Monday, January 28, 2013

17 Ways to Add Colour to a White Kitchen

Do you love white kitchens as much as I do?  For me it just doesn't get any better than a kitchen with clean fresh white cabinets. While I love this classic look it can sometimes slip into looking stark and institutional if not enough contrast and detail are added to the kitchen design.  So I've gathered together inspiration photos to demonstrate seventeen ways to add colour and warmth to a white kitchen.  Let's have a look:

1. Paint the walls a colour so the white cabinets really stand out

design inc
2. Add a colourful backsplash (careful with this one though as you don't want to go too trendy on something that costs a lot to replace)

House Beautiful

3. Paint the back of shelves or glass-fronted cupboards a contrasting colour


4. Add colourful decorative items on shelves, in open cupboards, and on the counter

Kathryn Ireland via Canadian House and Home

5. Purchase colourful appliances (would you have the nerve to do this? I'm not sure I would.  Just make sure you really love the colour.)

House Beautiful

6. Add a throw rug or runner (While Googling white kitchens, I found this one styled two different ways which are interesting to compare)

Apartment Therapy
BHG
7. Add a colourful tea towel

decorpad

8. Add some plants or a bouquet of flowers 

House to Home

9. Store your cookbooks out in the open (and only purchase colourful cookbooks!)

decorpad

10. Hang art on the walls

Bobbie Burger's kitchen via Canadian House and Home

11. Add a chalkboard and decorate it with colourful drawings

Kitchen Building
12. Select colourful fabric for drapes or blinds 

HGTV
13.  Pull some cheerful stools up to the kitchen island

Design Manifest
14. Add a bright light

Home Klondike
15.  Paint a window frame or door in a fresh bright colour

Coastal Living

16.  Add a colourful floor

Elle Decor via Apartment Therapy
17.  Paint the ceiling

via Design Megallih
Gorgeous aren't they?  Which kitchens did you like best?  

By the way, if you want to read two other posts in my white kitchen series you can click on the links below:
4 Great Countertop Colours for White Kitchens
A Rainbow of Kitchen Islands

6 comments:

  1. I love them all, but I will probably do #3 and #10 in our kitchen! ;P Yet another great post, Grace. I really liked the kitchen with all the exposed brick. It is stunning, too!

    I hope I haven't disappointed you about my guilty pleasure. Trip has to get up extra early on Mondays (4:30 AM and I get up with him) so Mondays are rough, and we like to relax and watch mindless TV....The Bachelor fits the bill perfectly plus it's so entertaining! We don't watch much TV the rest of the week.

    xo,
    RJ

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  2. I love Bobbie Burger everything..... could never afford an original painting but I do love the idea of one of her art prints in a kitchen. Some gorgeous images...I love 7, 9, 10, 11...uh-oh, almost all of them.
    Okay, and finally having a little chuckle that RJ is a fan of The Bachelor.... ;)

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  3. WOW... I love most of them! I LOVE subway tiles, and the painted ceiling and also the checkers floors...
    but even been more traditional, the one that stole my heart was the one with the brick walls... the old golden mirror and
    the greenery by the window! Stunning!!!
    Claudine
    www.restory.ca

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  4. Great ideas...I just started display my colorful glasses again in our mostly white kitchen.

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  5. Great post! My favorite is definitely the last one with the painted ceiling. And I would love to have colored appliances...robin's egg blue or sea mist green please! If I could ever find someone to install my backsplash tile I would have a little more color in my all white kitchen.

    Kat

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