But as everyone is chasing micro-trends, choosing a neutral kitchen and following your personal style comes across as more wise and timeless than ever. As seen in the 10 neutral kitchens below, hues like whites and off-whites, blacks, grays, beiges, and earth tones can be combined in infinite ways and applied to different textures and materials, to create kitchens that are dynamic, clean, and classy all at once.
Mixing wood tones can be a bold and rewarding design choice, but the potential for unseemly clashing is real. With a room as important as your kitchen, you want the space to feel inviting, stylish, and functional all at once. Before diving head-first into mixed wood tones, research the different ways to avoid a potentially ugly contrast. Kitchen flooring, backsplashes, cabinets, countertops, and even light fixtures all have the potential to be transformed with a wooden facelift.
The gloss and color-pop of lacquer is a refreshing alternative - it achieves a playful vibrancy with modern sophistication. There are plenty of perks that come with lacquer finishes, too. For one thing, lacquer can be applied almost anywhere, from an accent kitchen island to your dining table to the material for all of your counters and cabinets. It introduces and strengthens the room's color scheme, also contributes some fresh texture with its sleek, shiny finish.
We independently select these products-if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing. "I really wanted it to look more pleasing to the eye," Sheri says of her "20-year-old builder-grade kitchen in the suburbs." It had orange-toned maple cabinets, tan tile floors, and laminate countertops. "I did not like the floors, cabinet color, microwave, [and] basic closed-in feeling," she adds.
Being creative, Bridgette knew that while she wasn't allowed to paint the honey-colored cabinetry in her apartment's kitchen, that wasn't going to stop her from making the room unique. It's far easier to return walls to their original color than paint cabinets, so she did just that by drenching the room in a terracotta color to blend the cabinet color while accentuating the richness. (Plus, she can easily paint it back when she moves out.)