Installing a new countertop in your home is a smart investment for many improvement projects. Whether you’re updating the kitchen or turning repairs into upgrades, a new countertop brings both modern style and timeless function to the kitchen design. You may have already chosen the stone, hue, and texture of countertop you want. You may have chosen a matching backsplash and maybe even chosen a new sink in the process. But what about the cabinet colors?
Aside from the countertop, the color of your cabinets is the single most style-defining part of your kitchen. Why? Because there’s so much cabinet surface seen when you admire your kitchen. Take a photo of your kitchen and it’s easy to see the percentage that is just your cabinet’s paint or stain color. Of course the color of your cabinets will influence how your countertop and entire kitchen will be perceived.
Today, we’re here to offer a guide and make a few smart suggestions on repainting your cabinets with a new countertop in the plans.
Complimenting the Countertops with Cabinet Design
The new countertop is a serious investment, one that doesn’t require all-new cabinets. Just an all-new look for your cabinetry. With a fresh coat of paint or stain, the visual update of your kitchen design will be complete. The question, of course, is which shade or hue will perfectly complement your new countertop or the rest of the kitchen design?
Deepen the Wood Stain
If your kitchen has natural wood tones and you want to keep it that way, simply apply a new layer of stain. Choose a stain that highlights the warmer flecks or veins in your countertop. Marble counters and quartz counters have veins that accent the natural tint of the stone. In the yellow tones in your countertop may look best with paler shades of wood stain. For countertops in the pink to rust hues, a deep, rich wood stain will make your kitchen look both timeless and palette-perfect.
Apply a new layer of stain to your cabinets so that they better accent the colors shown in the natural or composite countertop stone. The best part about stain is that you can always make it darker with another layer; you can layer in on and decide when your cabinets are the ideal shade for the new kitchen look.
Classic Black
Everyone knows the classic black-and-white kitchen design but every few decades, the bold style of solid black cabinetry comes back into play. There is nothing classier than a kitchen that knows how to contrast without color splash. If you want your countertop to pop as the most vivid part of your kitchen, leaving the rest elegantly easy on the eyes, then black cabinets are back.
We suggest a rich black for the exterior and doors of an all-black kitchen cabinetry while painting the interior a subtly cool gray to improve inner-cabinet visibility.
Bring Out the Countertop Accent Colors
What colors are reflected in the subtle design of your countertop? What hues are seen in flecks or rich veins along your counter’s surface? what are the under-tones and accents to the natural stone you’ve chosen? Let these colors become your guide.
Your countertop already has a natural palette that you can choose to enhance with the cabinet paint color. For example, a dark goldenrod cabinet might seem out of place unless your marble countertop has gold-hued veins of yellow-orange in a creamy almost-yellow stone base. A cool quartz with fleck and veins of blue could made to pop with intensely or subtly blue cabinets. Dark blue will cause the accents in the countertop to stand out while a pale or gray-blue will cause the blue in the countertop to pull the whole room together – as just one example of many.
For counters with minimal accent-color, like granite countertops, choose a paint that brings out the natural color of the stone itself. Some solid stone counters are warmer with yellow undertones or cooler with bluish undertones.
Understated Jewel Tones
Jewel tones are also coming into play as a wow-ing home style trend. Sapphire, garnet, amethyst, jade, and dark emerald are all amazing ways to make your kitchen stand out and bring out the rich accent colors used by the entire house. If you’ve been using a favorite jewel-tone for cushions, throws, or doorframes, walking into the kitchen will feel like an elegant reversal of the usual color-scheme.
Paint your cabinets a dark jewel-tone that highlights your favorite tone in the house. Powerfully colored cabinets go with almost any countertop, especially if you chose a countertop that already looks amazing with the current home interior design palette.
Replace with Frosted Glass
One amazing upgrade to modern cabinetry is to replace or alter the cabinet doors for frosted glass. There is something uniquely attractive about seeing your dishes neatly stacked yet obscured behind every glass-inlaid cabinet door. Bring style and class to your kitchen design by highlighting the new countertop with equally shiny cabinetry. Frosted glass looks best with white or gray cabinet paint matching a countertop with neutral tones. A granite counter, for example, or a white marble with classic gray veining will loop spectacular paired with pale gray cabinets and frosted-glass cabinet doors.
Matching Cabinet Hardware to the New Paint Colors
Let’s not forget the door hardware. The handles installed on each cabinet or drawer will also accent the entire look and feel of the new kitchen design. Ultimately, the style needs to be consistent and attractive in your kitchen space. The size and shape of the hardware should be chosen first with your use in mind, then the aesthetic of the kitchen design. For example, you may prefer knobs, looping handles, or elegant pull-rings for your daily cabinet use. Be sure to choose the correct size to look beautiful on your current cabinetry.
Then select the finish for your hardware. You can get any metal tone including silver, gold, brass, bronze, aged brass, wrought iron, or blackened silver. If you want something other than the finishes available, you can always paint or powder-coat the hardware to exactly the color you prefer. Your cabinet handles have a unique opportunity to bring out any metal or accent tones in the countertop. Granite and white marble or quartz would all look nice, for example, with simple silvered fixtures, while a warmer yellow stone might look best with brass fixtures.
Planning a New Countertop and Cabinet Kitchen Design
Are you planning to install a new kitchen countertop, or do you have a countertop that needs the perfect cabinet color upgrade? We can help. Always plan your cabinet design to match a new countertop, whether you’re matching the counter to the cabinets or the other way around. Together, they bring the kitchen’s entire design and color palette together. With the right design, your kitchen can become the new style spotlight for home’s entire family space.
Contact us today to consult on the perfect countertop and cabinet design for your kitchen.