17 Ways to Add Colour to a White Kitchen

Do you love white kitchens as much as I do?  For me it just doesn't get any better than a kitchen with clean fresh white cabinets. While I love this classic look it can sometimes slip into looking stark and institutional if not enough contrast and detail are added to the kitchen design.  So I've gathered together inspiration photos to demonstrate seventeen ways to add colour and warmth to a white kitchen.  Let's have a look:
1. Paint the walls a colour so the white cabinets really stand out

design inc

2. Add a colourful backsplash (careful with this one though as you don't want to go too trendy on something that costs a lot to replace)

House Beautiful

3. Paint the back of shelves or glass-fronted cupboards a contrasting colour

4. Add colourful decorative items on shelves, in open cupboards, and on the counter

Kathryn Ireland via Canadian House and Home

5. Purchase colourful appliances (would you have the nerve to do this? I'm not sure I would.  Just make sure you really love the colour.)

House Beautiful

6. Add a throw rug or runner (While Googling white kitchens, I found this one styled two different ways which are interesting to compare)

Apartment Therapy

BHG

7. Add a colourful tea towel

decorpad

8. Add some plants or a bouquet of flowers 

House to Home

9. Store your cookbooks out in the open (and only purchase colourful cookbooks!)

decorpad

10. Hang art on the walls

Bobbie Burger's kitchen via Canadian House and Home

11. Add a chalkboard and decorate it with colourful drawings

Kitchen Building

12. Select colourful fabric for drapes or blinds 

HGTV

13.  Pull some cheerful stools up to the kitchen island

Design Manifest

14. Add a bright light

Home Klondike

15.  Paint a window frame or door in a fresh bright colour

Coastal Living

16.  Add a colourful floor

Elle Decor via Apartment Therapy

17.  Paint the ceiling

via Design Megallih

Gorgeous aren't they?  Which kitchens did you like best?  
By the way, if you want to read two other posts in my white kitchen series you can click on the links below:

4 Great Countertop Colours for White Kitchens A Rainbow of Kitchen Islands

A Rainbow of Kitchen Islands

A few days ago I wrote a post about what different countertop colours work best in white kitchens (you can read about it here).  Since I adore white kitchens, one post just didn't seem to be enough and seriously it was so much fun to spend hours and hours pouring over beautiful white kitchens that I had to write another post. The more I Googled and ogled over all the lovely white kitchens, the more I became interested in the kitchen islands - more particularly the colours they were painted. 

I took my job seriously and did some old-fashioned counting to see how many kitchen islands were white versus a contrasting colour.  I found that 75% of white kitchens also had white islands to match the cabinets, like in the photo below.

Country Living

And any colour in the kitchen was added through accessories rather than the colour of the island.

Midwest Living

The white-on-white unified look is beautiful without a doubt.  However about 25% of the kitchens were willing to change things up a bit and paint the island a contrasting colour.  Neutrals were by far the most popular choice, but some bold souls went all out and chose pretty much any colour you could imagine.  I loved the wild abandon of colour in some of the kitchens and hope I might be that brave if I ever have a kitchen island.  

I set myself a challenge to try and find kitchen islands in every colour of the rainbow and I think I passed the challenge.  Have a look and see what you think.  Let's start with the neutrals (from light to dark) and then work our way through the rainbow of colours, shall we?

NEUTRALS

BHG

Houzz

Margot Austin

Paper blog

A RAINBOW OF COLOURS

Harvey Jones

House to Home

Colorado Homes

Houzz

Kitchen Designs

Appliance in Home

BHG

BHG

Country Living

House Beautiful

BHG

BHG

House to Home

Houzz

We've come to the end of the rainbow - unless we include all the colours that is.  

Digsdigs

What did you think?  Are you an all-white sort or would you go with the minority and paint your kitchen island a colour?  Would it be a wild colour or a neutral?  

4 Great Countertop Colours for White Kitchens

I love white kitchens - always have. I think they are so clean looking and timeless and homey. I painted our kitchen cabinets three summers ago and still love them (you can see read about it and see pictures here)

My friend Ricki Jill from Art@Home is doing a makeover on her kitchen this month.  She is trying to make some decisions about what kind of countertop to use so I thought I would help her by providing inspiration pictures of some gorgeous white kitchens.  Ricki Jill has white cabinets and walls and a limestone and travertine floor tile.  She needs to decide not only on the countertop, but also pick a colour to paint the island, and possibly select a new backsplash.  You can see her present kitchen here.
When I looked through photos of beautiful white kitchens the countertops fell into four main types - white, black, wood, and beige. Apart from the wood counters, I haven't considered what type of material the counters are made from as so many of the manufactured materials look very close to natural stone and in the end it is the colour and the sheen that impacts the overall look.  There are many excellent articles on what type of countertop to select based on durability, maintenance, and cost - all important factors, but it is the look of the kitchen that I'm after here. A must read series of blog posts are on Maria's blog Colour Me Happy.  She loves white kitchens and gives lots of helpful information about selecting and decorating white kitchens.
Let's have a look at some white kitchen inspiration photos working our way from the most common countertops -  Miss Popularity white - down to the least common - beige countertops.  
1) White  The white-on-white look is very popular in kitchens as it is so clean looking and easy to live with.  You can add colour to the kitchen through accessories or paint on the walls which can be changed more easily than a countertop or tile backsplash. White counters range from pure white manufactured materials to white with gray veins or speckles in natural or engineered stone. This is a consistently classic, timeless look and there were oodles of inspiration photos - these are some of my favourites.

Canadian House and Home

Reasons to Breathe

Houzz

Picklee

7th House on the Left

Interior Bathroom Design

Style at Home

Maria Killam, Colour Me Happy

2) Black/Charcoal Gray After white counters, black or charcoal gray were the next most popular.  They provide a nice contrast with white cabinets and the dark countertop colour can tie in with the appliances or the backsplash.  The black/gray and white are neutrals so other colours can easily be incorporated into the kitchen as accent colours.  We have a charcoal gray laminate in our kitchen and I love how easy it is to care for - red wine, beets, cherries, or any other tough food stains are not a problem.  

Margot Austin

For the Love of a Home

Canadian House and Home

Nine and Sixteen

decor*pad

3) Wood  Wood countertops are a lovely neutral and really warm up the kitchen. I have heard good things about wood counters as long as they are well sealed or routinely oiled, but they are still more delicate than many countertop choices. 

A Country Kitchen

House Beautiful

via Young House Love

Often kitchens incorporate more than one type of countertop and wood can be a good choice for a part of the counter or the island.

Cobi Ladner's kitchen via Chatelaine

4) Beige I did find some white kitchens with beige or light brown countertops although not many.  I especially like the first kitchen below.

Traci Zeller

Edmo Woodworking

The Garden Web

So there you have it - four countertop colours to consider with white kitchens.  By far the most popular are white and black/gray counters and for good reason as they are timeless, classy, neutral, and look good with a variety of different accent colours.  
What colour countertop appeals to you the most?  It will be interesting to see what Ricki Jill selects.
p.s.  You can read about a rainbow of kitchen island colours in this post.

Linked to Tutorials and Tips Link Party at HomeStories A to Z