Great Color Ideas for Painting Kitchen Cabinets

Bored with your current kitchen and wondering how to spruce it up? Forget a major overhaul. Consider some color ideas for painting your kitchen cabinets and see if that does the trick. A simple coat of paint is often enough to refresh the look and feel of the kitchen. Plus, it's a cost-effective alternative to replacing your cabinets that could potentially save you thousands.

Consider a Dramatic Cabinet Paint Change Carefully

A focal point in the kitchen, cabinets take up a lot of space and demand that you look at them day after day. If they're painted a color you don't particularly love, chances are you're going to get tired of them in no time.

Wall Color and Daylight Will Impact the Look

There are lots of colors that work well on kitchen cabinets, but it can be tricky to find the right one. Before selecting an unusual hue, consider the other items and colors in the room. Look at your walls, counters, backsplash, floor and appliances. If you already have a lot of color in the room, it's best to go with white or neutral cabinets.

There are many different shades of white to choose from, but all of them will help your room feel bright and fresh. White cabinets can also brighten-up a dark room. Some good neutral colors for kitchen cabinets include light gray, dark gray, or greige (a mix of gray and beige). These neutrals will help ground your space and give you freedom to incorporate more playful colors via accessories and appliances.

Don't Be Afraid to Go Bold

If you tend to be more adventurous when it comes to color, your cabinets are a great place to have some fun. Choosing bold and vibrant colors for your cabinets can make a serious style statement.

Yellow is a common go-to kitchen color; on cabinets you can try a light, buttery yellow or a pastel shade more reminiscent of lemonade. Sky blue is another popular kitchen color for walls and cabinets. It can create an airy, ethereal vibe and looks great with white and stainless steel accents. Mint green or bluish greens can look really nice on kitchen cabinets as well.

Darker colors such as emerald green, cranberry red, black and navy blue can really make a statement on kitchen cabinets, but they work best in large spaces since they can darken small rooms. If you plan to use them in a tiny kitchen, make sure to balance them out with white walls and lighter accents.

Two-Toned Cabinets Are a Great Option

The sky is really the limit when it comes to kitchen cabinet colors. If you're drawn to neutrals and more colorful shades, incorporate both by creating two-toned cabinets. The trick is to put the light color on top and a darker one on the bottom to help ground the space. Try this combination with white or gray cabinets on top and yellow, blue, green, or red cabinets on the bottom.

New Hardware Can Transform Your Cabinet Color

Before you go all in on new cabinet paint, have you considered swapping your hardware? Sometimes, replacing your hardware is all it takes to breathe new life into the look of your cabinets without even having to paint them. Earthy metals like brass can give timeless style to your kitchen, while flat black hardware can usher in a modern touch.

Go Neutral for a Timeless Look

While kitchen cabinets dressed in navy blues, earthy greens and moody mauves are all the rage, we can't deny the beauty and elegance of a carefully curated neutral kitchen. Plus, neutral colors leave plenty of visual space for elegant hardware and hinges or decorative accents and trim.

Forgo the Upper Cabinets

Having difficulty nailing down a new kitchen cabinet color that isn't too much? Maybe it's less the color and more the cabinets themselves. Forgoing your upper cabinets for alternative storage is a great way to balance the look of your kitchen, allowing you to go bolder on the base cabinets without your kitchen looking too bold.

Consider a Pop of Pink

Go ahead and have fun picking out the paint for your kitchen cabinets. It's your kitchen after all! Who says you can't paint your cabinets pink?

The trick to making riskier colors like pink work for something as noticeable as kitchen cabinets is to pick the right shade and pair it with the right finishes. Luxe touches like brass hardware, an elegant yet fun tile pattern and a premium solid-stone backsplash can balance the playful pop of pink.

Go Earthy With Green

Green cabinets — you either love them or you hate them. If you're team green cabinets but you're unsure of how to pick the correct shade of green, we can relate. It's so easy to find dozens of beautiful green shades in the paint store, but when you bring the swatches home, they look totally different in your space.

This is because green is such a dynamic color. Light will have a big impact on the resulting visual, so test your colors at all times of day and with different interior lighting options until you find the one you love most.

Keep it Classic With Black and White

There's no more classic pairing than black and white. This reliable color combo can really work with any kitchen style, whether it be modern farmhouse, industrial, traditional, contemporary ... you get the idea. We love black and white kitchens because you can really play with the hues, softening the black and warming up the white until you find your dream combo.