Ahhh, outdated brown granite. So many homes still have this vestige of the 80’s and 90’s, and so many homeowners just want to replace it. I was one of them when we first moved into this house four-and-a-half years ago. Now, after updating everything except the brown granite, I’m sort of singing its praises.
To understand why I wanted to get rid of it, you have to see the before photos.
There were so many competing elements happening in this kitchen that I wanted to just gut the whole space. But once I discovered the lovely limitations of budget and timeline, I was determined to find a way to update this humble kitchen without replacing the outdated brown granite countertops.
If we were keeping this footprint, I would have considered investing in new countertops. However, we plan to nix the peninsula altogether, so it didn’t make sense to put any money toward a countertop that we may or may not be able to reuse when the time comes to rip everything out.
Plus, if I make any space too good, Jeff thinks there’s no reason to fully renovate it. So, I have to do just enough to make my eyeballs happy but still keep the need to update intact.
So what exactly did I do to make those outdated brown granite countertops fade into the background and become, dare I say, beautiful and relevant? Let’s break it down…
If you want to replace your outdated brown granite but can’t yet for whatever reason, here are my tips for making it work and actually look beautiful.
Paint Your Cabinets
Painting your cabinets in a kitchen or bathroom will go a long way toward making brown granite look good. In fact, painting my cabinets Algonquin by Fusion Mineral Paint made the biggest difference in the appearance of our granite. This type of paint requires little to no prep work and is nontoxic, making this a much quicker and safer project. I sealed it all with Deft Acrylic in Satin so it would hold up and be wipeable. I don’t have a tutorial for this, but I used a brush and foam roller, and I’ve had no issues with chipping or scratching.
This color was chosen intentionally to match the earthy vibe of the brown granite. There was simply too much contrast and too many colors going on before. Now the countertops and color palette are cohesive rather than competing.
Even if I hadn’t made any other changes, painting the cabinets was enough to make me appreciate my natural stone countertops.
Replace Your Backsplash
The stone backsplash that was here before was neutral but busy. And the key to making this type of brown granite look good is to let it be the star. It has a lot of movement, so calming the backsplash down is very important.
I removed the multi-colored, tumbled stone in our kitchen and added vertical 8″ pre-primed, MDF shiplap planks all the way to the ceiling. I used these planks as the backsplash and on the front of the peninsula to calm the space even more.
I’ve used this type of paneling in several areas of our home. You can see all of our vertical shiplap spaces in this post.
Remove Your Upper Cabinets (or not)
Depending on the style of your kitchen, this change may or may not have any bearing on the actual look of your brown granite. For us, removing the uppers created better context for the stone.
Let me explain…
Before, our kitchen felt like a remnant of the 80’s or 90’s, and the granite was a dead giveaway. But creating more of an English Cottage or European-style kitchen with open shelving, a beautiful vent hood, cozy sconce lighting, and décor elements around the countertops suddenly made them cool.
To be clear though, if I had left the upper cabinets in place, the paint and shiplap would have been enough to make the countertops make sense.
Other Changes
Aside from those three major changes, I also added soft-close hinges, unlacquered brass hardware, handmade sconces, and a pot rail over the stove. You can see the original band-aid makeover in this post, as well as the budget breakdown in this post.
One thing to keep in mind is that I planned these additional changes intentionally. I can and will reuse the hardware (which was a bit of an investment), soft-close hinges, and sconces when we renovate this space. I’m pretty passionate about reusing things, and I want to be clear that I do not encourage wasteful makeovers.
As you can see, the outdated brown granite countertops make sense and are simply one of many details that make up our charming little English-inspired kitchen. Before, they felt out of place and glaring against the cranberry red paint. Now, they blend seamlessly and feel like they were always meant to be.
Do I still want marble countertops when we renovate someday?
I sure do.
But, I’m so glad I found a way to make these outdated brown granite countertops work and actually look good for the time being.
If you have outdated brown granite countertops, I’d love to know if you’ve found a way to make them work. Or, are you inspired by this post to keep them now? Drop a comment and let me know below!
Until next time,
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Beautiful color! And it pulls it all together so well. Did you use this color on all doors and walls in the kitchen? If not, what colors did you use with it, and where?
Thank you!
Hi there, yes I drenched the room in this color…except for the ceiling.
Gorgeous update! I have a very similar layout and also granite. After having 5 contractors give me estimates on removing 2 walls and re-doing entirely: lowest cost 100k, highest 140k and that didn’t include flooring, lighting or appliances. And none of them would remove my soffit which was the biggest catalyst for change.
I decided to update myself by replacing doors/drawers, sink, faucet, backsplash, appliances, and painting.
I was going to replace the granite with quartzite. My sister was getting her laminate updated with granite and I was onhand to see the process. We were going with the same company. I was telling her granite installer what I was doing and HE talked me out of changing my granite.
I decided to leave and embrace the peninsula because I just don’t have the width (without removing a load bearing wall full of HVAC) to have a nice walk-around-comfortably island at only 12′. Plus I would lose the big dance floor I have in the middle of the kitchen that enables dancing the Macarena while cooking.
I should be finished by August and I am hoping and crossing my fingers that mine is even half as gorgeous as yours!
I’m always flabbergasted by how much kitchen renovations cost! I’m so happy you found a solution that saves you thousands and makes you happy at the same time. And I’m thrilled you’re keeping your granite! I’d love to see it when you’re finished, so send me a photo if you think of it.
This is beautiful and very inspiring for our similar situation! How has the paint been holding up on the cabinets? Anything you would do differently? Thank you!
Hi there Ange, thank you for stopping by the blog! The paint has held up perfectly on the cabinets and I would do it like that all over again.
Per usual you have made this kitchen stunning! ☺️I’ve always enjoyed this kitchen…honestly can’t imagine ripping it out! These are great tips —any tips for making the most of 90s builder grade beige bathroom tile? We can’t redo our primary yet and the floor is driving me insane!
Love everything you touch!
If I were you, I’d paint your beige tile with Rust-Oleum floor coating kit!
Your kitchen is gorgeous and looks very high end. I wouldn’t touch it!
Thank you so much for the compliment! I don’t plan to touch it any time soon.
This is such a beautiful transformation. I have dated granite too (15 years), and have been looking for ways to update the entire look of the kitchen. Your choices and colors are the perfect touch and the counters now work nicely. Good for you.
Happy weekend.
-Lisa
Thank you Lisa! It’s really amazing what paint and a few other changes can do to make seemingly outdated granite work!
We refreshed our kitchen 14 years ago and I chose black/brown granite. Ugh, wish I had a do over. There’s nothing I can do now though so I just decided to be content. 😉
I hear ya on that! There are certain choices I’ve had to learn to be content with because we only changed them four years ago and it wouldn’t make sense to do them over.