You may not be prepared to paint the kitchen to match the fruit bowl however whites and off-whites are beginning to seem a little tired. Paint may keep your kitchen as stylish and on-trend as you are; the energy level is affected by the wall color and is easy to alter when styles do. Gray is still a big seller with fresh new ways to unite shades, but saturated intense colors are starting to gain ground.
Top Down
Shiny color on ceiling and walls, counter tops by gleaming white flooring, complements the natural wood colors of lower and upper cabinets. Nothing looks outdated in a kitchen using ocean, teal or lagoon blue from the top down, intersected by banks of hot maple cabinets or cherry hardwood and white marble or synthetic counters. Ceramic or linoleum tile — stark white — bounces light and the walls that are lacquered reflect light on the deeper wood tones. Pewter or brushed aluminum or bin or cup cabinet pulls are the classic and modern touches to keep your kitchen shipshape.
Tomato Soup
Splash on some tomato soup on the wall to join the audience in a hurry. White-on-white will not go out of style, however des legumes are translating to accent walls painted tomato red, sweet potato mushroom and eggplant. The walls are framed posters of produce advertisements or market scenes a great foil for a copper pan collection, or something that the chef loves that may not be directly related to the supplies — a set of neon signs or masks. Do not risk closing it by heavy-handing the color on each wall in even more if your kitchen suffers from a case of claustrophobia.
Not Quite White
Creamy, smooth, light grey paint cabinets against seagull walls with the touch of grey are the way. The grays work with metal appliances and may manage slate, white tile, ebony or bleached wood flooring granite counters and backsplash and touches of color in sisal pub stool seats and woven timber strip lampshades. A kitchen which receives a lot of lighting or is spacious and expansive may be painted entirely using just glistening trim — in the grey color — ceiling, cabinets and walls to break up the delicate blur of color.
Steel and Flint
Dig down into the palette to add drama and elegance to a totally urban kitchen. Horizontal painted walls the color of flint or pencil lead will hide a multitude of plaster imperfections and splashes. Appliances, backsplash and counters are faced with aluminum; powder-coated modern metal seats in the breakfast bar are industrial open shelving against the walls will be exactly the exact same color or restaurant steel or chrome. A whimsical trio of metal colanders, upended to become pendant lamps, hangs over the breakfast bar or the work station. The flooring could be tile, flecked charcoal and grey terrazzo, or white ceramic tile to bounce light back and forth with the ceiling.