Are you ready to cook up some colour?

More and more, colour is turning up in kitchens. Would you go there? Should you?

Plain English

Last post, I wrote about the resurgence of colour onto the home interior scene, a tendency that has many people pretty happy. I love me a nice calm neutral shell, but I absolutely understand how too much of a neutral thing can be too much of a blah thing for many people. And surely a dose of colour in our lives must affect our psyches in a positive way, right?

This is not the first go-around for colourful kitchens, as these lovely ladies below can attest:

Aahh, good times...

In my previous post I touched on kitchens, mentioning that blue and green kitchens were definitely leading the popularity contest with people who were taking the plunge into colour:

navy and white kitchen with herringbone subway tile

light blue kitchen cabinets with black and butcher block counters

Navy kitchen Studio McGee Blue kitchen by Smallbones of Devizes

Both navy and dark green pair very well with the crisp white that is (justifiably) so popular right now.

hunter green kitchen cabinetry with oil paintings and marble slab backsplash

dark green kitchen cabinetry with quartz slab backsplash

Dark green with marble by deVOL. Dark green with white via Becki Owens

And sage green is a soft, slightly greyed colour that works really well to create a farmhouse kitchen kind of feel.

dage green cabinetry headboard and white subway tile cream AGA English kitchen

sage green country kitchen cabinets, butcher block counter beadboard

Green & white: source unknown Green & butcher block via prokitchenidea

I'm pretty partial to warm greens, so I just adore this olive green cabinetry (with that tray, that tray!):

by Adam Bray

Sooo beautiful! But would I recommend olive green cabinets to a client? If they had their heart set on it absolutely loved the idea, and were not planning on selling their home in the next fifteen to twenty years, then yes, absolutely. But for anyone else, to invest in custom-painted cabinetry that is not in a timeless neutral is not the best way for the everyman (everyperson?) to inject colour into a kitchen.

There are, however, lots of ways to add colour in this hub of the home, ways that are less of a financial commitment, and that are easier to change out when your tastes change.

The first one is to paint the walls, not the cabinetry; much less expensive than paying for new cabinetry or even professional cabinetry spraying (heck, most of us can paint a wall ourselves, right?)

kitchen with white cabinets, butcher block counter, farmhouse sink and navy wall

kitchen with white cabinets, butcher block counter, farmhouse sink and pale blue walls

Navy walls via livabl Pale blue walls Kathy Kunz Interiors

The neutral cabinetry above and below means these kitchens can easily transition to a whole new look, without a full remodel.

kitchen wood cabinets, industrial counter pale green walls

country kitchen white cabinetry, butcher block counter sage green walls

Ta-dah! Green kitchens, commitment-free.

Heck you can even go peachy-coral, if that is your happy place. So pretty, and when it's just a wall, why not, if you're feeling bold??

deVOL

There is another trend that is your friend if you'd like to add colour to your kitchen without a huge financial investment. That trend, my friends, is artwork in the kitchen. Not just over by the breakfast nook, but above the counters, hung on the walls or propped on shelves:

If you love that dark moody look that's all over Pinterest, just add some vintage oil paintings for a just a soupçon of dark and moody:

kitchen with square white zellige tiles, wood countertop,

kitchen with white tile backsplash, ledge with oil painting and cutting boards

oil portrait kitchen zioandsons painted tray kitchen via alvhelm

Lauren Liess is the queen of vintage oil paintings in the kitchen, like in her own otherwise neutral kitchen below:

white cabinets, wood island, soapstone counters, vintage oil paintings

And if you can fit a handsome dog--the ultimate home styling accessory--in as well, all the better!

Park and Oak

Or go bright and cheerful with the art:

kitchen with white cabinets, marble slab backsplash, pale blue bench seating, bright art

modern kitchen light wood cabinets, white cabinets, bright artwork

kitchen with lemon yellow bertazzoni range, white subway tile, bright yellow artwork

kitchen with wooden cabinets with oversize modern art

1 via styleathome 2 via 79ideas 3 via harpers bazaar 4 via obumex

And okay, so the bright lemon yellow range is a bold move, but even without it, that white kitchen above just sings with the bright yellow painting. More on bright coloured appliances in my next post. Why? Because FUN.

A colourful runner is another excellent way to add colour to a more conservative kitchen. (Bonus housekeeping tip: the busier, the better for hiding crumbs and chocolate milk stains)

white high gloss cabinetry, quartz countertops, bright tribal runner in kitchen

white and black kitchen marble counters red runner

white kitchen with vintage runner

1 via kitchencabinetkings 2 by zplus interiors 3 via thekitchn

With a runner, you could use a colour you might never use on the walls or cabinets, like hot pink:

by Becki Owens

And finally, if you're still kind of thinking you'd like to go with some coloured cabinetry, a nice balance between getting the colourful look you're craving and keeping it feeling timeless is to go super pale, like this lovely kitchen I'm leaving you with today. It's in such a pale green that it almost reads like a neutral:

via decorpad

So tell me: kitchenwise, are you seeking calm horizons, or are you dreaming in colour?

(Or a bit of both, like me?)

Until next time,

Susan