Maintaining an all-white kitchen can get wearisome. Here are five fresh and fun ways to bring in pops of color while keeping your cooking space neat and tidy!
White is a beautiful shade to use in a lot of situations. Weddings, nurseries, and meditative retreats wouldn’t be the same with any other color. But in your kitchen, white doesn’t always create the right atmosphere.
The kitchen is arguably the messiest and germiest room in the house. Trying to keep whites their original shade of bright and clean is like fighting an uphill battle.
Instead of sticking with pure white as your main shade, you can spruce up your kitchen by adding color in other ways. These five tips will help you breathe life into your white room and get rid of the stress of trying to keep it all clear
Start With Your Cabinets
The cabinets are the heart of a kitchen. They’re where all the main storage space is, but the whole kitchen suffers if they look blah on the outside.
If you can replace the cabinets entirely, it will change the look of your kitchen. In fact, a kitchen renovation complete with new cupboards can boost your home’s value significantly. Minor kitchen upgrades, either refinishing or replacing the cabinets and/or countertops, has an 80.5% return on investment as of 2019.
But if you can’t replace your cupboards, you still don’t have to stick with plain white.
Use temporary accessories to liven up a white cabinet, such as:
- Use metallic accents as your hardware for cupboard and drawer handles; then match your pots and pans with that metal
- Paint the hinges of each cabinet, inside and out
- Take any glass panes out of a cabinet door off (you can put it back if you need to) and replace it with a wire-mesh front
- Cover the paint with temporary wallpaper
There’s a fix for your cupboards, no matter what your budget or permanency in the home is. With a bit of creativity, you can breathe some life into a white kitchen, starting with the cabinets.
Use Colored Appliances
In a rental, you probably can’t switch your fridge or oven. But finding brightly colored smaller appliances is easy today.
Stainless steel topped the charts for the most stylish appliances of the past decade. Now, though, retro and colorful choices are knocking the steel style out of the running.
What Colorful Appliances Can Brighten Up Your Kitchen?
Top small appliance manufacturers like KitchenAid, Magic Chef, and Brentwood regularly increase the colors they offer their products in.
Some of the most popular shades right now include:
- Light turquoise, such as this Haden Heritage toaster
- Buttercup or Majestic Yellow, as seen in this KitchenAid Artisan Mixer
- Mint Green, offered by companies like this Magic Chef Retro mini fridge
But if those standard colors don’t appeal to you, you can always look for more unique hues. For a bit heftier of a price tag, Hamilton Beach offers a Miami Pink Pearl mini-microwave oven, for example.
You don’t have to replace all your stuff at once. Since the ultimate goal would probably be to match your small appliances with your pots, pans, and utensils, it can get expensive. Swap out the main items you use the most first, then slowly bring in the rest until everything matches.
Focus on the Floors
Today, most kitchens don’t have carpeting as the main floor covering. We’ve learned that it’s challenging to avoid mold and mildew, not to mention stains, in a room known for being messy.
You can still use area rugs to liven up space. Since these are temporary and removable, you can easily wash or clean them.
There’s a big drawback to these rugs, though — the risk of slipping.
If you fall in love with a design that doesn’t have an anti-slip backing, you should add one. Rug grippers keep the corners flat with a double-sided adhesive. They’re also washable, making them highly convenient and affordable.
Decorate the Walls
Of course, the easiest way to make a white kitchen livelier is to add decor to it. Start with your walls and pick a theme that you want surrounding you when you’re cooking.
A wallpaper border is an effortless way to liven up your kitchen. The self-adhesive, removable paper peels off the backing cleanly to stick to your wall. If you want to get rid of it, just pull it off!
A backsplash behind your sink is another place to add a decorative theme. If you live in a rental, no problem! Peel-and-stick backsplash tiles come in a variety of styles.
Finish off the look with matching pictures and artwork to brighten up any spaces that seem too white and open.
Do a Complete Overhaul
White walls make it easy to see all the splatters, stains, and debris. If your kitchen is so white that the other tips don’t make a difference, it might be time for an overhaul.
If you have to get approval from a landlord, they most likely won’t mind. Chances are, they might even foot the bill for the paint or have it done for you.
But you can suggest that you’ll pay for it and do it yourself if you can pick the colors. As long as you put it back to the original shade before you leave, many landlords don’t mind.
When the painting isn’t an option, you still have choices! Removable wallpaper is less expensive than its traditional counterpart. It’s also easier to hang and doesn’t make as much of a mess. Before you move out, you can pull it down and wash the leftover adhesive off the walls.
Conclusion
Trying to keep a kitchen white and clean when you’re always making messes in it is close to impossible.
Why fight a losing battle?
Use these tips to add some color to your white kitchen and get rid of the stress!
[Author bio]
Adam Marshall is a freelance writer who specializes in all things apartment organization, real estate, and college advice. He currently works with The Proper Raleigh to help them with their online marketing.
