10 striking kitchen colour ideas that are perfect for a mid-year home revamp

Interior designer Dries Otten is famous for his use of strong colours. In this kitchen, he combined them with a variety of different materials including oak, teak, quartz stone, and brass.

Dries Otten

This kitchen was inspired by modular design with its different colours and shapes. The Belgian interior architect and designer Dries Otten deliberately wanted to give the impression that this kitchen had grown bit by bit over the years—almost like the residents of the home, a family with two small children. There is a logic to Otten’s palette with different functions each assigned their own colour.

Style And Storage

The wall units offer the desired storage space and, thanks to their mirrored fronts, also make the room feel larger. The green rectangular box above the oven is a cleverly disguised hood.

Anne Deppe

There’s room for the whole family, as well as a guest or two, on the custom corner bench.

Anne Deppe

Sina Gwosdzik and Jakob Dannenfeldt, the founders of Berlin design studio Jäll & Tofta, are experts at designing custom kitchens. Designing their own, however, presented a completely new challenge for the two designers. They were now spoilt for choice, since they were able to draw on their extensive knowledge of colours and materials and there wasn’t a client who had to satisfied, as is usually the case with commissioned work. According to Gwosdzik, “each of us had our favourite materials and everything else was built around them”. In addition to unusual colours and materials, the main focus was on the functionality of the kitchen and assuring there was sufficient storage space. Since the room is not particularly large, the duo’s smart solutions included wall units that make the room appear larger thanks to their mirrored fronts. The almost white walls and the light grey flooring also serve to lighten the space. Both elements also draw the focus to the colourful kitchen furniture. It’s almost “like a stage for the fixtures”, Gwosdzik says.

A Spoonful Of Honey

The coloured, geometric surfaces of the Samsung refrigerator (right) meet the light blue kitchen cabinets from Reform.

Volker Conradus

Stucco, high ceilings, and old floorboards are combined with a colourful kitchen by Reform—this is where Sarah Gottschalk happily cooks with her family.

Volker Conradus

“I always knew I wanted a yellow kitchen, but then a baby blue cupboard came along, and then I painted the walls pink and it slowly dawned on me—the project had gotten away from me! I had ended up in Candyland”, says Sarah Gottschalk, cofounder of the fashion blog This is Jane Wayne. She realised she needed professional help. With some guidance from Farrow & Ball, a new colour concept was built around the yellow and blue cabinets. The ceiling is now painted in a soft blue that picks up the blue from a cupboard, while the walls and stucco details are in two different tones of white. The doors, frames, and skirting boards are all in an earthy neutral tone. And the result? “Feels good” is Gottschalk’s brief summary.

Marble Meets Marmalade

Cabinets, shelves, and panelling work together as a seamless whole thanks to a calculated choice of colours and materials.

Mikael Olsson