In 2023, popular kitchen colors moved towards nature-inspired tones and warm neutrals, with greens (sage, olive) and blues (dusty, deep) leading the way for calming vibes, while warm neutrals like cashmere, cream, and greige offered cozy sophistication, and bold blacks provided modern drama, often balanced with whites for timeless appeal. Earthy oranges, terracottas, and blush pinks also added warmth, creating inviting, personal spaces.
When it comes to kitchens, white, gray, blue, red, yellow, and green really shine. Each of these shades can do something different for the room, but they all help create a warm and welcoming space. Warmer colors such as red are believed to stimulate the appetite and are an excellent option for kitchens.
For 2025, kitchen color trends are moving away from stark whites towards warm, earthy tones, with deep greens, rich browns (like walnut), calming navies, and soft, buttery yellows taking center stage to create cozy, inviting spaces. These natural hues are complemented by a rise in natural wood grains, textured finishes, and high-contrast pairings, while soft neutrals like warm ivory and "greige" (beige-gray) offer calm backdrops, bringing warmth and character back into kitchen design.
We recommend simple neutral colors like white, silver, light gray, champagne, and cream, which add a sophisticated touch while still keeping your kitchen light and airy. Darker colors tend to not be as popular of a choice but can still work in this setting too!
Soft Neutral Color Palettes
Colors like warm whites, creamy taupes, and soft grays provide a serene foundation that evolves with your taste. They also help emphasize the natural beauty of materials like wood, stone, and metal.
Key Points. Avoid outdated cabinet shades like navy, cherry wood, mustard yellow, and country red. These colors once felt warm or luxurious but now make kitchens look dated or overly themed. Instead, choose softer neutrals, natural woods, or richer muted tones for a timeless feel.
In 2025, warm neutrals like beige, taupe, and creamy off-whites are replacing gray as the go-to base color in interior design, bringing warmth and coziness, while bolder colors like earthy browns, rich greens, and even purples are also trending for accents, moving away from cool grays for more inviting, character-filled spaces.
Interior designers said dull color schemes and the wrong lighting can make your kitchen look cheap. It's also important to pay attention to details such as cabinet handles.
From "school bus yellow" to pure white, experts suggest avoiding these hues in the cookspace. Paint colors may be the most divisive category in the interior design space, especially in kitchens. After all, whether you're an avid cook or occasional chef, you likely have to see or be in your kitchen every day.
A good base colour should be light and neutral, such as white, beige, cream or grey. These colours will reflect light and make your kitchen look brighter and bigger. - Add some contrast.
Soft whites, warm greys, muted greens and natural wood tones create a calm, elegant backdrop. They pair well with changing accessories, so you can update the look with new bar stools, pendant lights, or splashback tiles without replacing the whole kitchen.
Dulux Colour of the Year 2025 True Joy™, is an uplifting yellow that fills a room with optimism and joy. This bundle gives you three yellow shades to choose from, all guaranteed to bring a positive vibe to your space and a smile to your face.
7 Best Kitchen Cabinet Color Ideas to Consider in 2026
Warm Neutrals and Earthy Tones
The era of stark, sterile kitchens is giving way to spaces that exude warmth and comfort. In 2025, expect to see a shift toward warm neutrals and earthy tones: Beige, sand, and taupe hues create a calming, grounded atmosphere. Terracotta and clay add a touch of rustic warmth.
Neutral and timeless colors generally achieve the highest resale values. Buyers are drawn to kitchens that feel light, airy, and adaptable. Shades like Classic White, Soft Gray, and Creamy White create a clean, inviting atmosphere that appeals to a wide range of tastes and minimizes the need for immediate updates.
We're seeing a significant resurgence in desert-inspired shades. Beige is a warmer alternative to gray, making it a great choice for designers who want to create a more cozy and welcoming space. Not quite as warm as tan, beige is beautifully bright and airy.
These aren't just colors that are out of style—they're shades that actively discourage offers and can lower perceived value.
The classic white kitchen is sometimes criticized for being boring—but it will never go out of style! According to Houzz, 43 percent of renovating homeowners opt for white cabinets.
The 1/3 cabinet rule is a design guideline suggesting a cabinet pull or handle should be approximately one-third the width or height of the drawer or door it's on, ensuring visual balance and proper scale; for drawers, it's often centered horizontally, while for doors, it's placed vertically in the top third for a classic look, but the rule can be adjusted for modern aesthetics or very large/small cabinets, say Manovella Design, Igrab, and Hapny Home https://hapnyhome.com/blogs/guide/how-to-use-the-1-3-rule-to-place-cabinet hardware.
Outdated Cabinetry
Granite countertops typically pair with natural wood cabinets, but pine or hickory cabinetry can date your kitchen's style back a few decades. Additionally, cabinetry with gold or brass fixtures shows that the kitchen hasn't had an update for a while.
The 60-30-10 rule is an interior design guideline for creating balanced kitchen color schemes: 60% is your dominant color (walls, large cabinets), 30% is your secondary color (benchtops, island, splashback), and 10% is your accent color (handles, bar stools, decor, tapware) for pops of personality, ensuring visual harmony.
Shades like olive green, inky blue, or even a warm charcoal instantly feel a bit more luxurious and layered. These shades add depth and look incredibly refined (especially when paired with brushed brass or burnished bronze hardware) in a way that whites or pale stone and grey often lack."
6 Outdated Paint Colors We're Saying Goodbye to in 2025, According to Designers
The first color is your main color, the second color is still prominent, but not as much as the main color. The third color is your accent color that you use sparingly or sprinkled here and there. If you're into numbers you could break this down into 60%, 30%, and 10%.
Cherry Red. We're going full cherry mode in 2025. Inspired by the Cherry Coded trend, this bold hue is here to make a statement. Nail it, wear it or decorate your space with it.