Get our paint color consultant tips for choosing the best paint colors for kitchen walls, whether you want a light and bright kitchen or a cozy cottage feel.
Choosing kitchen wall colors can be surprisingly tricky. If you spend much time looking at paint color information online, you’ll find that much more attention is paid to choosing the perfect kitchen cabinet color. In our Colorado color consulting practice, we’re more often hired to help clients choose cabinet colors too.
But kitchen wall paint can’t be overlooked! It works together with your cabinets to create your kitchen color palette, which often lays the foundation for the rest of the home.
Ready to find the perfect color for your kitchen walls? Keep reading for our expert tips on how to choose the right hue and get a list of our top favorite kitchen paint colors.
*This post contains affiliate links for products I use and love. If you click on some links and make a purchase, I will get a small commission at no cost to you. This helps pay for the costs of the blog, so I can continue to offer great content to our readers. I don’t get compensation from any of the paint companies for my color reviews.
About The Color Concierge
Our Colorado-based paint color consultants make finding the right paint colors for your home easy. Whether you’re painting the exterior or interior of your home, our simple yet effective process lets us get your paint color right the first time. We’ve helped thousands of homeowners transform their homes into a space they love. Learn more about ONLINE COLOR CONSULTATIONS today.
Things to Consider When Choosing Paint for Kitchen Walls
Before we get into our favorite colors, it’s important to understand how to choose the right hue for your kitchen walls. Just because a color is beautiful – or because a paint color consultant says it’s a great color – doesn’t mean it will look great in your kitchen.
Be sure to consider these things when choosing a wall color:
Existing elements
It’s not often that you’ll pick a countertop or backsplash to match the color of your walls – even if you’re building or remodeling a kitchen from scratch. Instead, you’ll need to find a paint color that works with your hard finishes. Be sure to pay attention to the colors and undertones in these finishes and make sure your paint color won’t look discordant.
Cabinet color
Kitchen cabinet color is also a big driver of your wall color. One of the most common questions we get is whether the walls should be lighter or darker than the cabinets. The answer is that it really depends! For white cabinets, we often choose a wall color that is a touch darker, but for wood cabinets or darker painted cabinets, a lighter wall color usually works best.
Lighting
The lighting in your kitchen is also a critical factor when choosing a kitchen wall color. Even though a kitchen painted with dark walls might be dramatic, it isn’t necessarily practical. Since the kitchen is a workroom, I usually recommend a lighter paint color on the walls so that you can see what you are doing as you prep your meals. Otherwise this room can get oppressive, and I personally really get frustrated if I don’t have good lighting while I’m cooking.
If your cabinets are primarily white or very light, then you can get away with darker walls, since the white cabinets will keep the kitchen light. For this option, you should have lots of upper white cabinets, lighter wood, or just tons and tons of natural and artificial light.
Layout
One of the most challenging parts about choosing kitchen wall colors is the layout of most modern homes. The vast majority of kitchens we work on with clients are part of an open layout space. This means you can’t just treat the kitchen as a separate space – it needs to flow with the living and sometimes dining space as well.
Our recommendation is always to paint the kitchens the same color as the rest of the open layout space. You can get more creative with kitchen wall colors if your kitchen is in its own separate room.
Sample Kitchen Wall Paint Colors
We always recommend that you test paint colors (Article) in your home because lighting can completely change a color, both on interiors and exteriors.
In the old days, this meant we painted a large poster board with sample pots and a huge mess.
Now we have a better way to test paint, with Samplize Peel-and-Stick samples!
- Samples pre-painted with 2 coats of real paint from the manufacturer.
- Large 9” x 14” samples to see the color better in the lighting.
- Delivered overnight
- Colors are accurate
- Less expensive than painting a large poster board with sample pots
- No mess, and no toxic paint to dispose of
I use these in my color consulting practice for exact results. Discover Samplize peel-and-stick paint samples and sample our favorite kitchen wall colors via the link below.
8 Best Kitchen Wall Colors (Chosen by a Paint Color Consultant)
There are so many great kitchen paint colors out there it was hard to limit ourselves to just a few, but we wanted to share hues that we have actually used in our clients’ homes. All of the pictures below are from real client projects, with paint colors chosen based on the cabinets, hard finishes and lighting in their homes.
Best Paint Colors for Kitchens with White Cabinets
If your cabinets are some version of white (such as a clean white, off white, etc), then we recommend painting the walls slightly darker than the cabinets. If your kitchen cabinets are creamy, consider using the same white as your cabinets in a matte or eggshell sheen, which will create some contrast while still looking cohesive.
Here are some of our favorite wall colors for white kitchen cabinets:
Benjamin Moore Simply White
Benjamin Moore Simply White (Article) is one of our favorite white paint colors, and it works really well in kitchens with low natural light. It has warm yellow undertones that help it bring a kitchen to life and can work with many white cabinet colors.
In the kitchen below, we paired Simply White walls with Benjamin Moore Oxford White (Article) cabinets to add depth to the otherwise monochromatic palette in this room.
Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee
Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee (Article) is another one of our favorite white kitchen wall colors. This is a gorgeous, creamy hue with warm yellow undertones that we love using to update homes with lots of Tuscan finishes.
This is an example of a color that we often use on both the cabinets and kitchen walls, simply shifting the sheens to create contrast. In the home below, for example, the cabinets are Swiss Coffee with a satin sheen and the walls are Swiss Coffee with an eggshell sheen.
We picked Swiss Coffee walls for this room because the backsplash and countertop were so earthy. You can see in the before and after pictures below how quickly this kitchen was transformed by the paint – without having to change any expensive finishes!
Benjamin Moore Cornsilk
Benjamin Moore Cornsilk (Article) is a gorgeous, colorful kitchen wall paint if you want something a little bolder for your kitchen and you have white cabinets. While many homeowners reach for warm neutral paint colors in hopes of keeping their homes timeless, a color like Cornsilk is actually more timeless than you’d think!
Cornsilk (Sample) is a warm but soft yellow paint color. It’s muted enough to be easy to work with but still looks bright and cheery on the wall. In our client’s kitchen, we used Benjamin Moore Cornsilk on the walls and paired it with Benjamin Moore Oxford White cabinets (Article), trim and ceilings.
Best Paint Colors for Kitchens with Dark or Wood Cabinets
If your cabinets are wood or painted a darker color, I typically recommend an earthier white or light neutral for the walls. But as you’ll see below, there are opportunities to get a little creative with your kitchen wall color when you have wood cabinets.
Sherwin-Williams Natural Linen
SW Natural Linen (Article) is a really interesting color and one of our favorite kitchen wall paint colors. It is a warm beige hue with pinkish, peachy undertones, which give it a really unique look. Its undertones can make it a bit hard to pair with countertops and other hard finishes, so make sure to test carefully in your kitchen.
In the home below, the walls in the kitchen space are SW Natural Linen (Sample). Its peachy undertones flow perfectly with the cherry cabinets and warm backsplash.
Sherwin-Williams Alabaster
Sherwin-Williams Alabaster (Article) has long been one of our favorite SW white paint colors and it’s a great one to use for kitchen walls. I especially love recommending Alabaster walls for kitchens with light wood cabinets.
Alabaster (Sample) is a warm, muted off-white paint color with strong yellow undertones. It looks gorgeous when paired with natural wood tones. In the kitchen below, we used SW Alabaster kitchen walls with light wood cabinets and a Benjamin Moore Tate Olive kitchen island for a pop of earthy color.
Benjamin Moore Cambridge Green
Benjamin Moore Cambridge Green (Article) may seem like a really out-of-the-box pick for kitchen walls, but it’s absolutely gorgeous! If you have tons of natural light and open spaces, then you can get away with a darker wall color like Cambridge Green.
In the kitchen below, for example, from my colleague Maddie Camilli’s Colorado mountain home, bright natural light and warm wood cabinets come to life with Cambridge Green wall paint.
Keep in mind that this house is really high up in altitude, so the lighting is really bright. This is one of the rare situations where I wouldn’t have wanted to paint the walls in this house a very light color. Literally, the homeowners would have to wear sunglasses inside!
Best Paint Colors for Kitchens with Neutral Cabinets
If your kitchen cabinets are a lighter neutral – but not white – then I typically paint the walls lighter than the cabinets. It’s important to have a high contrast between the cabinets and the walls. Otherwise, the lovely cabinet color will get lost in the room.
Benjamin Moore Cloud Cover
Benjamin Moore Cloud Cover (Article) is an off-white paint color with invisible violet undertones that has enough pigment to never look stark.
These undertones help it pair with many other paint colors and work well in both well-lit and darker spaces.
This is a great kitchen wall color if you’re using warm beige or warm greige cabinets, because it will provide enough contrast without looking cold.
In the home below, for example, we painted the cabinets with Benjamin Moore Edgecomb Gray and the walls with Cloud Cover. The combination is gorgeous!
Benjamin Moore White Dove
Benjamin Moore White Dove (Article) is an iconic off-white paint color that is versatile, warm, and lovely. It has soft invisible yellow undertones, but grayed out so you can hardly see it. We love using White Dove kitchen walls alongside medium greige and beige cabinet colors.
In the home below, for example, Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter (Article) cabinets look beautiful alongside White Dove walls.
Sample All the Best Kitchen Wall Colors
- Benjamin Moore Simply White
- Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee
- Benjamin Moore Cornsilk
- Sherwin-Williams Natural Linen
- Sherwin-Williams Alabaster
- Benjamin Moore Cambridge Green
- Benjamin Moore Cloud Cover
- Benjamin Moore White Dove
Key Learning Points
Choosing a kitchen wall color isn’t always simple, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Make sure to consider all the key factors outlined in this guide and remember:
- Choose a kitchen wall color that aligns with your hard finishes, including your countertop, backsplash, flooring and more. It’s much easier (and affordable!) to match a paint color to those finishes than it is to find finishes that match a paint color.
- Pay close attention to the lighting in your kitchen when choosing a wall color. A dark kitchen is not only dreary, it’s just not practical because its hard to see what you are doing as you cook! We almost always use light kitchen wall colors for this reason.
- Choose a paint color that complements your cabinets and provides enough contrast so they don’t get lost in the room. White cabinets usually look best with a slightly darker wall color, while non-white neutral cabinets work well with slightly lighter wall colors. If you have wood cabinets, you may be able to get a little more creative.
No matter what, don’t forget to test your paint colors. It’s a standard best practice. Whenever I test my paint colors, they are perfect, and when I don’t test they turn out wrong. Learn how to test your paint colors here.
NEVER, EVER use paint matches from a different brand than the one specified. Results are poor and there are no standards for the sheens. Even though your painter may truly believe it can be done, don’t do it. See results from paint matching here.
Online Color Consulting
If you still need help with paint colors, check out our Online Color Consulting packages or an In-Person Color Consultation in the Denver Metro area.
Related Posts:
- Benjamin Moore Cornsilk Review
- Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee Review
- Benjamin Moore White Dove Review
- Benjamin Moore Cloud Cover Review
- Sherwin-Williams Alabaster Review
- Benjamin Moore Cambridge Green Review
- Best White Kitchen Cabinet Colors
- Tuxedo Kitchen Cabinet Color Schemes
About the Author
Hi, I’m Michelle Marceny, founder, owner, and Principal Color Designer at The Color Concierge. I believe a fresh coat of paint can completely transform a space. The Color Concierge was born out of my drive to help clients fall back in love with their homes. My clients trust me to help them find the perfect paint color for their home – whether it’s a whole-house paint color scheme or ideas for a single room.
Since The Color Concierge was founded in 2017, we have completed over 3000 color consultations, both online and in-person. I am a Certified Color Expert with 7 years of experience creating interior and exterior color palettes throughout North America.
We love your comments! Please note that the blog is meant as general advice, and it is not possible to give out specific answers to your paint questions. If you want more specific advice, our Online Color Consultations will help you pick your paint colors. Thank you for your understanding.
