diff --git a/src/styles/_bootstrap_variables.scss b/src/styles/_bootstrap_variables.scss
index 58f599c516..db4387dc30 100644
--- a/src/styles/_bootstrap_variables.scss
+++ b/src/styles/_bootstrap_variables.scss
@@ -12,12 +12,6 @@ $image-path: "../assets/images" !default;
 
 /** Bootstrap Variables **/
 /* Colors */
-$gray-base: #000 !default;
-$gray-900: lighten($gray-base, 13.5%) !default; // #222
-$gray-800: lighten($gray-base, 26.6%) !default; // #444
-$gray-700: lighten($gray-base, 46.6%) !default; // #777
-$gray-600: lighten($gray-base, 73.3%) !default; // #bbb
-$gray-100: lighten($gray-base, 93.5%) !default; // #eee
 
 /* Reassign color vars to semantic color scheme */
 $blue:   #2B4E72 !default;
@@ -29,12 +23,12 @@ $dark:   darken($blue, 17%) !default;
 
 $theme-colors: (
         primary: $blue,
-        secondary: $gray-700,
+        secondary: #495057,   // Bootstrap $gray-700
         success: $green,
         info: $cyan,
         warning: $yellow,
         danger: $red,
-        light: $gray-100,
+        light: #f8f9fa,       // Bootstrap $gray-100
         dark: $dark
 ) !default;
 /* Fonts */
diff --git a/src/themes/custom/styles/_theme_sass_variable_overrides.scss b/src/themes/custom/styles/_theme_sass_variable_overrides.scss
index 9f69b17ebd..30d806ecda 100644
--- a/src/themes/custom/styles/_theme_sass_variable_overrides.scss
+++ b/src/themes/custom/styles/_theme_sass_variable_overrides.scss
@@ -5,13 +5,6 @@
 
 // $font-family-sans-serif:      -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji" !default;
 //
-// $gray-base: #000 !default;
-// $gray-900: lighten($gray-base, 13.5%) !default; // #222
-// $gray-800: lighten($gray-base, 26.6%) !default; // #444
-// $gray-700: lighten($gray-base, 46.6%) !default; // #777
-// $gray-600: lighten($gray-base, 73.3%) !default; // #bbb
-// $gray-100: lighten($gray-base, 93.5%) !default; // #eee
-//
 // $blue:   #2B4E72 !default;
 // $green:  #94BA65 !default;
 // $cyan:   #006666 !default;
@@ -21,12 +14,12 @@
 //
 // $theme-colors: (
 //   primary: $blue,
-//   secondary: $gray-700,
+//   secondary: #495057,   // Bootstrap $gray-700
 //   success: $green,
 //   info: $cyan,
 //   warning: $yellow,
 //   danger: $red,
-//   light: $gray-100,
+//   light: #f8f9fa,       // Bootstrap $gray-100
 //   dark: $dark
 // ) !default;
 //
diff --git a/src/themes/dspace/styles/_theme_sass_variable_overrides.scss b/src/themes/dspace/styles/_theme_sass_variable_overrides.scss
index 70aa0b1850..64daf347b4 100644
--- a/src/themes/dspace/styles/_theme_sass_variable_overrides.scss
+++ b/src/themes/dspace/styles/_theme_sass_variable_overrides.scss
@@ -6,10 +6,6 @@
 @import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Nunito:ital,wght@0,200;0,300;0,400;0,600;0,700;0,800;1,200;1,300;1,400;1,600;1,700;1,800&display=swap');
 
 $font-family-sans-serif: 'Nunito', -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji";
-$gray-100: #e8ebf3 !default;
-$gray-400: #ced4da !default;
-$gray-600: #959595 !default;
-$gray-800: #444444 !default;
 
 $navbar-dark-color: #FFFFFF;
 
@@ -21,10 +17,10 @@ $yellow: #ec9433 !default;
 $red: #CF4444 !default;
 $dark: #43515f !default;
 
-$body-color: $gray-800 !default;
+$body-color: #343a40 !default;                    // Bootstrap $gray-800
 
-$table-accent-bg:             $gray-100 !default;
-$table-hover-bg:              $gray-400 !default;
+$table-accent-bg:             #f8f9fa !default;   // Bootstrap $gray-100
+$table-hover-bg:              #ced4da !default;   // Bootstrap $gray-400
 
 $yiq-contrasted-threshold:  170 !default;