Color Palette for Kitchens
Country kitchens can provide your home with a bright ambiance to make your house feel like your home-sweet-home. If you are considering remodeling your kitchen to give it a country feel, the sky is the limit with possibilities of color schemes. Here are some tips and suggested color palettes to help you select wall colors, cabinets, granite countertops, and flooringthat will leave you satisfied with your decision.
Country kitchens typically utilize colors in a way that is similar to nature. So, you will most commonly find primary colors like a bright sunny yellow, blues, greens, and maybe some red as an accent color. In addition to color, this type of decor is all about bringing outdoor elements inside, like woods, stone, and natural light.
It is always best to start with a piece that serves as inspiration to your color palette. It could be a piece of art, a wallpaper design, or an actual item that you might like to have in your kitchen like sunflowers, apples, or even watering cans. Whatever serves as your inspiration, it is most likely to act as your accent color, rather than the primary color that dominates the room. While this step is not essential, it can go a long way in helping you to stay consistent with your color coordination.
One of the most notable features of a country kitchen is the light color scheme. It is very common to see white or yellow wall color. Regardless of the color palette that you ultimately go with, it would be best to stick with pale pastel colors. Should you choose to go with wallpaper, it would be best to select a design with a light color background that incorporates outdoor elements in the design. Darker, more vibrant colors, like red or a dark blue, would be better used as accent colors, such as a border or a backsplash.
Because country kitchens tend to bring rustic elements inside, wood cabinets are a popular choice. Natural wood can easily coordinate with your color palette, whether you go with greens and browns, yellows and grays, blues and reds, or some other variation. While the type of wood is your decision, it is more common to go with lighter wood tones, like oak or maple. Another option would be white cabinets. Of course, if you choose to go that route, it would be best to have more variation in your choice of wall and countertop colors.
Granite countertops are an excellent choice for a country kitchen. Besides the fact that they are highly durable and easy to care for, they come in a variety of colors to coordinate with your color scheme. Also, because granite is a type of stone, it is a logical choice for a country kitchen’s use of natural elements. White granite can be a beautiful selection for your country kitchen and can be a great choice to offset wood cabinets, especially with green, yellow, or blue wall color. Of course, it might be a bit overpowering if you opt for white cabinets or walls.
However, gray or a sand color can be coordinated with almost any color—yellow, red, or blue—making it the perfect neutral color for country kitchen countertops. Yet, should you care for a little more color in your countertops, blue can be an excellent choice that can be coordinated very nicely with either white or yellow walls and red accents.
Like cabinets and countertops, you will want to select flooring that is both neutral and natural in appearance. You can choose to have hardwood floors installed or refinished, laminate floors, or tiles. Regardless of the actual material that you choose, it is best to opt for something with a wood or stone look.
Finally, country kitchens should have a brightness to them, and window treatments should function to preserve and allow as much natural light to enter as possible. White sheer curtains are ideal to maximize the amount of natural light that enters. Another option that might give the room even more of rustic feel, while enabling light to enter, would be lace curtains.
As you can see, color palettes for country kitchens can offer you a great deal of flexibility. Wooden cabinets, granite countertops, and wood or tile floors can be a great way to bring a touch of the outdoors into your home. Of course, one of the major advantages to using all of these neutral elements in your cabinets, countertops, and flooring is that should you decide to change your color palette down the line, these major investments will coordinate with almost any color scheme you choose. The most important aspect to a country kitchen is to pair these elements with light and bright colors.
