Designing a modern kitchen is a fun way to showcase your style and personality with popular colors. You can create a functional and usable space for your home.
You can create the perfect modern kitchen with the right design elements, shaker kitchen cabinets, and a strong color palette.
What is Modern Kitchen Design
Some may define modern as anything that’s not traditional, but modern design can have a specific, easy-to-identify style. Modern design gained popularity after World War I and featured flat surfaces, geometric shapes, and sleek designs.
For instance, shaker kitchen cabinets work in modern kitchens as they are flat and unfussy, while cabinets with additional molding or adornments wouldn’t fit in a modern space. Modern design also includes mid century modern, which is known for incorporating curves.
Another key feature of modern design is blending natural and man-made materials. It’s not uncommon to see plastic or laminate paired alongside natural wood and granite, like plastic or lucite stools, at a granite countertop kitchen island.
You’re also likely to see pops of bold colors, geometric patterns, and other items that bring a lot of visual interest into your kitchen. Let’s go over some of the popular colors in modern shaker kitchens.
Shaker Kitchen Popular Colors
Let’s discuss the popular colors of Shaker kitchen cabinets.
Gray
Greys work well in modern kitchens because they are so flexible. You can use light or dark shades, treat them as an anchor to bolder colors, add depth, or go for a monochromatic look in varying shades of gray.
All of these styles can look perfectly modern. Cool-toned greys can pair well against white, blue, or black, while warm grey can emphasize shades of cream, red, or brown.
If you’re planning on doing a monochromatic gray kitchen, make sure to vary the shades and texture. You might opt for light grey shaker cabinets with dark grey marble countertops and a glossy, mid-tone grey for your backsplash.
White
White is a no-brainer for any style of kitchen. All-white kitchens continue to be trendy, but for a modern kitchen, you can use white to temper some of the bolder and brighter shades used elsewhere.
You can opt for white shaker cabinets, marble countertops, and backsplash, but add metallic fixtures, hardware, and accessories in gold or bronze to give more visual interest, plus the mix and match of materials that are so important to modern kitchens.
If you want to keep things light and bright without staying all-white, you can opt for a light green or grey for your cabinets. This adds a bit more color to the room but keeps the bright whites in focus.
There is a reason why white is known for being the most popular color amongst shaker kitchen cabinets.
Red
Nothing is bolder in kitchens than a pop of red. There are lots of ways to incorporate red into your kitchen. You can pair a bright, poppy red with black or dark grey for a classic contrast, playing with the finishes as well.
Matte black cabinets with a glossy red backsplash create a lot of visual interest and depth. You could also pair a warm orange-red with lots of natural wood and a slate grey to create a nostalgic 70s look.
If you’d prefer a more subtle color scheme, try adding pops of red to your kitchen in accessories like bar stools, pendant lights, or the upholstered breakfast nook seating.
Green
While seafoam greens are popular in cottage kitchens, and contemporary spaces often use deep, dark greens, a modern room is one of the only places to use a bright, bold green.
Lime green and chartreuse are vibrant shades that can easily look overwhelming, but with the right color strategy, they can be the perfect blend of retro and hip.
Make sure to bring in many neutral colors, like light wood and white or steel and concrete, so that the green stays modern and sophisticated. Having the bulk of the room in neutral colors with just pops of your brighter shades will prevent it from being overpowering.
Blue
Aqua, pale blue, navy — virtually any shade of blue can work in a kitchen. The reason blue is so versatile is because it can pair with any range of colors, from the expected to the unexpected.
You can go for something bold and energetic like aqua and red, mature and earthy like teal and wood, or clean and crisp like pale blue and white. Since blue is such an eye-catching color, it can be used sparingly and still receive maximum impact
A great, mature way to use blue for the most visual interest is to pair light tan or blonde wood cabinets with pops of aquamarine in a glass-tiled backsplash, which draws the eye and creates a clean, simple kitchen.
Black
Bringing black into your kitchen is a foolproof way to make it look more modern. Black can be striking and bold, or it can be layered with other colors to keep it simple and sleek.
You can make the classic contrast of black and white, with black cabinets and white countertops and accessories, or balance black with warm, natural wood.
Black also works well as a complementary shade, helping other colors pop. For example, you can bring black into a kitchen to make a red look bolder or a green more vibrant.
Color blocking
Why choose just one? Color blocking, where multiple solid colors are used on opposite ends of the color wheel, is a staple of modern design.
The key to color blocking in your kitchen is to keep neutrals on hand. This will break up your color scheme and prevent it from appearing too overwhelming or primary.
You can choose a dark shade, like plum or maroon, with a vibrant shade, like aqua or chartreuse, and use neutrals like white, grey, or natural wood to ground the color scheme.
Red, blue, and white are also popular color-blocked combos in modern design. Use a heavy dose of white and a variety of blue shades to keep the room looking modern and adult instead of like a child’s playroom.
