At a party, there’s a reason everyone gathers in the kitchen. Beyond easy access to food and drink, the room has become a hub of activity in our daily lives. “Kitchens are the everything space,” says designer and Behr ambassador Cara Newhart. From homework at the breakfast table to late-night conversations with friends, it’s a room that exudes comfort, and it’s often where the host is found.
“Homeowners are going to look to add more personality to this space.”
More time spent doing more than just cooking in the kitchen has given it a new level of importance in our homes, and thus an increased desire to redecorate it for function and for mood-boosting qualities. One of the most low-stakes ways to make a big kitchen change is a fresh coat of paint. This year, designers saw bold hues like berry, pistachio creme, and blue-gray finally catching up to requests for the ever-popular all-white kitchen. Designer Jay Jeffers also reveals that “darker kitchen colors were more popular than ever in 2023.” He’s expecting that trend to continue to rise next year.
“My biggest prediction for kitchen paint colors in 2024 is that homeowners are going to look to add more personality to this space,” says Sue Wadden, the director of color marketing at Sherwin-Williams. “Kitchens will no longer be spaces only used for cooking and storing food, but spaces for entertainment as well—so homeowners will want them to reflect this.”
No person is monochromatic by nature—and neither should our kitchens be. Below are 2024’s top kitchen paint colors to help give your space its own identity.
Earthy Green
Designer Augusta Hoffman coated her cabinetry in a deep, earthy olive paint.
Keeping calm in the kitchen is essential for any cook, so when the space does triple duty as a workplace and entertainment room, it’s got to be a place of peace. According to the National Kitchen & Bath Association’s 2024 Kitchen Trends report, the kitchen’s “key color goal will be to create a sense of nature, calm, and harmony.”
Choosing an earthy green is a good way to get grounded. “I personally love green in all shades for its ability to connect you with nature—from the deep saturated tones found in the rainforest to the soft, muted shades of green found by the sea,” says Los Angeles– and Houston-based designer Julee Ireland. The calming shade can also easily complement one of NKBA’s other top-of-mind materials for the 2024 kitchen: wood.
Warm Sand
In this kitchen designed by Husband Wife, the cabinets were painted in a warm, neutral hue—the perfect happy medium between white and a bolder shade like caramel or terra-cotta.
More neutral than the ubiquitous beige of the 1990s, warm sand is a middle point between Gen Z’s nostalgia for a decade they never lived and the average homeowner’s horror remembering the era’s Tuscan style reign. It’s also an easy step for those less confident about moving away from white. “Many of us are drawn to clay tones; however, we also want to make our homes feel as bright and spacious as possible,” says Joa Studholme, Farrow & Ball’s color curator. She recommends choosing a lighter hue for walls than for trim to make a room look vivid and larger.
Deep Sea Blue
Designer Sam Sacks painted the upper and lower cabinets of this Toronto kitchen in a rich true blue, one of 2024’s biggest color trends.
Blue kitchens in every shade blossomed in the homes of adventurous color lovers this year, and next year, more homeowners will be ready to take the plunge into its deeper tones. For those whose kitchen has long been a blank white slate, they can wade in by painting the island or cabinets in a naval-inspired hue to give your space a “coastal chic vibe,” says Wadden.
Take it a step further with color-matched kitchen appliances, a trend that Monogram creative director Richard T. Anuszkiewicz predicts will continue to “take a bold presence in the kitchen into the year 2024 and beyond.”
Hot Chocolate
In the redesign of his parents’ midcentury-modern home, Garrett Hunter embraced earthy tones, like the deep brown (Sherwin-Williams’s Van Dyke Brown) on the walls of the kitchen.
When a kitchen is meant for gathering, it’s got to feel cozy. “The kitchen is a workhorse and needs to be functional, but instead of giving it an industrial, sterile, or institutional feel, I want it to feel like a family room,” says Jeffers. “Rich browns help to create a warm and welcoming kitchen,” he adds and recommends Benjamin Moore’s Dragon’s Breath, a “tone that is almost black but slightly warmer.” Wadden concurs that “designs [are] trending out of grays and into browns. This wave of chocolate neutrals will usher in warmth and transition from icy and cold!”
Behr has the data to prove its lasting effects. According to a recent survey by the paint company, approximately two-thirds of Gen Z and millennial respondents agreed that a dark-colored wall makes a kitchen look more elegant, says Erika Woelfel, Behr’s vice president of color and creative services.
Rich Gray
The gray kitchens of 2024 will have warmer undertones, like this neutral beauty in Jeremiah Brent’s Manhattan studio.
While cool gray may be on the outs, rich gray is in for those who just can’t quite give up the versatile hue. With green and brown undertones, it’s a good neutral to the other earthen colors that will dominate kitchen paints next year. Alternatively, to tap into the depth of rich gray’s potential as an accent, pair it with a similarly warm white. After all, says Studholme: “Decorating over the next year is going to be all about balance.” While creating personality-driven interiors is more important than ever, you’ve got to know your color limits.
