These 30+ Ideas Make the Case for Two-Tone Kitchen Cabinets
Ditch monochromatic for dramatic!
So you’ve solemnly sworn to update your kitchen cabinets this year. There’s just one problem: You can’t commit to a color scheme. Sure, there are trendy colorways like green and the enigmatic black look, or you could always stick to a classic, like all-white or gray. We’re here to let you know that it is possible to have the best of both chromatic worlds with multicolored cupboards. In fact, two-tone kitchen cabinets can help you accomplish a myriad of design goals through complementary and contrasting colors or materials. Looking to accentuate those traditional Shaker cabinets? Consider accenting them in bright white, à la designer Jean-Louis Deniot. Want all eyes on your kitchen island? Paint your cabinets to suit, as designer Ken Fulk did in a stunning Sonoma scullery. No matter what you choose, these 32 lively kitchens prove that, when it comes to cabinets, two colors are often better than one.
Green and Stainless Steel Cabinets
Leave it to Emiliano Salci of Dimorestudio to transform his small kitchen into a work of art. Here, the green cabinet units provide a delightful contrast to the shiny stainless steel ones. The color-block magic continues on the walls with the black and gold paint.
Outlined Cabinets
Jacques Grange gave one of his dear friends a bright kitchen to match her cheery personality. Here, an otherwise all-white kitchen is given a quirky twist with cabinets outlined in a bold azure.
Weathered Green and White
Everything is timeworn in Elena Reygadas’s Mexico City apartment—including the well-used green kitchen island, which had a prior life as a carpenter’s bench. The mottled tones make the perfect contrast to the crisp off-white cabinets behind.
Warm Timber and Bright White Cabinets
Take a page from designer Ellie Cullman’s book by matching your cabinets to your island but keeping your cupboards white and staining the island to a deep, toasted finish. The hexagonal backsplash tiles, marble countertops, and splashes of yellow add even more contrast.
Pale Green, Copper, and Timber Cabinets
The minty-fresh cabinets in this Hamptons home designed by Celerie Kemble are given a country twist with the warm copper tones found on the island and also on the hood, sink, and hardware.
Light Timber and Grass Green Cabinets
What could be more relaxing than kitchen cabinets coated in a plucked-from-nature shade of green? Studio Shamshiri took the rustic look even further in this California dream home by leaving the monumental kitchen island au naturale.
Mirrored Cabinets
Instead of contrasting color on your kitchen cabinets, you could also juxtapose textures and sheens. We love how the architectural salvage gurus at English firm Retrouvius added mirrors to the cabinet panels in this eclectic London home.
Color-Blocked Cabinets
Why have just one or two kitchen cabinet colors when you could go for three? This graphic scheme, in a Vancouver mother-daughter pad designed by PlaidFox, incorporates matte gold, teal, and charcoal tones for an ultracontemporary vibe.
Striped Cabinets
Or take the two-tone look another direction by painting your kitchen in Op Art–worthy stripes. Designer Tim Veresnovsky clad this entire pint-size kitchen in black-and-white eucalyptus veneer.
Black and Stainless Steel Cabinets
The residents of this Capri dream home have run their family-owned restaurant for generations. It was only fitting then that they get a kitchen with commercial grade appliances. Their designer Giuliano Andrea dell’Uva found them handsome black-and-stainless steel ones with contrasting cabinets to match.
Timber and Tile Cabinets
This once-dated ski chalet received a light-filled makeover, courtesy of designer Sara Oswalt, who gave the kitchen a modern-yet-cozy vibe with the custom timber cabinetry and contrasting tiled island. Bonus points: The wood cabinets complement the dramatic beams.
Gray and Timber Cabinets
This Manhattan apartment has plenty of Art Deco pizzazz (just check out those floors!). We also love how designer Bradley Stephens selected muted gray cabinets to allow the rich wood island to be the real showstopper.
Red Lacquer and Brass Cabinets
Red-hot Parisian designer Hugo Toro gave these kitchen cabinets a leather effect with layers of lacquer (there’s a first time for everything!), but the kicker is the brass accents framing them out, not to mention the mesmerizing marble floors and walls.
Dark Blue and Green Cabinets
We know this is an article about cabinets, but we love the idea of contrasting your open shelves too. In the case of designer Charlie Ferrer’s tiny New York kitchen, that meant blue lower cabinets topped with classic green shelves.
Weathered Timber and Metal Cabinets
This Japanese-inspired house, located in upstate New York, is proof that you can achieve plenty of contrast on your kitchen cabinets just by mixing the right materials. Here, the brawny island is made from different woods and accented in riveted metal.
Robin’s-Egg Blue and White Cabinets
Fashion legend Agnès b. has called this historic manor, located just outside of Versailles (yes, that Versailles), her home for the last 30 years. The kitchen reflects her easy sense of living (and dressing) with the robin’s-egg blue cabinets flanked by crisp white ones.
Mixed Material Cabinets
Another approach to kitchen cabinets? Block them out! Here, in a Los Angeles bungalow designed by LAUN, each segment of the kitchen received its own dramatic volume in a single material, including polished brass, lacquer, and stone.
Cream and Gold Cabinets
When you hire Lorenzo Castillo, you’re guaranteed some glamour—especially in the kitchen. In this historic home, a maximalist backsplash and swoon-worthy chandelier (it was sourced from a palace!) is brought back into the realm of mere mortals with country-style kitchen cabinets in mustard and cream.
Pale Oak and Brass Cabinets
Here’s another example where the materiality of your kitchen island can play up that of your cabinets. In the case of this Hamptons home, designer Poonam Khanna kept the cabinets in cool, pale oak but clad the island in polished brass that will patinate over time.
Blue and Black Cabinets
These two facing cabinet blocks might appear strait-laced, but if you look closer, you’ll see that designer Joe Nahem cleverly complemented and contrasted them with blue-versus-black cabinetry, and terrazzo-versus-stainless steel countertops.
Anna Fixsen, Deputy Digital Editor at ELLE DECOR, focuses on how to share the best of the design world through in-depth reportage and online storytelling. Prior to joining the staff, she has held positions at Architectural Digest, Metropolis, and Architectural Record magazines. elledecor.com
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