Choosing Kitchen Cabinet Colors

Starting a kitchen design? Paint is practically the last thing you need to pick. Stay with me here. Before you run off to the paint store for a myriad of samples, spend a little time envisioning the finished product. Light and airy? Cozy and comfy? Are you starting from scratch and have a blank canvas? Are you freshening up counters and cabinets but leaving your existing flooring? If there is one absolute “MUST HAVE” or “MUST WORK WITH” for your kitchen, that’s your starting point to determine your color story. Determining this in the beginning will help drive your design process and help influence your decisions along the way.

IF THIS, THEN THAT

Choose your own adventure!

Undeniably, the first two steps in kitchen design remain constant no matter who you ask. Budget and appliances. Conducting a budget analysis, either on your own or with your contractor/vendor, will allow you to know what types of products you should be considering and which can be eliminated for being outside your budget, lest you fall in love with something that’s too expensive. Next, appliances. Highly personal for each cook’s preference and style, appliance specifications will be needed in order to design your cabinets. In doing so, you’ll also establish the color of your appliances.

Cabinet Style & Color – Countertops – Flooring

Once these two steps are complete, you’ll get a range of opinions as to where you should go next. This next step will set the tone and color palette for your design: Cabinet Style and Color, Countertops, or Flooring. All big-ticket items, each helps determine the subsequent selections. Some like to start by selecting the countertop material, especially when dealing with natural stones, since slab colors can vary greatly and there are a finite amount of options. Countertops also make up a significant portion of the visual space. You might want to pull colors from the countertop to develop a cohesive design for your kitchen. From there, you can move on to your cabinet style and color.

Flooring is often dictated by the materials in the adjacent spaces, especially when continuing a seamless installation from room to room. This is where many may say that your flooring materials are the first selection to be made. For projects where the flooring material is not changing, there are another set of considerations in a kitchen design. Foremost, the footprint of the cabinets either cannot change, or must occupy the same space as the previous installation, especially if the existing flooring has been discontinued. In this case, that’s certainly your “MUST WORK WITH” item and therefore the starting point.

Finally…Paint

Why does paint fall to the end of the list? The possibilities are endless and it’s easily the most versatile of your selections. Lighter colors can open up a space, while darker colors can help to bring down a tall ceiling. You can choose a complimentary color to balance out the design or go bold to create a statement. Popular kitchen cabinet colors are: warm, neutral grays, deep blues, earthy greens, and natural whites. These colors are timeless and often invoke feelings of warmth and comfort – perfect for a kitchen!

THE FINISHING TOUCHES

It’s a little like bedazzling.

Now that you’ve selected your countertop, flooring, cabinet style and color, and paint, it’s time to fancy up the design! The color of your Electrical and Plumbing fixtures, along with Cabinet Hardware, should all coordinate with one another. If you’re anxious about a pop of color with paint, hardware is the perfect place to express your wild side. Don’t forget about your kitchen linens as another opportunity to bring in color if you go with a neutral palette for your installation.

Don’t spend countless hours collecting photos and falling down the internet rabbit hole. Check out our portfolio for more inspiration!