What is the best color to paint my kitchen cabinets? 

A change in cabinet color is an easy way to create a big impact on your kitchen. Which is the best color to paint your cabinets in the kitchen, according to designers?

According to research conducted by cabinetry company Plain & Fancy, white is the most popular color for kitchen cabinets among homeowners. The sage-green craze that dominated the past few years is finally on its way out. Interior designers and realtors back these findings. While neutrals continue to be the most popular choice, Blue Kitchen Ideas have remained popular for decades.

We asked five interior designers about their kitchen trends predictions and the colors they prefer for this most-used room of your house. Read on to find out the top four kitchen cabinet colors for 2023, regardless of whether you want a new look or a bolder statement.

What is the best color to paint kitchen cabinets?

Lucy Searle is the Editor-in-Chief of Homes & Gardens. She says: “When choosing kitchen colour ideas my advice would be to pick a color for your cabinetry that will not date and can be easily redecorated around.”

Cabinetry is more difficult to paint to match your mood than walls. The best colors for kitchen cabinets are usually neutral.

WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING KITCHEN CABINET COLORS?

Longevity: How quickly will your color choice date? Will future buyers like it?

Easy color schemes: How easy is it for you to redecorate, or will it limit your options?

Room orientation: rooms facing east or north are best suited to warmer colors, while rooms facing south and west can be cooler.

Room Size: lighter colors will make a smaller kitchen appear larger, while darker hues make any kitchen seem smaller. This can be an advantage in large areas where you wish to feel more cozy.

WHITE

White cabinetry can be used to create a feeling of lightness and airiness in your kitchen, especially if you have limited space or natural light.

White paint is not only a good choice for smaller kitchens, but it also has a timeless appeal that can withstand changing trends and varying styles. It’s also a favorite of realtors, as it is the ultimate neutral, which buyers love.

She concludes that ‘white works especially well in rooms with warm natural daylight,’ which is south and west-facing spaces.

Marian Meacham is a Houston-based interior designer who founded Marian Louise Designs. She says that white kitchen designs should not be all white.

Mimi suggests investing in ideas for kitchen countertops instead of going with a white palette. Marian recommends a variety of materials, including artificial composites with layers of earthy, warm colors.

She says that bright clay, cement, or porcelain tiles can be used to give a modern touch to your white scheme.

Lucy Searle began writing about interiors, gardens, and property in women’s magazines before moving to interiors-only titles by the mid-1990s. Lucy Searle was appointed Global editor-in-chief of Realhomes.com in 2018, transforming the website from a magazine add-on into a global hit. She was then asked to replicate that success with Homes & Gardens magazine, the UK’s oldest magazine on interiors, at 103 years old. Lucy is also a serial renovator and owns rental property in the UK and Europe. She brings first-hand experience to the topics she oversees.

CREAM OR BEIGE

If you want a neutral but do not like the starkness and coldness of white, DATE Interiors designer Molly Torres-Portnof recommends a warm beige or off-white.

She explains that this color family is timeless and warm and goes well with stone and tile.

Lucy Searle says that cream kitchen ideas will be a great choice for those who love the idea of white but have a room facing north or east, where pure white would feel cold. Decorating in beige is a slightly muted tone that is similar to cream. In fact, if you are wondering which color is replacing gray, the answer is beige.

To keep the balance of colors, I’d use beige with pale counters, where cream is suitable.

Off-white, the color chosen by Behr as its color of 2023, is a great choice for a cream/beige that can be used with both modern ideas for the kitchen as well as traditional design styles.

Molly Torres Portnof, an interior designer based in New York City, specializes in the transformation of residential spaces. She studied interior design at the Fashion Institute of Technology and soon launched DATE Interiors. She creates areas that are both functional and beautiful by finding, foraging, or making the perfect personality-filled elements.

Two-toned NEUTRAL

Two-tone kitchens in neutral tones allow you to maintain the cabinetry color but add a layer of interest.

Linda Hayslett, an interior designer in Los Angeles, says that she likes to use cabinetry with two complementary colors because it gives the room depth. Always paint the lower cabinets darker to ground the space.

Neutral doesn’t have to be white or earthy. Natural shades like blue and green are increasingly seen as neutrals. Just make sure you choose colors that calm rather than shout. Keep the two colors in the same family for a real impact. For example, this space uses both dark and light blue.

Linda Hayslett is an interior designer based in Los Angeles who specializes in residential projects. Hayslett, who has a background in fashion and entertainment, moved to LA and began working as an interior designer after years of styling celebrity fashion. Linda was named one of House Beautiful 2020 Next Wave Designers to Watch and was also selected as one of eight designers for Wholehome.

Is Matt or Gloss Better for Kitchen Cabinets?

Consider a matte or satin finish when painting your kitchen cabinets. It’s for two reasons. First, glossy kitchens are out of style, and your kitchen will look old very quickly. Second, matte or satin finishes make it easier to maintain a clean appearance, as fingerprints and smudges do not show up as clearly as they would on gloss.

Perhaps there is no surprise that design experts have nominated safe choices as the best color to paint kitchen cabinets: after all, the kitchen is the single most important room in affecting the sale price of a house. That’s not to say you can’t choose bolder cabinet colors if you love them and don’t plan to sell your home any time soon. It is, after all, perfectly possible to repaint kitchen cabinets to a more neutral shade when you are ready to move on and leave your kitchen behind.