Dark kitchen cabinets create a modern, sleek, and elegant look. They can be used to add a dramatic feel to an otherwise dull kitchen. Deep wood finishes as well as shades of blue and muted black are the most popular dark cabinet colors and will give your kitchen the bold character you are looking for.
These statement cabinets, however, pair with certain colors better than others. The wrong color combinations could make your kitchen feel too heavy and overwhelming, and we certainly don’t want to take the ‘comfort’ out of comfort cooking. Here are a few color combinations for your dark cabinets:
Bright White
Bright white works very well to brighten up dark brown cabinets. It helps to create a beautiful contrast that brings out the warmth in wooden shades. You can always experiment with bright accessories and countertops against white walls to add a refreshing pop of color to your kitchen.
Warm Neutral Tones
If you have dark wood cabinets with warm undertones, muted neutral can help highlight them. Off-white, beige, taupe, warm gray, linen, or even blush pink are a few tones that can complement warm dark wood cabinets very well. You can take this a step further by adding patterns and accents from the same color family against these shades.
Cool Neutral Tones
Cooler shades of dark wood (like espresso) are complemented very well by cool neutral and pastel tones. Using lavender, light blue, bluish-grey, or even sage green on walls would work well. These shades help bring out the coolness in your cabinets and create a contrasting yet muted theme for your kitchen.
Sunset Hues
Bright warm tones like red, yellow, and orange are the best if you’re looking to build on the modern tone of your cabinets and go for an urban look. While a plain bright color on your walls can feel a little daring, it can be softened by your darker cabinets.
We recommend consulting experts before settling on a color scheme. You might be tempted to play around with multiple colors, but some themes only work when executed with three or fewer color families. A qualified designer will have a good idea of the colors it would take to create the kitchen look you have in mind.
