Inspirational ideas
Colour ideas & inspiration for the kitchen
The kitchen has become the true living room of the house — and its cabinetry the most rewarding surface there is to paint. A deep green on the units, a mineral white on the walls, a contrasting island: colour structures the space as much as it gives it character.
Our kitchen schemes bring together cabinetry, islands, walls and woodwork in finishes made for daily life, splashes included.
“In a kitchen, colour is chosen like an ingredient: properly measured, it changes the whole dish.”
Which colours work in a kitchen?
In a kitchen, colour is read mostly off cabinet fronts: large flat surfaces, usually seen close up and under direct light. A shade that looks right on a colour card can turn insistent there — hence the principle running through every scheme below: one committed colour on the base units, a lighter shade on the walls and ceiling.
For painted kitchen cabinetry our most-used shades are Proper Blue No.67, Observatory No.34, Pleasure Gardens Green No.214 and Cragside JB.10 — colours deep enough to hold their own against a stone or timber worktop. Mortlake Red No.290 and Shocking Pink FTT-006 make memorable islands and sculleries.
On the walls, Greenwich Time No.8, Cotton Street No.3, Pure White No.1 and Elgin No.20 keep the room bright without turning it cold, while Limestone No.55, Frieze No.84 and The Boltons No.28 lay down a neutral ground that lets the cabinet colour speak.
All are available in washable, kitchen-ready finishes. See also our blue paint ideas, green paint ideas and whites and off-whites, or browse all our kitchen paints.
Our schemes
46 schemes
