Discover your Perfect Kitchen Colour Scheme

Choosing the perfect colour scheme for your kitchen can be a daunting prospect. There are options, some would say too many options. Even if you already have a colour preference, there are infinite shades tones and hues to choose from. And you also need to ensure harmony throughout the space. When choosing your colours, you need to keep everything in mind. A colour scheme is not only defined by the colours you choose for your walls, floors, and cabinetry. Even the colour of your kettle or plant pot can make (or break) the cohesion of your selected colour scheme.

Choose the cabinet colour

There’s a reason that cabinets should be your first port of call when choosing a kitchen colour scheme. Depending on what material and hardware you use, kitchen cabinets typically consume half your kitchen renovation budget, and take up approximately 40% of the visual space in your kitchen. So, it makes sense to use your choice of kitchen cabinets as the foundation for future colour choices.

What to do: Choose a colour, texture and material that fits your personality, budget and style of your home. Don’t overthink things just yet. Simply select cabinets that speak to you.

Choose your appliance colours

It’s completely possible that you may opt for built-in appliances. Built in goods will likely be tucked behind your choice of cabinetry. If you’ll go with freestanding appliance, you’ll have to consider how the appliance fronts match with the rest of your cabinets. Your cabinetry cannot be finalised until you know exactly which appliances you intend to purchase.

What to do: When it comes to appliances, your fridge, dishwasher and sink will have the biggest impact on your kitchen colour scheme. You’ll want your appliances to look ‘part of the plan’. To do that, simply choose appliances that complement your cabinet colour scheme. Consider matching white goods with white or light grey cabinetry. Stainless Steel appliances go well with brown hues, vibrant colours and shades of grey. These things might seem obvious at first, but it’s something many people get wrong.

Choosing your worktops

Your choice of kitchen worktops is an important decision for many reasons. Other than practical and budget considerations, worktops are often close to eye-level – occupying a significant portion of your visual space. If there’s no cohesion between the worktops and cabinets, the visual harmony in your kitchen will fall apart.

What to do: When selecting worktops, first eliminate any options that are outside of your budget. Then, consider the colour of your existing kitchen floor. Matching these two colours is a fool-proof way of ensuring good colour coordination. If you intend to upgrade or replace your floors, simply use a sample of your kitchen cabinets to guide you in selecting your worktops.

Choosing your flooring

Often, adjoining rooms of your home will dictate the colour of your kitchen floors. If not, it’s sometimes difficult to know what works and what doesn’t. When selecting a kitchen floor colour, it needs to coordinate well with all the elements you’ve selected so far.

What to do: Start by choosing your preferred material. Hardwood, tile and laminate floors are all popular choices. A basic rule of thumb is to pick a second dominant colour (your cabinets being the other). A complementary yet contrasting colour will shape your kitchen. A timeless combination uses classic white cabinets, and warm wood or laminate flooring – with a countertop that alternates between both lighter and darker colours.

Choose your wall colour

Oddly enough, kitchen walls are often the last thing that people consider when it comes to defining an overall colour scheme. Walls play an important role in tying the room together and setting the mood. While walls are generally covered by cabinets, backsplashes and shelving, it’s still a chunk of space that becomes more noticeable when it doesn’t fit with the overall mood.
<br< What to do: Select a colour that balances well with the floors, cabinets and backsplash. Painting kitchen walls in off-white, cream or dove grey should complement most of your chosen elements, no matter what style you choose. Vibrant colours are also an option, just be sure that if you choose this option that your floors and cabinetry have a more subtle palette.

Choosing your hardware

Beauty is in the details. Elements like taps, cabinet handles and lighting fixtures will be installed at the very end of your project but are the icing on the cake of your renovation. While there are no ‘hard and fast’ rules about coordinating hardware colours – it does help to create a space that looks thought through and planned.

What to do: When it comes to kitchen colour schemes, stick with styles and finishes that complement each other. The easiest way of ensuring a streamlined look, is to use one type of hardware material throughout. Consider each piece of hardware, match them together and see them in use with your choice of cabinets.