Color in the Kitchen

What color should a kitchen be? O more precisely, what color should MY kitchen be? That's a great question in my opinion. My theory is that a kitchen should be a (not exactly blank) slate for a great art collection, a room that fits the owner's personality and culinary needs. It should be great function with great form and then... there should be ART and COLOR!

This kitchen looks like a blank slate to me, so many ways to dress it up and give it some personality.  If only they hadn't taken the photo before the work was done.  Even some black and white photography would have been an improvement... now it comes across as sterile and the marble reads as cold.   

This is a bold move to use this much olive green in a kitchen.  One really has to be committed to a color choice like this to make it work in a room where one spends so much time.  I wouldn't do this color, but that's ok, that's not my house.  I just wish they'd taken some risks with the accessories and instead of spreading the green like moss growing on the north side of the... kitchen - they could have done something wonderful with red, fuchsia or plum!  It's a trend now to do the island in a contrasting color and this kitchen would have been a great place to give that a try! 

This is an interesting choice with lots of black outlining.  I have the urge to look a little closer than this photo allows, and I'm curious about the gate in the foreground but the beauty of this kitchen is the commitment they've made to making an original statement.  I think it's charming.

This chocolate brown and white kitchen features a show stopping stencil on the cabinet doors.  I think this is an idea that could hold some possibility, however, I've done enough stenciling to know that it's tedious to the extreme.  My tastes don't run country and I've got far too many cabinet doors to ever give this any real consideration so it's just as well.  But I think it's a successful choice here.

This buttery little confection of a kitchen is the picture of warmth and sweetness.  I do wonder, however, why they made the kitchen island top so small.  If they would have added 18 inches along the side facing us, it would have been a fantastic change!  (depending on things one can not see beyond the scope of the photo.)  Being able to have a few guests on stools while one cooks is a wonderful perk in my opinion. 

I think I kept this photo because of the floor.  I also like the color scheme of black/white plus one!  The pale mossy green in this one is a soothing choice but again my eye wishes for some real saturated color in that room somewhere.  I'd put a few flowering violets or an orchid and a beautiful textile on that table to soften the look of the cold hard looking appearance.  There are many good reasons to use white marble in the kitchen, but something must also be done to soften the cold hard look of it.

The careful use of turquoise in the floor and backsplash saved this room from the hum drum and I think it's successful.

No matter what the basic colors are of a kitchen, one should be able to dress it up with beautiful color like this table scape.  A lovely piece of fabric, some fresh flowers and perhaps some fruit and candles and the table and kitchen are dressed and ready for great food and friends.