A Guide to Decorating with Neutrals in Your Kitchen

A neutral kitchen design can be just as eye catching and bold as one filled with vibrant hues. By combining neutrals, you can create a calming and sophisticated space for you to cook, relax and entertain. The best part about combining colors like creams, beiges, ecrus and browns is that they can adhere to a number of styles, from modern to vintage. Follow these guidelines when decorating with neutrals in your kitchen:

Use textures
Because there isn’t a huge difference in tone when decorating with neutrals, it’s important that you utilize a variety of textures to provide visual interest. Consider stone flooring and wood countertops paired with a white ceramic farmhouse sink and cotton curtains framing the windows. These items may be similar in color, but they have textures that are vastly different, providing a room that’s filled with beauty.

This rule is especially important in an all-white, country cottage-style kitchen. To vary your style, stick to a combination of matte and shiny finishes to boost the personality of the space.

Blend the right colors
When decorating your vintage kitchen design, only blend a few neutrals – about two to three – so that you can avoid too many distracting hues. It’s also a good idea to stay away from shades that are too similar to one another. While you want the hues to coordinate, they should be different enough to the point where each color can stand on its own.

Choose one accent color
Just because the bulk of your kitchen is going to be neutral doesn’t mean that you can’t add in a splash of color here and there. Stick to just one bold accent color, like blue, red, yellow or aqua, and use it sparingly throughout the room. The color could be integrated into the design using a teapot on the stove, a tablecloth, a display of dinnerware, a vase filled with flowers or a backsplash behind the sink. This vibrant tone helps all the rest of your neutral shades stand out and create a visually stunning environment.

Integrate patterns
A pattern like polka dots, stripes or a floral design can help bring personality to your neutral-colored kitchen. Integrate patterns through the use of chair cushions, curtains, lampshades or placemats.

Show off color with lighting
In order to properly display all of the neutral tones in your kitchen, you have to install lighting that is going to show them off. Improper lighting can take away from the design and is unsafe when cooking with sharp kitchen tools. Take advantage of the natural light streaming in from your windows, as well as a ceiling mount and recessed lighting. A glamorous chandelier would work well in a vintage kitchen as a ceiling mount and provide a warm and subtle light to highlight all of the tones at work in your space.

If you have a mostly white kitchen, you won’t be needing bulbs with a high wattage and you may even be able to cut back on the number of fixtures in the room. The color white already brightens up the kitchen, so light fixtures that are too bright can be harsh.