The Latest in Kitchen Design Color Schemes
February 27, 2025
Is this the year you bring your ideal kitchen design to life? A kitchen remodel is an opportunity to enhance your Gainesville home’s style and functionality with a fresh layout, new materials, updated style, and improved functionality. The kitchen is the center of family life and the focal point for entertaining guests, so updating your kitchen can improve daily living, special occasions, holiday entertaining, and more.
Your kitchen design’s color scheme sets the tone for your room’s style, and this is largely influenced by your choice of cabinet color. Kitchen cabinets dominate your room’s style and establish your kitchen’s layout, work space, and storage. They are also one of the biggest ticket items in a remodeling budget, so it is important to choose cabinetry that you will love and that fit your needs.
Choosing a color scheme, largely based on your cabinet color. and matching it to other features like the countertop, backsplash, and accessories, is an important first step in planning your dream kitchen. In today’s integrated kitchens, especially if you have an open plan first floor, your kitchen’s color scheme must also blend with your home’s style, particularly adjacent living areas.
To help inspire your remodeling plans, let’s explore some of this year’s top trends in kitchen color schemes!
The Return of Warm Color Schemes
Warm earth tones and natural materials top the list of kitchen design color schemes this year. These shades fit the popular trend to create kitchens that are grounded, welcoming, and as cozy as your living room. This is a clear shift from the popularity of cool grays and stark white shades for kitchen cabinets (though these classics are by no means completely out of the picture!). The result is an inviting space at the heart of your home, where you will enjoy spending time.
Popular earthy shades that emphasize warmth include terracotta, clay, mushroom, rich green tones, and brown for painted cabinetry and other design features like backsplashes and accessories. We see this trend reflected in Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2025, mocha mousse. It is a warm, rich brown color evoking the delicious, inviting qualities of coffee or chocolate. A perfect choice for this year’s kitchen designs!
Natural wood finishes are another top choice (more on that in the next section) that immediately imbue your kitchen with warmth and charm. These cozy tones inspired by nature are the perfect way to achieve biophilic design, which is a popular trend that involves connecting your living spaces to nature and bringing the outdoors into your home.
Natural Materials and Wood Cabinetry
Natural wood cabinetry, along with other natural materials, is particularly popular for this year’s kitchen designs. If one of your key design goals is to bring the outdoors in and connect to nature, then making natural materials a focal point of your design is the perfect choice. Light stained wood is a top option as it allows the natural grain and texture of your chosen wood to shine through. Darker stained tones are also a stylish choice if you prefer a deeper shade for your kitchen cabinets. This increased demand for organic, nature-inspired design elements can also be incorporated in other features like wood floating shelves or wood countertops.
Use high-quality materials to get the best effect for your wood finish kitchen cabinets. Light, natural oak, alder, and warm walnut are very popular options for wood cabinetry that make your new kitchen as stylish as it is durable. Rift cut white oak is especially popular for its unique grain pattern that becomes a focal point of your kitchen’s style, especially in a more natural finish. A rich, darker wood stain, on the other hand, gives your kitchen design a sophisticated look.
There are many ways to create balance in your design by blending wood cabinetry with modern design aesthetics. For example, go for a two-tone cabinet design that offsets wood cabinets with a painted neutral shade like white or cream. Choose a countertop and backsplash that accents your wood and creates contrast in your design. Add layers of textures that give your design depth, from a textured tile backsplash to a leathered granite countertop. Finish off your design by pairing wood cabinetry with metallic accents that add more color to your design, for example gold or matte black hardware, lighting, and plumbing fixtures.
The Hottest Paint Colors for Kitchen Cabinets
While wood is surging in popularity, painted cabinetry is still a top option. Which one is right for you depends on your home’s style and your preferences. The latest trends in painted cabinets see a growing move toward soft greens and earthy blues that evoke a nature-inspired setting for your kitchen design.
- If green is your preferred color, we see a move toward sage, olive, and eucalyptus tones that truly give your home an earthy, grounded feel.
- Blue shades range from deep, navy blue that fits a more traditional style perfectly to softer powder blue or green-blue shades evoke a beachy or coastal style design.
- If you prefer a richer color palette, some homeowners are going for deep, jewel tones, such as rich blue, green, or red shades.
- Warm neutrals such as creamy white, beige, and taupe are still popular as alternatives to classic neutrals and create an inviting atmosphere in your kitchen design.
- Dark paint colors such as charcoal gray, espresso, and black create a bold, sophisticated look for any kitchen design. If you go for one of these darker colors, balance it with lighter design elements throughout your kitchen, such as white countertops and backsplashes for a striking contrast.
Classic Neutrals Are Always in Style
While color schemes such as natural wood and soft blues and greens are rising in popularity, certain neutral shades will always be in style no matter what happens with other up and coming trends. They may not feature at the top of every design trends article or social media post you see, but you can be guaranteed that these options will still be relevant for the foreseeable future.
White kitchens are the eternally classic staple in kitchen design and will never go out of style, even if they wane in popularity. Gray, beige, and taupe are alternative neutrals that have a timeless appeal. These classics are anything but boring when you update them with countertops, backsplash, flooring, accessories, and other design features to keep your neutral kitchen fresh. You can also layer textures in a neutral kitchen design to create a more appealing result.
Another option is to use classic neutrals in a two-tone kitchen design where, for example, the neutral shade features in perimeter cabinets and a contrasting color is used for the island. Think of classic white perimeter cabinets paired with blue or green island cabinetry. This combination gives you the benefit of a more trendy color without fully committing to that shade. Putting a lighter color on the perimeter also helps to make your kitchen feel brighter and more open.
Kitchen Design Elements that Complement Your Color Scheme
The key to a balanced kitchen design is to choose a base color palette you love now, and most importantly can live with for the lifespan of the kitchen. Then you need to balance it with other design features like your countertop, backsplash, and accessories. There are many ways to add distinctive pops of color in your backsplash tile, countertop veining, and accessories to accent your color scheme.
Pick a favorite shade such as warm yellow, deep red, or vibrant turquoise, and choose accessories that fit your kitchen design style and accent your cabinetry. Metallic features such as hardware, plumbing fixtures, appliances, and lighting also form part of your room’s color scheme.
Open storage, including floating shelves, recessed niches, and glass front cabinets are another prime opportunity to add a pop of color to your kitchen design. Select colorful glasses or dishware to store in glass front cabinets, or place colorful accessories, cookbooks, or storage containers on open shelves. Accent these spaces with lighting that illuminates your storage and highlights decorative features.
Finding the Perfect Color Scheme for Your New Kitchen Design
A kitchen remodel is an investment in your Gainesville home and your lifestyle, so you want to maximize your investment by choosing a design that fits your functional and style needs. Therefore, it is essential that you find a balance between your style and trending color schemes when choosing a color palette for your new kitchen.
Kitchen cabinets are especially key to this process as they typically form a sizable percentage of any kitchen remodeling budget and are not an item you want to tire of quickly! Remember to find a color scheme that works in your home and not just in photos online, based on your home’s style, your space, your lighting, and surrounding rooms.
What is the best way to get started in planning your new kitchen? Visit one of our Gainesville showrooms to see different cabinet styles and color schemes in person, where we have an extensive range of displays and cabinet samples. Viewing samples first hand and seeing how they work together with other design features is essential in making sure you choose the best option for your home.
Best of all, you can meet our design experts, who will put their years of experience to work in helping you create the kitchen design of your dreams and in making the perfect product choices. Let’s get started on your new kitchen today!