Too often, modern kitchen designs can feel imposing, sterile. Too often, yellow kitchen paint schemes (which are oh-so-popular) can feel twee.
But this idea balances three colors and textures
- Sleek stainless steel;
- Yellow walls (Behr's Wildflower Honey); and
- Rich brown wood cabinets (Behr's Burley Wood)
Classic Blue Country Kitchen With a Hint of the Past
It doesn't take many elements to make a kitchen look antique and classic, with a touch of the country:
- Wainscot on the lower half of the walls. Easy to install with adhesive and a brad gun or finish nails.
- Shaker-style cabinet doors, seen on the lower cabinets.
- Various cooking pans displayed on the walls.
- A fully trimmed out double-hung window.
Trim is Behr's sturdy stand-by (you can't go wrong with it): Ultra Pure White 1050.
Wholly Impractical But Attractive Euro Kitchen with Cube Shelves
Looks good? Yes. Practical? No.
This is what I call a "display kitchen," meant more to show off key design features (in this case, the Behr Agave Frond on the walls and Cotton Whisper on cabinets) than to demonstrate anything approaching reality.
A few cube shelves are great; they provide a wonderful stage for nice items you wish to show off. But it's tough to make an entire kitchen out of them.
Country-Style Kitchen Idea:Updated For This Century
Biased against tchotchke-laden country-style kitchens that feel like Aunt Bea from The Andy Griffith Show is about to step through the door any minute?
Don't despair. This is a cleaner, updated, more modern form of country kitchen. Walls are painted in Behr Rejevenate and mid-kitchen butcher block in Behr Morning Sunlight. Hickory cabinets are what give it the country feel. Red serving tray, red plates, and red water pitcher all act as counterpoints to punch color into this otherwise neutral paint scheme.
Decorating Idea:Calming Paint Scheme
If there's one thing that stands out in this kitchen, it's the paint scheme. Kitchens can be frantic, hectic places--kids underfoot, grease splattering, phone ringing, pot boiling over. No better way to calm things down than to apply a nice, neutral paint scheme such as Behr's Calm Air on the walls and Linen White on the cabinets.
Too much neutral can be bland, so there are occasional touches of green, yellow, and brown to soften up the look.
Modern, But Soft, Kitchen Decorating Idea
This is decidedly a modern kitchen:
- Mostly angular elements (few curves);
- Translucent glass cabinets;
- Cantilever shelves;
- Cool light over sink.
Natural Garden Style Kitchen Idea
Give your kitchen a soothing greenhouse look with natural woods on the countertops, plenty of plants, and a soft green paint scheme (Glidden's Pale Jade on the walls and Almost Aqua on the cabinets).
When ordering cabinets, spend a little extra for a panel on the front of the dishwasher. Paint the panel the same color as the cabinets.
Modest Desert Style Kitchen Decorating Idea
Live cacti and Glidden's Mint Shake on the walls give this kitchen a fresh, desert-in-the-morning feeling.
White countertops and clear-coated wood stools continue the natural look.
The heavy color on the left wall, Bright Black Raspberry, evens out the lightness of the rest of the kitchen.
Polar opposite of the traditional and "country" kitchens elsewhere in this article is this ultra-swanky contemporary kitchen, of the type you might find on the 45th floor of a city apartment:
- Cooktop set into kitchen island;
- Stainless steel wall oven;
- Red vs. black paint scheme, courtesy of Glidden Paints; and
- Angular red vent hood over cooktop.
More than anything, this kitchen from Glidden Paints is all about copious amounts of light streaming through the large corner windows. Glass doors permit further light into the cabinets. The steel hood and dishwasher reflect more light throughout the room.