Color Combos That Spice Up a Kitchen

Two-Toned: If you're looking for a way to give the hub of your home a new look with maximum impact for minimum hassle, consider a double dose of color, as shown in the kitchens we've rounded up here. "Paint allows you to put your personal stamp on cabinetry," says Brian Yahn of Plain & Fancy Custom Cabinetry in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania, whose clients often request a custom hue-or two. With upper cabinets in one shade and base cabinets in another, island and perimeter cabinets in contrasting colors, or simple pantry units painted to stand out like furniture, "it's not your mother's kitchen," he notes. Case in point: the mix at right. For more on this and other lively pairings, check out the rest these spicy kitchen color pairings on THISOLDHOUSE.COM. -Deborah Baldwin, This Old House magazine

Shown: Carefully plotted fields of color, including citrus shades of yellow and green, define prep, storage, and lounging spaces-and guarantee an upbeat mood. Cabinets: Plain & Fancy Custom Cabinetry

SEE MORE: All About Kitchen Cabinets

1. Cooking Up Some Color
A new kitchen is like a blank slate: You can color it any way you want. Just take a look at this kitchen-and-family-room addition at Bonnie and Jim Connors' house outside Chicago. Working with architect Healy Rice and kitchen designer Kathy Walder, the couple stepped away from the traditional look of plain-vanilla boxes. "I've always loved color," says Bonnie, and that includes her favorite shade of green. To keep the look sophisticated, she also opted for black base cabinets with an aged patina, off-white marble countertops, and plenty of stainless steel.

For a similar look, try Valspar's Green Tea (upper cabinets) and Pitch Cobalt (lower cabinets).

WATCH: How to Paint Cabinets




2. Lacquer Red and Black
This bold accent wall, designed by Plain & Fancy Custom Cabinetry, pairs colors of equal intensity, bright on top, dark below. To keep all that red from looking like a serving station in a Chinese restaurant, the company added carbon-black cabinets that would be at home in a formal dining room. Pale flooring, a stainless-steel countertop, and a red-and-white mosaic-tile backsplash also help bring the temperature down to a simmer.

For a similar look, try Benjamin Moore's Poppy (upper and side cabinets) and Midnight Zone (lower cabinets).

SEE MORE: Our Favorite Kitchens



3. Taupe Gray and Pistachio Green
Gray is fast becoming a popular choice for kitchen cabinets, and in this Washington, D.C., kitchen, designer Jennifer Gilmer and architect Jerry Harpole used it to define the cooking and cleanup areas. Then they had the custom cabinetmaker paint the island and a curved hutch a soft green picked up by the backsplash tile. The Costa Esmeralda granite countertops tie the two colors together with the stone's greenish-gray and grayish-green flecks.

For a similar look, try Glidden's Pistachio Ice Cream (island cabinets and curved hutch) and Smooth Stone (cabinets).

ALSO SEE: Cook Up a Great Outdoor Kitchen




SEE EVEN MORE SPICED-UP KITCHEN COLOR COMBOS AT THISOLDHOUSE.COM.