It has been raining in New York City for what seems like weeks, so you'd think we'd be looking for an antidote--bright pops of color to shake off the blahs. Instead, we keep pausing on pictures of grey kitchens. Charcoal, stone, blue-greys, green-greys. All of them. We think a grey kitchen is sophisticated, calming, and actually pretty uplifting. Ina Garten thinks so, too, by the way.

We're really warming up to the idea of grey cabinets or walls. It hides dirty fingerprints, and it can really go with any decor. It can be warm, merging with brown or cream in other rooms, or it can be cool and crisp with blue and white.

It's different, too. A break from white kitchens that are so popular (and lovely) but not too crazy a departure. Grey adds dimension, gives some weight to the room, and feels like a sharp, well-tailored suit.

Here are some favorites we've seen lately:

TOP ROW
1. Haskell Harris's Birmingham kitchen. This magazine editor renovated her small house on a budget, and she claims these kitchen cabinets were cheap. From Southern Living.

2. Rena and Derek's Benjamin Moore Stone. Remember this San Francisco kitchen tour? That's the color on the bottom cabinets, which we think make a small kitchen feel luxurious.

3. Ina Garten's open city kitchen. One of two for Ms. Garten...

4. Emily's grey wall. An all-white kitchen with a grey accent wall in Chicago. From Apartment Therapy.

5. More grey walls in Chicago. A designer-decorated show house kitchen, with warm cream cabinets and grey walls. From Cooking Light.

BOTTOM ROW
6. Two-tone grey cabinets. Dark charcoal on the top, pewter on the bottom. From Sunset.

7. A country, wood-filled kitchen. Grey seems like a modern color, but here it is in a very country-looking old kitchen. From Domino, via Ode to My Deco at sfgirlbybay.

8. Subtle, taupe-grey in Virginia. This kitchen is in a house designed by Steven Gambrel. We love the pale blue barstools and pretty roman shades.

Related: Kitchen Gallery: Green Like Spring Peas

(Images: Charles Walton IV; Dana Velden; Simon Upton; Emily Ballard; Tria Giovan; Muffy Kibbey; Domino; Steven Gambrel)