Top Ideas for Kitchen Design Color Schemes
/The kitchen is truly the heart of your home, where you spend time with family and friends, create meals, celebrate special occasions, and manage daily life. Today’s kitchens are also often integrated with the rest of your home, particularly in an open plan kitchen design. Gone are the days of a purely functional kitchen; instead replaced by a warm, inviting room where family and friends love to gather and spend time together.
A key element of setting the tone for your kitchen’s aesthetic is the color scheme you choose for your space. Whether your kitchen is enclosed or part of a large, open plan first floor, you want to select a color palette that reflects your home’s style and your personality.
The foundation for your color scheme is often your kitchen cabinets, which are one of the largest investments you make when remodeling your kitchen. You want to choose cabinets and other key features that you will love for years to come, not just today. Other design features, such as your countertop, backsplash, flooring, plumbing fixtures, and accessories, also influence your kitchen design color scheme.
To help you get started in finding the perfect color scheme for your new kitchen, let’s explore some of the top options for today’s kitchens. From classic neutrals to bold and dramatic colors, there is a color scheme to fit every home, family, and style.
Classic White
When remodeling your kitchen, you are investing in your home and your family life. You want to choose design features that will stand the test of time, meeting your family’s needs and your home’s style for the lifespan of the kitchen. This is why classic neutral color palettes are always a top choice.
White never goes out of style, it adds visual depth to a kitchen, and goes with any kitchen style and accessories. This bright choice for kitchen design color schemes is far from boring, especially when paired with varied textures and accessories that bring a pop of color to your space. Use natural wood features like wood floating shelves or floors, black or gold accessories, soft gray tones, and textured features like backsplash tile to create a beautiful, balanced kitchen design.
Elegant Neutrals
Neutral tones like beige, gray, and greige enhance your space with soft shades that make your kitchen cozy and relaxing. These versatile colors provide the perfect backdrop for home life and fit neatly with adjacent areas like a living room. This is perfect for an open plan kitchen design, as it helps to unify your kitchen and living areas.
Choose a countertop and backsplash that accent your chosen cabinet color, and finish your design with accessories to transform your kitchen with a sophisticated style. You can go for contrasting tones or stick to the same color, but add visual interest with different textures and patterns.
Moody Dark Tones
If neutral shades are not your style, then don’t be afraid to choose a color that brings out your personality. Moody shades like black, dark gray, and navy are top choices for kitchen designs as they give your space a sophisticated style. Darker colors, like Pantone’s 2025 color of the year, Mocha Mousse, create a cozy, inviting atmosphere. They are ideal when balanced with lighter design features like a white countertop and backsplash, gold or chrome accessories, and light wood or tiled flooring.
If you choose these dark colors for your kitchen, make sure you include plenty of natural light through large windows and a carefully planned, multi-layered lighting design to keep your space from feeling gloomy. You could also balance dark cabinetry with some glass front cabinets or floating shelves.
Bold Jewel Tones
Another popular choice for kitchen color schemes this year is jewel tones, like deep greens, blues, and even burgundy. These rich shades give a kitchen design a luxurious feel and create a one-of-a-kind style. If you don’t want to commit to these colors throughout your kitchen, consider choosing a favorite shade and using it for island cabinetry, a beverage bar, or backsplash tile. Balance it with a neutral shade for perimeter cabinets to create a high contrast color scheme that gives your design depth. Just make sure you choose a color you love and will be happy with for the lifespan of the kitchen.
Earthy Shades
Warm earth tones are ideal for a kitchen design color scheme. The kitchen is the heart of your home, and should be a welcoming refuge for family and visitors. Earthy colors have grown in popularity in recent years as they are an ideal choice for transforming your kitchen into a cozy retreat. Colors like warm brown, tan, clay, stone, and terracotta work perfectly for kitchen cabinets, backsplashes, flooring, and more. They make your kitchen feel grounded, pair well with rustic or farmhouse designs, and also bring warmth to a transitional or contemporary style.
Soft Greens and Blues
When it comes to adding color to a kitchen design, soft greens and muted blue shades continue to be a top choice. They bring a sense of tranquility to a kitchen design and are ideal for biophilic design styles that focus on connecting with the outdoor environment. These shades range from sage green to beachy blues and are a perfect fit for coastal, farmhouse, and traditional kitchen designs, though they can be incorporated into any design style. They combine beautifully with white or natural wood tones, either as a two-tone cabinet design or in decorative accents like countertops or floating shelves.
Natural Wood Finishes
Many homeowners are getting back to nature and embracing natural wood finishes. They are the ultimate way to add warmth to a kitchen design. Best of all, wood has a timeless appeal that fits any design and never goes out of style. From modern slab cabinets in a light stain to a more traditional style cabinet door in a darker finish, wood is a perfect fit for any kitchen.
Choose a top-quality wood to give your kitchen design the best result, particularly when you go for a lighter finish, which lets the wood grain and knots show through. Wood pairs with virtually any accessories, so you can exercise your creativity and personalize your design with your choice of backsplash, hardware, lighting, and more.
Two-Tone Color Schemes
A two-tone kitchen cabinet design is the perfect choice to create a balanced style for your kitchen. This is an ideal option if you love a particular paint color or natural wood but don’t want to overwhelm your kitchen by using this for your entire cabinet design. Pair wood and white or a classic neutral with an accent color to get the best of both worlds. Here are several ways to incorporate a two-tone kitchen cabinet design:
White perimeter cabinets provide the perfect foundation for a two-tone kitchen design, which can then be paired with a contrasting color for the kitchen island.
Partner dark lower and light upper cabinets, such as navy and white, dark green and beige, or wood and cream.
Go for high contrast to make a stylish statement, such as black and white for a bold, modern look.
Consider installing a full-height slab backsplash in a beautifully veined neutral tone to contrast with your chosen kitchen cabinet color.
Create Your Perfect Kitchen Design with a Beautiful Color Scheme!
Which color scheme is right for your home? Start planning by assessing your space, the style and color scheme of surrounding rooms, your personal preferences, and the latest trends. Take inspiration from design trends, but make sure you choose a color palette that you will love for years to come.
You can explore more kitchen styles in our kitchen remodeling gallery or browse styles, product samples, and more when you visit our Newtown, PA design showroom. Best of all, our experienced design team will help you explore the options and find the perfect design solution for your needs. Contact us to get started!
