Four Tips to Choosing the Perfect Color Scheme for Your New Kitchen
Choosing your kitchen countertops may be one of the most important decisions you’ll make in your home renovation or new construction project. The size, cost and time of installation, make counters a big decision. We’re making your decision a little easier with a few steps to guide you through the process.
Floors First
We strongly suggest homeowners meet with us at the beginning of a remodel or construction project so we can make sure preliminary work lines up just right. For instance, if you want a sink in your island, your contractor will need to plumb for that in the beginning. When it comes to choosing colors, however, we encourage our homeowners to choose their flooring first. Your floors will stretch beyond your kitchen into other rooms like your dining room, laundry rooms, and bathrooms. Your kitchen floors will also need to coordinate with the carpet or hardwood you have in adjacent rooms. Bring a sample of your kitchen floor with you when you choose countertop and cabinet colors.
Choose Three Colors
It’s recommended that you choose two dominant colors and an accent color for your kitchen. These colors should run through your flooring, cabinets, paint and countertops. Since you will have already chosen your flooring when you start looking at countertops, you’ll have one color already set. Your counters can be in the same color family as your flooring or you can choose a contrasting color. Keep in mind, however, that your cabinets will likely interrupt the flow between your counters and your floors.
A few examples:
In this kitchen the two dominant colors are brown (in the floors) and a cream (in the cabinets). The countertops blend the two colors to pull the kitchen together.
In this kitchen, the cabinet color and countertops serve as the two dominant colors while the floors offer a great neutral with hues from each piece.
Trends or Timelessness?
Are you remodeling your home with plans to sell it in the next five years? If so, focus more on timeless colors schemes with fewer bold colors. This doesn’t mean your kitchen has to be boring, it just means you probably won’t opt for the brightly colors cabinets many designers are choosing for more modern kitchens.
Do you cook in your kitchen regularly? Will children working alongside you in the kitchen? A countertop with a busier pattern is less likely to show that smudge of peanut butter you didn’t get wiped up than an all white counter.
What’s your personal style? If you love the latest trends in fashion and jewelry and constantly were bold colors and style, you might want to consider adding a bolder color to your kitchen decor. A great way to add an accent color without overdoing it is by using a different countertop on your island.
Here the homeowner used a dramatic dark countertop for the edges of the kitchen and added a patterned countertop with a mix of their dominant colors on the center island. They also added a pop of color in their backsplash.
The Finishing Touches
Your floors, counters and cabinets will dominate your kitchen and your decision making process. Don’t let those three fixtures overshadow the more easily changes, but still important, elements like paint color and backsplash. If you’re using the same tile on your backsplash that you used on the floor, it makes that decision even more important. If you choose a different material, you’ll want to make sure it coordinates with the undertones of the large elements you’ve already chosen. In the best possible scenario, you can bring all the materials of your project into the room where it will be used and view them together under the actual lighting you’ll use.
The best news about this whole process is you don’t have to go through it alone. We’ve helped hundreds of North Mississippi residents build beautiful kitchens. We can help you avoid the trap of too many colors and help you find your style.
