Colour can be deceptive!

It is essential that you take samples home, look at them in the light of your kitchen, but also against other things going on, in and around your kitchen. Although there are the current colour trends, this is your kitchen and it has to suit your individual taste.

Some advice:

Cool and warm colours: colours like blues, greens, some whites are cool colours, reds, browns, and some whites are warm. Be careful when choosing your colours that you dont mix a cool with a warm (unless you are wanting a contrast effect i.e. Red and blue) if you put a warm white cabinet with a cool white bench for example, the warm white can look dirty. Its not just about your bench and cabinetry - if you put a warm coloured kitchen in a cool coloured room, the effect can be the same.

Dark and light: This is a common discussion with customers, is it better to do light with light? dark with dark? or mix them up? quite simply - light with light or dark with dark wont be as ‘busy’ as dark and light. It also depends on your design, If you have ceiling high cabinetry in a small space, it may be better to do light cabinetry.

Patterns: Have you ever heard the saying “keep it simple stupid”? or “less is more” ? Pattern of course is great - but not usually when you have it on your doors, bench tops, walls, and curtains (unless Art Nouveau is what your after) If you are having a patterned flooring, you make sure that the bench top will compliment.

Finishes: Dark colours show marks and finger prints more! And of course gloss finishes too. Although that beautiful black kitchen looks graphic and stunning, if you have young children, you will be cleaning finger prints a lot! If this is you, maybe some accents of dark gloss cabinetry can be incorporated as overhead cabinets, rather than below bench cabinets.

And dont forget - there are proffesionals out there to help, if you are really having difficulty, employ a colour consutlant.