56 Designer-Approved Kitchen Paint Colors That Complement Any Aesthetic
Revitalize your space with a fresh coat.
Gone are the days of cookie-cutter kitchen aesthetics. Designers are driving personalized design trends into the mainstream, embracing hues from all across the color spectrum and introducing new, unexpected palettes to our homes. Whether you’re looking ahead to a full remodel or just a refresh, a new coat of these kitchen paint colors could be just the thing you need to elevate your space.
Pastel, jewel-tone, or neon, the color options are endless for your cook space. You could opt for an all-over paint job, tackle just the trim, or embolden your cabinets with a new hue, or even two! Two-toned and multicolor palettes add even more personality and depth to designs.
No matter your style, there’s a color to suit everyone. We looked through our archives to find the most beautiful examples of colorful kitchens to inspire you. Read on to find our 56 favorite kitchen paint colors, each approved by expert designers.
Additional copy by Meghan Shouse and Alyssa Khan.
Bright White
White might feel like a basic color choice, but it can provide the perfect backdrop for bold designs. Color Drunk Designs founder, Jenna Gross, embraced Decorator’s White by Benjamin Moore in her Atlanta home to anchor the turquoise details of the bold and bright kitchen.
Matte Mint
Trish Becker channels a bright yet relaxed coastal aesthetic using a green color palette to complement the natural fibers woven into the home’s design. Reaching for minty green to coat cabinets, the hue effortlessly ties in the patterned, tiled backsplash and complements the gold finishings in this West Palm Beach kitchen.
Deep Dark Navy
Designer Cynthia Fergusonselected a deep, moody navy for the cabinetry design in this Toronto kitchen. The inky hue, Three-Piece-Suit by Benjamin Moore, pairs beautifully with the centerpiece-worthy green tiles and highlights the gold finishings, providing a dark background for those smaller details to pop.
High-Gloss Green
To accentuate the Art Deco details in this San Francisco apartment, designer Caitlin Jones Ghajar chose Calypso Green by Benjamin Moore in a high-gloss finish. The hue, which can lean emerald or teal depending on the lighting, allows this bite-sized space to shine, even without windows.
Two-Toned Blue
Writer David Nicholls, in an excerpt from his book New English Style: Timeless Interiors, describes this kitchen by Salvesen Graham as "[bridging] the gap between functional utilitarianism and English charm. Here, the color play is more gentle, with fitted units and a large kitchen island painted in different shades of blue.” The darker island grounds the sun-drenched room while lighter wall cabinets nearly blend in with the glossy tile.
Bubblegum Pink
Kim-Joy Hewlett is no stranger to saturated color palettes. The Great British Baking Show star is known for her vibrant maximalism. For her kitchen, the baker opted for contrasting bubblegum pink and seafoam green for a space with a fresh yet retro appeal.
Black and White
Designer Kelly Hohla sought a modern, contrasting palette for this San Francisco home. “We wanted something with contrasting veining to work with the black-and-white vision for this room,” Hohla explains. The angular floor tile adds a graphic flair to the rest of the room’s more organic lines.
Emerald Green
Jewel tones make for a striking kitchen color palette, especially if you swathe the entire room in a single hue. To prevent the emerald in this kitchen (S6030-G by Fine Paints of Europe) from feeling too dark, designerPalmer Weiss left the paneled ceiling white.
White and Blue
According to designer Janie Molster, the color palette in this kitchen was inspired by the slab of Cristallo Blue quartzite used on the island. Various shades of blue are seen throughout the space—on the cabinets, tile, and barstools—mimicking the natural variation in the stone.
Slate Gray
Designer Melissa Anderson of OAD Interiors used skylights and windows to maximize this kitchen’s natural light and panoramic views. To ground the space, deep, slate gray paint was used on the shelving and lower cabinetry. The hue eases the transition between the natural wood paneling and French-inspired floor tiles.
Metallics
Not much for cooking, designer Breegan Jane prefers to use her kitchen for dancing and DJ’ing. To emphasize the disco energy, she outfitted her space with gilded textures. Gold, silver, mirrors, and neutral marble help to bring a club-like vibe into the typically utilitarian room.
Warm White and Sage Green
This gorgeous kitchen by designer Meghan Shadrick is the perfect example of how to design a light-colored cooking area without relying on all-white everything. The warm white ceiling and backsplash paired with the sage cabinetry and light-toned wood create such an elegant kitchen paint color palette for this space.
Dark Blue-Green
The team at Maestri Studio took advantage of this jewel box butler’s pantry off the kitchen and created a dark and moody vignette. Using a slate gray-green hue for the cabinets (specifically, Mount Etna by Sherwin-Williams) and a light misty gray color for the trim (Silverpointe by Sherwin-Williams), the designer was able to make this functional area extremely chic and surprisingly bright.
Cream With Charcoal Accents
For our 2023 Whole Home, designer Laura McCroskey chose a creamy white paint and white marble with purple swirls for the kitchen, but she added depth by using a dark gray-green shade (Studio Green by Farrow & Ball) for an accent. The deep tone also sets apart the appliance area in the kitchen, coating the panel refrigerator and freezer, many cabinets, and surrounding the stainless steel oven.
Grass Green and Brown
This gorgeous kitchen was once a 1980s time capsule, but that was before designer Jaqui Seerman took inspiration from ‘90s Ralph Lauren and painted the kitchen grass green (Calke Green by Farrow & Ball) with warm brown cabinets. Now, these kitchen paint colors are a vibrant backdrop for family gatherings that creates a balance between natural hues and modern design, thanks to the checkerboard tile on the floor.
Ivory and Blue
In this eclectic kitchen, Heather French, one-half of French & French Interiors, created a warm, European countryside vibe with ivory walls and a deep teal color for the cabinets. The balance is necessary in a kitchen like this with plenty of pattern—otherwise, the cafe curtains and copper tones would get lost in the sea of neutrals.
Gray-Green, Black, and Off-White
Designer Serena Dugan chose only earth tones for the kitchen in her second home, mirroring the warm hues of her living room. Since the layout is an open concept, keeping a similar color scheme so one room easily flows into the next is a great way to make the layout feel cozier.
Deep Brown and Gold
If you want your kitchen to feel ultra luxurious, take inspiration from this bar area by Suzanne Kasler. The designer chose a reflective golden paint to coat the alcove over the counter, matching the golden veins in the Calacatta Macchia Vecchia countertop and island. To balance out that light, Kasler painted the inside back wall of the alcove a deep, dark brown (Night Horizon by Benjamin Moore) that matched the wood tone of the cabinets, creating a glam spot to make drinks.
Neon Yellow
Forget about resale value—it’s your house, paint it what you want! Designer Galeana Younger of Galeana Group followed this sentiment when redesigning her mother’s house, opting for an electric yellow hue for the kitchen cabinets. If you’re going to go bold in your house, really push the envelope and do whatever sparks joy every time you walk into the room.
Warm White and Neutrals
Using various shades of brown and a clean white paint, designer Amy Knerr created this relaxing, sophisticated kitchen. The wood tones lend depth and warmth to the kitchen paint colors, and while this area feels elevated, it doesn’t feel untouchable.
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