black painted cabinets. Image Courtesy of Auburn Ridge, Madison, WI

Choosing Something Other Than White For Painted Cabinets in the Kitchen

When remodeling your kitchen, nothing quite makes your design statement come to life like cabinet choice. Textures, materials, and style are all essential elements to creating a cohesive design sensibility, but cabinets are a vast wall of color that should be carefully contemplated.

Your cabinetry is a significant design element of your kitchen. They are a major focal point in your design, and one way to affect the look and feel of your kitchen is choosing the right cabinet color. Today, painted cabinets are a trend that allows you to transform boring white cabinets into a grand focal point in your kitchen, and if your home features an open concept, tie the space into the rest of your home's décor.

Here are some tips that can help guide you towards choosing the perfect kitchen cabinet color!

Start By Examining Your Kitchen Design Style

The first consideration when choosing a color is the design style you've chosen for your remodel. Typically, traditional kitchen designs work best with more classic cabinet colors like whites, creams or wood. When it comes to designs like modern, contemporary or industrial, bright colors and contrasting tones can offer a stunning look. Keeping your design and personal aesthetics in mind when selecting a color can make the task seem less overwhelming.

Consider Your Cabinet Size and Lighting

The size of your kitchen is another consideration that can affect color choices. If it's a small space, then chances are you may not have enough lighting. If lighting is an issue, darker colors can make the space feel restricted and uninviting. Opening up the space by using a lighter color for your cabinet can make the kitchen feel more spacious.

What About Your Wall Color?

When choosing your cabinets, it's important to consider the existing elements in your kitchen, for example, wall color. If you're not planning on changing the color of your walls, consider cabinetry that is complementary in color. If you're doing a complete remodeling and aren't sure what color the walls will be, start by looking at various styles of cabinets and choosing cabinets that you love, and go from there.

What Mood Are You Going For?

a bold red color was chosen for this pantry wall.

Another important consideration is the overall mood you want to set in the kitchen. Cabinets are a significant visual element in any kitchen and take up a lot of visual real estate. You'll want to choose a cabinet color that matches your home's style and fits your families personality. Once you've decided on the style and color of your cabinets, you can then decide on the other colors you'll incorporate into your design.

Get Plenty of Inspiration!

What color to use instead of white cabinets — Our clients created a very eclectic kitchen using 3 different cabinet colors, a live-edge wood countertop and timber framing. Green painted cabinets are used on the island.

Half of the fun of remodeling your kitchen is researching kitchen design ideas. Look at interior design magazines like Dwell, Traditional Home, Elle Decor, Metropolitan Home and House Beautiful for ideas. Visit online sites like Houzz, Pinterest, HGTV and The Spruce for inspiration when considering both cabinet styles and colors. These are great ways to educate yourself to the possibilities! They'll show you innovative ways to add pops of color, which styles look best in specific colors and different color combinations that look best!

Hot Painted Cabinet Colors For Your Kitchen Remodel!

Color trends change, but some colors are timeless. This year, the Pantone Company has made "Greenery" the color to watch! They reached their decision by speaking with interior designers and others in the home improvement industry to determine the hottest trends for the coming years.

White and wood cabinets are classic that will never go out of style, and gray painted cabinets are another staple that's been done. A painted cabinet allows you to add some of your personality to your design and enhance your ambiance by strategically considering the psychological effects of color. Here are some colors that are trending in contemporary design!

Green Painted Cabinets

Hunt Kitchen Web Size-2.jpg — These clients chose a two-tone paint color scheme when the painted their cabinetry. It was originally late-1990's stained oak. The colors are a charcoal and and off-white.

Green is a fantastic painted cabinet choice! Green is one of the only colors that will truly take you from season to season. Thanks to Pantone, this year a hue of green will be hot. We tend to associate it with nature, renewal, and youthfulness making it an enjoyable way to add color to your kitchen. Bright, crisp greens like lime, or leafy green can give your kitchen a fun, energetic vibe. Adding a touch of yellow to light green can give you a more neutral color that can add just the right amount of pop to a traditional kitchen design. Try to stick to greens found in nature, although adding a vibrant green as an accent, for example to your island can bring a real excitement to your space.

Yellow Painted Cabinets

Yellow is an interesting choice. You could choose a soft, pastel “country kitchen” yellow but consider a bold, saturated “egg-yolk” yellow as a warm pop of color that will add sunshine to any kitchen! It's a color that works exceptionally well with white walls and a blond hardwood floor!

Shades of Turquoise

This bathroom vanity uses a shade of turquoise inspired by the backsplash tiles.

Various shades of turquoise, peacock and robin's egg work particularly well with retro-styled kitchens giving them a nostalgic nod to times past. It's also a great palette for a laundry room. Be careful though. In large doses, turquoise can be a bit overbearing. Use this tome sparingly for example, on your upper cabinet frames and balance it with warm wooden lower cabinets and a terra-cotta floor.

Black Painted Cabinets

Many homeowners would never consider black painted cabinets in the kitchen, but the fact is, it's catching on gangbusters with many designers and homeowners! Black isn't the best choice for smaller kitchens that lack adequate lighting, but in the right situation, black cabinetry can add a masculine touch that can be a stunning look!

Navy Cabinets

Navy is this year's black! If you're worried that black cabinetry might be too masculine, or severe, navy is a great compromise. Navy cabinets can add a touch of class and neatness to your space, and they look just stunning when paired with white upper cabinets. Navy also looks fantastic when paired with a trending metal of choice, brushed brass. Whether you use brushed brass as a finish for hardware, lighting or your fixtures, you can be sure it will pop!

Speak with our designer Andrea about your options. Painted cabinetry is a hot trend, and the best ways to incorporate painted cabinets into your kitchen design without the risk of regret is by speaking with an expert. Remember to consider our tips for choosing the perfect color for your cabinets, do your research, trust an expert, and you are sure to select the ideal painted cabinets for your newly remodeled kitchen!

This article was updated by Abe Degnan on 6/25/2018.

About Degnan Design Build Remodel
Since 1981 Degnan Design Build Remodel has provided home improvement and construction services to customers throughout Greater Madison, Wisconsin. Our goal is to WOW you with a "Designed For Your Life" solution using a process that will transform your home into a beautiful living space, delivered on time, and on budget. We are known for our communication, respectfulness, and a commitment to our customers and our community. Contact us to speak with one of our designers about your home improvement project.

An Above the Garage Master Suite Addition Remodeling Project

We recently completed an addition for our clients, John and Amy, a professional couple with young children living in the Blooming Meadows neighborhood in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.

Their home featured three bedrooms on the second floor. The existing master bedroom was outdated and impractical for modern living, and with three young children, two needed to share one of the two remaining bedrooms, and all three kids shared the second-floor bathroom. Another problem the family needed addressed was that John needed a private home office, and the one they currently had was a shared space that did not work well for his job.

Let's take a look at our creative solution for this young family!

A New Private Bathroom for the Adults!

One of the major elements on John and Amy's wish list was a private bathroom space just for them. They wanted plenty of space to get ready in the morning, away from the kids, and we delivered! The bathroom features a handcrafted Amish custom double vanity with a tower cabinet in alder wood, stained Carbon Gray. The contrasting Linnstone Quartz Calcutta pattern countertop brightens the space and ties in visually with the elegant tile work in the spacious walk-in shower. We added custom alder wood framed mirrors stained in the same Carbon Gray as the cabinets to complete the vanity. Over each of the mirrors, we installed Quoizel 2 light vanity fixtures to provide plenty of warm light.

In the shower, the 21st Century Tile 12x24 floor-to-ceiling tiles in Tivoli Silver give the room a bright and modern feel, and the low entry shower makes entering the shower safe and easy for the couple. We included a helpful niche in the shower for shampoo and other toiletries and, for contrast, used a beautiful hexagon mosaic accent tile. The glass doors give the space an open feel, making it bright and inviting. The Arbor Hills luxury vinyl plank flooring in timber adds a warm feel, giving the room a natural look with the benefit of waterproof LVP.

The Result

The final result of this second-floor master suite addition is a home that fits John, Amy, and the kid's needs and lifestyle perfectly. John now has the perfect private office space. Since John and Amy now have their private master suite, and each of the kids has their own bedroom giving them their own space to grow as they grow, their home is more comfortable and functional. And on the exterior, you can't even tell there's been an addition!

Are you considering an addition or other home improvement project? Let us help you design the perfect finished space! If you live in the Greater Madison area, call the experts at Degnan Design-Build-Remodel at (608) 846-5963. We can take your home to the next level of comfort, design, and function! Ready to learn more? We're always happy to answer your questions.