "very subtle blue and grey undertones" | Blue | Not published |
| Dulux Heritage Midnight Teal | "A seductive aquamarine" | Blue | Not published |
| Farrow & Ball Olive No. 13 | "A very earthy green", "best suited to darker spaces" | Olive | Not published |
| Farrow & Ball Bancha No. 298 | "A darker version of" Olive, "sober tone" | Olive | Not published |
| Crown Evergreen Echo | "A mid green with khaki undertones" | Olive | Not published |
| Tikkurila Sepal L447 | Olive green, "deep and sophisticated" | Olive | Not published |
| Valspar Rugged Olive (X132R252C) | Olive, "a mid-tone shade" | Olive | Not published |
| Farrow & Ball Studio Green No. 93 | "Our darkest green", "almost black unless in very well lit rooms" | Near black | Not published |
| Farrow & Ball Treron No. 292 | "A dark grey green" | Grey | Not published |
| Crown Family Tree (E8180U) | "An unsaturated dark green" | Grey | 18 |
| Tikkurila Fjord M442 | "Gorgeous grey undertones" | Grey | Not published |
| Farrow & Ball Beverly No. 310 | "Clean mid green", greener in daylight, "more conservative in lower light" | Mid | Not published |
| Crown Craft Fair (F0390U) | "Mid green", tone Warm | Mid | 39 |
From the makers' own colour pages, read 29 October 2026, grouped by the lean each maker describes. Crown's trade site was the only one to print an LRV; for the rest, ask the maker rather than trust a colour database.
Read a Crown code from the middle: Collage is J0131P, so its LRV is 13. Crown's dark and mid greens here run from 13 to 39, against 43 to 65 for its pale sages: the step from sage to forest green is a big drop in the light the doors throw back, and cupboards sit in their own shadow. Compare LRVs within one maker. What LRV is: the colours page.
Farrow & Ball's Duck Green, "a contemporary alternative to charcoal", is an archive colour made to order and non-returnable, which matters if you're buying enough for a whole kitchen.
Dark green in a small or dim kitchen
This is where the makers split, so here are both sides.
| Lighter or muted for small and dim | Dark can work there too |
|---|---|
| Tikkurila: muted greens "work best in small or low-light kitchens"; in smaller or north-facing kitchens choose lighter tones "to preserve brightness" | Farrow & Ball: "north-facing rooms can work beautifully with richer shades" |
| Dulux: dark green is "perfect for large kitchens with lots of natural light"; light greens make a small kitchen feel more spacious | Farrow & Ball, small rooms in general: "Try deep greens or vivid blues" |
| Paula Rosa: deeper greens can be used "more generously" in larger rooms | Dulux Heritage: "dark doesn't always make your space feel smaller" |
| Omega: darker cabinets can make a room feel smaller, so add cabinet lights | Farrow & Ball says its Olive is "best suited to darker spaces" |
Near-black needs light
Blue-leaning greens cool in north light
Green below eye level
Pale worktop and floor
Light the run
What goes with dark green and olive
Worktops, for contrast
Worktops, for depth
Handles
Olive specifically
Floors and walls
Across kitchens of every colour, Houzz's 2026 UK users most often chose brushed nickel handles (19%), then brass (17%) and bronze (10%); white (32%) and off-white (26%) led the worktops.
A green island or base run
Houzz's 2026 UK survey found green on 17% of cabinets and about a quarter of contrasting lower cabinets. Farrow & Ball suggests making an island "the focal point with a stronger shade", and Harvey Jones puts forest green on "a focal point like an island or pantry". Two-tone doesn't have to mean green and white: Naked Kitchens shows three greens in one scheme, the darkest on the island.
Where light is short it's also the most-attested way to use a dark green. A second colour usually changes the price: what a respray costs.
Matching an existing green kitchen
Howdens (Fir Green, Reed Green, Olive), Magnet (Woodland Green, Laurel Green, Spruce), Sigma 3 and Harvey Jones all sell green doors, and none of the pages read gives a paint code. A range name like Fir Green can't be taken to a paint counter, so a new island, end panel or replacement door gets matched by eye to one of your existing doors. Send us photos of the run and we'll quote for respraying the lot in one colour.
How chips and marks show on dark green
A chip through to a white primer, or an old white door, shows as a light fleck on a dark green. Farrow & Ball sets its Dark Tones primer, "based on the colour of Down Pipe", under Studio Green, Olive, Bancha, Beverly, Green Smoke and Duck Green, and its Mid Tones primer under Treron and Breakfast Room Green. One homeowner on Mumsnet says chips "jump out at you much less" when the paint is close to what is underneath.
Marks are a sheen question. Which? members reported matt cabinets showing fingerprints easily; Paula Rosa says matt hides everyday marks, Howdens that a deep matt "reduces glare", and Kutchenhaus that gloss can bounce light in a smaller kitchen. Sheen and paint type: paints compared. What wears first on a painted door: respray lifespan and care.
Is green a trend?
Houzz's UK surveys put green on 13% of cabinets in 2023, 16% in 2024 and 17% in 2026, though Houzz says the 2026 survey was run differently. Those figures lump every green together, dark or pale. Harvey Jones says deep green "isn't just a trend", and Farrow & Ball calls green "consistently one of our best-loved colours": both sell it. Nothing measures how long a dark green will last, so choose for your light and the worktop and floor you're keeping.
Sampling a dark green
Big samples, spread out
Expect the card to lie
Next to what stays
Where the doors are
What it costs
Where this comes from
- Farrow & Ball, green colour schemes
- Farrow & Ball, how light affects colour
- Farrow & Ball, how to sample
- Farrow & Ball, decorating your smallest spaces
- Farrow & Ball, Green Smoke
- Farrow & Ball, Olive
- Farrow & Ball, Bancha
- Farrow & Ball, Studio Green
- Farrow & Ball, Treron
- Farrow & Ball, Duck Green
- Farrow & Ball, Beverly
- Farrow & Ball, Breakfast Room Green
- Crown, Collage
- Crown Trade, Collage (J0131P)
- Crown, Ivy Grey
- Crown Trade, Ivy Grey (J2261B)
- Crown, Emerald Vision
- Crown, Evergreen Echo
- Crown, Family Tree
- Crown Trade, Family Tree (E8180U)
- Crown, Craft Fair
- Crown Trade, Craft Fair (F0390U)
- Crown Trade, reading LRV from a colour code
- Tikkurila UK, green kitchen cabinet paint colours
- Tikkurila UK, green kitchen paint colours
- Dulux Heritage, four ways to use green
- Dulux, green kitchens
- Dulux, cupboard love
- Dulux, Forest Shade colour page
- Valspar UK, olive greens
- Kutchenhaus, green kitchen ideas
- Naked Kitchens, green kitchen ideas
- Omega, green kitchen ideas
- Sigma 3, green kitchens
- Paula Rosa, green kitchen ideas
- Harvey Jones, trending vs timeless colours
- Harvey Jones, modern dark green shaker kitchen
- Howdens, green kitchen ideas
- Magnet, green kitchens
- Houzz UK, 2026 Kitchen Trends Study
- Mumsnet, does a painted kitchen chip
- Mumsnet, choosing a new kitchen colour
- Which?, what people regret about their kitchens
All read 28 October 2026. Firms change their prices and terms; check the current position with them.
Common questions
Paint makers disagree. Tikkurila and Dulux say lighter or muted greens suit small or north-facing kitchens; Farrow & Ball says north rooms can work beautifully with richer shades, and Dulux Heritage says dark doesn't always make a space feel smaller. If light is short, the makers' fixes are dark green on the base units only, a pale worktop and floor, and lighting under the wall units.
Makers give two routes. Contrast: white marble or pale stone (Kutchenhaus), white quartz (Harvey Jones), light quartz (Paula Rosa). Depth: black quartz (Kutchenhaus), black granite (Tikkurila) or rich wood such as walnut (Naked Kitchens). In a small or dim room, take the contrast route.
Brass is named by more makers than any other metal for dark greens: Kutchenhaus, Tikkurila, Harvey Jones, Paula Rosa and Dulux. Matt black suits a modern look (Kutchenhaus, Tikkurila), Omega suggests copper, and Tikkurila pairs pewter and stainless steel with a forest green.
Sage is a soft grey-green. Olive leans yellow-brown: Farrow & Ball calls its Olive 'a very earthy green', Crown describes Evergreen Echo as having 'khaki undertones', and Valspar says olive brings 'a buttery depth'.
A chip through to white primer shows as a light fleck, which is why Farrow & Ball sets a dark primer under its dark greens. Marks depend on the sheen: Which? members reported matt cabinets showing fingerprints, while Paula Rosa says matt hides everyday marks.
Nobody measures dark green on its own. Green went from 13% of cabinet colours in Houzz's 2023 UK survey to 17% in 2026, and Harvey Jones calls deep green 'rooted in timeless design'. Choose for your light and the worktop and floor you're keeping.
Rather have it sprayed for you?
Send two photos of your kitchen and we'll price the respray from them. The quote costs you nothing.
Get my free photo quote