Should Gail Go Green?

I am renovating the kitchen of my Manhattan apartment and cannot decide what color to paint the walls. Really, it is one long wall (across from the windows, so it gets a lot of light) and a bit of wall between the two windows, as well as the window frames and the windowsills. All the rest of the walls (under the cabinets) will be covered with the tile you see in one of the photos on the sample card. The day that I took the photos was very overcast so the light is very blue. On sunny days, it is more golden, especially in the early morning, but the windows face north, so most of the day it is a cool light. The kitchen is usually very bright because there is open sky in front of the windows, as you can see from the photo. I thought of going with a very light green, and someone told me that that would look like a hospital. So I tried darker greens but I am afraid to have an enormous green wall. I am afraid it will reflect and make people look sickly. I haven’t tried a really grayed green yet. But it also occurs to me that possibly green is not the only color to try. The tile has green highlights and a greenish cast, and since I also have a black granite countertop and chestnut brown cabinets, I thought I should avoid introducing yet another color. The appliances will be stainless steel. The flooring throughout my apartment is red oak with a clear, satin finish. The adjacent living room is painted white. Lighting for the evening is a mix of dimmable incandescent overhead and 3100k fluorescent tubes under the cabinets above the counter. Of course there is also the ceiling, which I thought I should leave white. And I wondered whether I should paint white or a lighter version of the wall color on the window frames and sills. Finally, I won’t be able to afford a very high end paint job, so the many bumps and imperfections on the walls and door frames from years of bad paint jobs will remain for the most part. I thought that possibly a less dramatic color would minimize the imperfections more than a dramatic (dark green) one. Please help!
-Gail Burk, New York City

Dear Gail,
I must say, you win the "incredible amount of information for picking one color" award. First, judging from your pictures, you are being a little (make that a lot) heavy handed with the depth and intensity of color for the space. Remember that the wall color is a back drop for the room and it's contents and since the cabinets and the counters are strong, lets lighten up. I do think green is a fresh breath of color to soothe the red wood tones and the black counters. Try finding the palest green shade in your tile back-splash and go a shade lighter and grayer/more neutral - this will also work with the white living room better. It is hard to judge exact shade when not in the space but choose a level in depth and neutrality like Benjamin Moore's Vapor Trails #1556. Once this is accomplished take a chip and tape it to the wall and see if it looks good in all the various light situations - remember color can reflect the color around it so adhere it to a neutral area. In a space like this I would paint the trim and the walls the same color. Paint the trim in a semi-gloss and the walls in an eggshell. The eggshell finish won't be as wipe-able as a semi-gloss finish (usually recommended for a kitchen), but will hide the wall imperfections a bit better. Good luck going green Gail and Bon Appetite!