Kitchen paint colors, in real kitchens

A kitchen color is usually a cabinet color, and that changes everything. On a wall, paint is a backdrop; on a run of cabinets it is furniture, hit by hard light, next to stone, wiped every day. The rooms here reflect that: of the twelve colors, only four are whites or off-whites, and the two most photographed kitchen colors on the site are a sage, Nantucket Gray, and a wheat yellow, Late Wheat.

The spread is wide for a small sample. Two greens, three blues, a deep red, a gray, a yellow and four whites, across 56 photographs. The kitchen is where the house takes a risk in paint because the paint is on a surface that can be repainted without emptying the room.

All three brands name a harder-wearing finish for cabinets. Benjamin Moore: 'We recommend Advance®, a waterborne alkyd formula that offers the application and performance of traditional oil paint' 'with easy soap-and-water cleanup. Its durable, furniture-quality finish stands up to repeated washing.' On sheen, Benjamin Moore says of semi-gloss that 'its glossy look makes it one of the best paint finishes for kitchen cabinets.' Sherwin-Williams: 'the best paint for cabinets is Emerald® Urethane Trim Enamel,' which 'creates a hard, durable finish that withstands the wear and tear of frequently used areas like kitchens'; on sheen, 'gloss, semi-gloss and satin are all perfect sheen choices.' Farrow & Ball points to its 'two toughest interior finishes – low-sheen Flat Eggshell Paint Finish and mid-sheen Modern Eggshell Paint Finish.'

Designer Kimberly Oxford of Kimberly Oxford Interiors, in Livingetc, gives the pairing: 'On cabinetry, a durable eggshell brings out its subtle sheen, while a matte finish on walls gives it a more relaxed quality.' The pattern, then: a hard-wearing cabinet paint on the doors, from eggshell up to semi-gloss depending on the brand, and a flatter washable finish on the walls.

Kitchen walls take splashes and fingerprints, so the brands recommend washable finishes with a little sheen. Benjamin Moore's eggshell 'provides an easy-to-clean, nearly shine-free finish, suited for most areas of a home,' and its pearl is 'optimal for walls in high-traffic areas.' Its Aura line 'stands up to repeated washing and stain removal with no color rub-off or loss of sheen.' Sherwin-Williams calls Duration 'a popular, durable finish for kitchen cabinets, walls and high-traffic areas.' Farrow & Ball's washable finish is Modern Emulsion, which the brand pitches at kitchens and bathrooms.

Keep the wall color and the cabinet color in the same finish family if they are the same color, and go one step flatter on the walls. A kitchen with semi-gloss walls looks like a hospital corridor.

The designers we read agree the stone matters most. Michelle Lisac of Michelle Lisac Interior Design, in Homes & Gardens: 'The countertop stone is a major factor to consider.' Her method: 'My best advice for identifying undertones, especially in kitchens, is to pull a few similar colors and compare them,' and 'when assessing undertones across the array of finishes in a space, I try to ensure a good balance of cool and warm tones.' Viki Chupik of Chupik Design: 'Seeing the samples against the stone in natural light makes all the difference.'

The whites are where this bites. Victoria Forehan of Victoria Forehan Design, on a north-facing kitchen: 'Warm undertones are your friend here – a white with yellow or pink in it will always outperform a cool gray-white.' Ben Hawkswell of Roundhouse, in Livingetc: 'pairing a white kitchen with warmer materials is far more livable,' and 'using similar tones for the countertops and cabinetry provides a modern, modular look.' On this page, Pointing is the crisp white against a bold marble, Swiss Coffee the cream against warm stone, Silver Satin the cool white for cool stone, and School House White the one Ginnett says 'works with everything.'

Sabah Mansoor of Sabah Mansoor Design, in Homes & Gardens: 'Our clients often request white kitchens. All-white can feel too stark, so we opt for creamer shades.' Her studio's trick: 'We like to mix the off-whites, using a greige tone for the cabinets.' Hawkswell: 'A total white-out will look flat and bland.' Anand Sheth of Studio Anand Sheth: 'White paints can be tricky, as they depend heavily on the character of the natural daylight in your space.'

The whites on this page follow that advice. Swiss Coffee is the cream; School House White is the soft warm off-white; Pointing is the bright one, but a warm neutral by Farrow & Ball's own classification. Rachael Curzons of Bailey Curzons used it on 'all of the joists, the paneling, kitchen cabinets, window frames,' and the director of Studio Hollond says of it, 'Not only is it fresh, it is very warm.' Silver Satin is the only one here that leans cool, and it earns its place next to cool stone.

Green is the kitchen color of the moment, and the designers say why. Roger Higgins: 'It's a nice change of pace from an all-white kitchen yet still feels timeless if you use the right shade.' Lindsay Anyon of Anyon Interior Design: 'We see clients steering away from white or gray kitchens and wanting rich, complex palettes with a focus on materiality.' Allison Lynch of Roundhouse, on a deep green: 'It works in spaces that don't have natural light, too, because it's so rich and warm.'

The two greens on this page are the two ends of the family. Nantucket Gray, nine frames of the Julia Chasman kitchen, is the sage end: Benjamin Moore files it as a neutral, and on cabinetry it behaves like one. Calke Green, in the Centered by Design kitchen, is the deep end: Farrow & Ball's 'rich and traditional sage green' at full strength. Both pair with warm wood and brass. Our greens roundup covers the rest of the family.

Three blues are photographed here, from the pale Seabrook through the mid-tone Santorini Blue to the deep Grays Harbor, and they show the whole arc of the blue kitchen. Lynch, on a dark blue: 'It's a classic for the old dark blue kitchen.' Grays Harbor at LRV 12 is the one that goes properly dark, and it is the sort of blue that still reads as blue at night rather than as black.

The red kitchen is rarer. Preference Red, Farrow & Ball's 'deepest and richest' red, in the Olivia Emery kitchen, is the proof it can be done: Chapman calls it 'cozy, cocooning' and says it 'lends spaces a lived-in look,' which is what a kitchen wants to be. Fiona Ginnett's advice for a bold kitchen is to soften the walls around it: 'For kitchens with bold or dark colors, Setting Plaster offers a gentle, softer contrast that keeps the space balanced.'

Charlotte Butler of BK Eleven, in Livingetc: 'North-facing rooms amplify any cool undertone in a paint color because the daylight entering the space is indirect.' That makes the cool-leaning Silver Satin a risk in a north kitchen and favors the warm whites and the wheat. Benjamin Moore's Helen Shaw, on gray-greens in a north-facing kitchen: 'The green element of these hues will lift the overall effect and add much-needed warmth.' Nantucket Gray is exactly that color.

South-facing goes the other way. Ruth Mottershead of Little Greene: 'South-facing rooms usually have warmer light, making colors appear more yellow.' Late Wheat and Swiss Coffee will both read warmer than their chips there; the cool whites and the blues come into their own. Pointing, per Rachel Gowdridge, 'works well in both north and south-facing rooms.'