Light or Dark Kitchen Cabinets?

Light or Dark Kitchen Cabinets

No room has a greater drawing power for guests or regular inhabitants of a home than the kitchen. There is an undeniable allure in the smell of dinner, the warmth emanating from a hot stove, and the togetherness suggested by a kitchen table that no other room can match. This is why the design choices you make for your kitchen may be the most important in your whole home. As much as guests and family may venture off into other rooms, the kitchen remains the center of attention, as well as a core place where memories are formed.

One primary concern to designers is whether kitchen cabinets should take on a dark or a light hue. Most certainly, each of these styles has its benefits, and your ultimate conclusion will depend on your taste as much as your personality. One thing must be kept in mind when selecting the shades of colour you will use for cabinets, however. You must remember that a cabinet does not stand by itself. Rather, the cabinets are but a component of a full kitchen design and should be meticulously chosen to work in conjunction with its various surroundings.

On the Lighter Side

That being said, the most flexible and versatile shade for kitchen cabinets is a lighter shade. It can simply emit particularly desirable impressions without the need of coordinating the rest of the kitchen with too much precision. If for example, regardless of the colour, lighter shades mirror the expansiveness of a clear sky. Lighter kitchen cabinets make whoever is in the kitchen feel like they are in a wide open area.

Flexibility is also a hallmark of the lighter hues, as lighter cabinets will lend themselves to combination with any colours insofar as your wall’s base colour, curtains, and other furnishings or embellishments in the kitchen. It’s possible to have a black countertop or a dark mahogany kitchen table, for example, without any problems if most of your kitchen is lightly coloured. Conversely, if your cabinets are darker in nature, then conscientious designing is required to avoid the whole ensemble affecting an impression too somber or heavy.

Another strength of the lighter shades is that light hues suggest cleanliness and order. These are standard characteristics of any good kitchen. After all, people want to feel like they are eating in a sanitary location. Light shades of colour provide this impression automatically. That is not to say that dark shades look dirty, but they have less of that cleanly glow whites, light blues, and other brightly tinted colours seem to effortlessly emanate. Unfortunately, this can also become a weakness for your colour choices if you maintain your cooking space haphazardly. The closer a colour is to white, the more easily it becomes mottled by daily use. When cabinets are a pristine white, in fact, there is nowhere for dirt to hide and you must either keep your kitchen in tip-top shape or it will show the signs of neglect.

The Allure of Dark Cabinets

Ultimately, the choice depends on what kind of personality you want your kitchen to reflect. Dark shades have their place. They hearken to elegance, formality, and in some cases, dramatic flair, which is the perfect impression some people want to leave their guests with. Contrary to the situation for light-coloured cabinets, they also show less signs of wear or messiness, so they will last longer. The challenge for dark cabinets comes in combining them appropriately with the rest of the environment. If your kitchen is too dark, then it may appear to be small or tightly enclosed. Remember to take into account the physical size of the room and the colour of the rest of your furnishings when considering dark hues for your cabinets.

Additional Articles about Kitchen Cabinets:

Light or Dark Kitchen Cabinets?

On the Lighter Side

The Allure of Dark Cabinets

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