Design Tip Tuesday: Kitchen Colors
Today we’re looking at color. I received a request for color ideas for a newly renovated kitchen in a 1918 Michigan cottage. The kitchen opens into both the dining and living rooms and the owner wanted color that would blend with those rooms. The dining room is a soft, mustard yellow and the living room is a sage green. The new kitchen includes some fantastic architectural elements, which the owner wanted to emphasize. “I want the glass cabinets to have some pop. The kitchen is small, but I want something interesting.”
The granite for the counters and the cabinetUsing the photos (above), and the elevations, I came up with a color palette that will blend with the rest of her house, and give the kitchen the zip she wants. I “painted” the kitchen two different ways using the same palette. Here’s what I came up with.
I chose Kentucky Haze (all paints are Benjamin Moore) for the first color – the jumping off point, if you will. It’s a soft blue with a little gray. This hue will blend nicely with the yellow dining room and green living room because the values are similar. and they’re all warm tones. The blue will enhance the orange tones in the cabinets making them glow because blue and orange are complements. Accentuating warmth is especially important in Michigan where winters are long.
Acadia White is the contrasting hue. This is an off-white with yellow undertones, which is both cozy and light reflective. The contrast with the blue accentuates the architectural elements. Finally, Rhubarb is the zip. This warm, red hue is a great accent, and red stimulates the appetite. More importantly, it makes a beautiful kitchen even more interesting.
Here’s how I used these three colors in two different ways. Each example has two elevations.
The first version is the more obvious. Don’t we usually think of painting the trim white? Here, the beadboard wainscoting and back splash, and the rest of the trim is painted Acadia White and the walls are Kentucky Haze. The Rhubarb is painted inside the glass-paneled cabinets and the shelves. I decided to paint the window mullions and coat pegs red to add some balance. Overall, it looks pretty good.
But let’s compare it to version two. It works much better, doesn’t it?
As I said before, the blue surrounding the cabinets makes them pop. To me, this is a more inviting room to cook in. Having the darker color on the bottom seems to balance the room better than in the first version. Also, it’s more practical to paint the beadboard the darker color as it will hide scuffs and scrapes. Finally, it’s unexpected, and a lot more fun.
Which version do you prefer?
