7 Questions to Help You Pick the Perfect Kitchen Color

Designing (or re-designing) a kitchen can be overwhelming. From plumbing to storage to cabinets, the moving parts involved can make it difficult to find a design focus. Katrina Hernandez of Hernandez Greene interiors provides her input on how to navigate kitchen color schemes and other design elements when redesigning a kitchen.

What's Hot?

According to Hernandez, today's kitchens aren't the rustic, wood-filled rooms of the past. "The current trend we've been spotting has been fully painted kitchens with matching upper and lower cabinets in glossier, unexpected colors such as emerald green and marine blue," says Hernandez. It's called nautical monochrome and it definitely has a vintage vibe.

A design element Hernandez says has already fallen out of favor? "White subway tile with dark grout and polished brass fittings," she says. Subway tile, the long, horizontal rectangles, lend an industrial look to the kitchen. As kitchens move toward the current, glossier style, industrial design elements have fallen by the wayside.

The object that takes up the most real estate in your kitchen are the cabinets, so this is the place to really focus on. Hernandez says a well-done set of cabinets can transform and dictate a whole new kitchen. Don't be afraid to go bold! Your cabinets can be any color you want! You would just need to pair them with neutral counters and floors.

More and more, kitchens are taking hardware more seriously. These 'functional' pieces are now a formative part of kitchen design. Hernandez notes that cool blue aesthetics, for example, are "often offset with antique brass hardware," to add a vintage feel to a brand-new kitchen. It's like having the best of both worlds! If you are not 100% sold on a color, try thinking of what hardware pairings would might help make the color more appealing.

Despite the glossy finishes of trendy kitchens, Hernandez stresses the fact that the natural color combinations could be a safer bet. Her favorite pairing is a natural tone paired with black. For example, Hernandez says, "I love a patterned cement tile floor and an antiqued black granite counter, contrasted by natural colored oak cabinetry." While you might want a super fun kitchen with splashes of color, your house might be more suited to a more neutral kitchen.