Colour Drenched Kitchens

A new week and a new month - how tidy is that? - and a bit of a kitchen dive for you today so let's go with some colour. I have been writing about interiors for some 20 years now and in that time white has consistently been the most popular colour for a kitchen. I just did a quick google and it seems that's still the case - despite what we see on instagram, which, is, after all, a minuscule percentage of the real world. So I'm going to put the case for some of the other shades.

tonal kitchen kitchen design by @jakearnold architect @xbeltranarchitects and contractor @rfreinis shot by @michaelcliffordphotography

I mean I get it. You don't want to be redoing your kitchen every 10 minutes. Possibly not even every 10 years, so you choose a sensible colour that you are fairly confident you won't go off or tire of and that might not deter any future buyers. But that colour is never going to make your heart sing and as someone whose love of cooking (never exactly a burning passion in the first place although by God I love eating) has been dulled by years of cooking for small/fussy children, this is a room that needs to FIRE YOU UP BABY!

Ok calming down, but this is a room, not just because it's the fabled heart of the home, that needs to welcome you in, make you want to spend time in it and possibly even light the creative cooking juices. So unless white or grey does that for you, take a moment to think about the colours you love (back to the wardrobe) and see how you might incorporate them into your own kitchens.

And what these pictures will show you is that it doesn't have to be a uniform heavy matching colour all over. OK ready?

tonal kitchen kitchen design by @jakearnold architect @xbeltranarchitects and contractor @rfreinis shot by @michaelcliffordphotography

So this beauty above. Ignore the wooden beams as most of us won't have them. Unless you do in which case be inspired by how they can add interest to a room. Natural wooden cupboards below with all that lovely grain visible. You can look for reclaimed doors or you can buy modern ones. The floral curtain softens and lightens the look (not for everyone but this is all about picking and choosing the parts you like) while the marble worktop and backsplash will lighten any scheme.

But it's the wall cabinets to note and there are three important points to make here.