9 Inspiring Gray Kitchen Design Ideas

Kitchen trends go in and out of style but a few trends become design staples. Dark wood cabinets paired with granite is still considered a stylish choice after decades of popularity. White kitchens began as a trend and are still at the top of home decorating wishlists after several years. Gray kitchens began trending and have now become another classic kitchen color choice.

Gray Kitchens are Versatile

The beauty of decorating with gray is its extreme versatility. Unlike many colors, gray can be warm or cool. Though gray is considered neutral, it’s the undertones that determine if the gray will be warm or cool. Understanding how color undertones work can help you choose the right gray for your kitchen.

Quick Tips for Using Gray in Your Kitchen

If you’re adding gray paint to your kitchen, you’ll definitely want to sample it first with your countertops and appliances to be sure you have the right color. If your gray color will be coming from your appliances and hardware, they’ll almost always be considered a cool gray. Treating your metal appliances and hardware as a color in your palette can help you put together a balanced room. Don’t be afraid to mix and match metal hardware in your kitchen to balance warm and cool colors.

Gray is Warm and Welcoming for a Contemporary Kitchen

Contemporary kitchens can seem a little cold with shiny surfaces and metal appliances. A balanced and welcoming contemporary kitchen should have a mix of cool and warm colors and materials. A kitchen painted with Behr’s Double Click can be the start of your contemporary color scheme with warm cabinetry. When you pair warm neutrals with cool gray you’ll get an interesting and beautiful kitchen space. You’ll definitely want to surround your cool gray colors with warmth to avoid a cold and industrial look. Even the best industrial designs use weathered metals to provide the necessary warmth to the color scheme.

Try a Subtle Gray Accent for a Beach-Inspired Kitchen

If you love beach-inspired decorating you don’t have to take the theme too literally. Clean lines and warm organic neutrals like sand and gray, can help you effortlessly create a beach-inspired space. The secret to a contemporary beach kitchen is to keep your colors neutral and your design simple. KraftMaid’s Gray High Gloss Foil kitchen cabinetry has just the right amount of gray to balance the warm neutrals. Adding accents of soft blue or green to your neutral kitchen can help you create a serene space for cooking and entertaining.

Charcoal Gray is a Glamorous Kitchen Choice

If you love the look of a glamorous show-stopper kitchen, then rich charcoal gray cabinetry or wall color can be the perfect choice for you. If you keep surfaces and layout simple, you can add a few over-the-top accents like chandeliers and sconces. The key to a glamorous space is simplicity and sparkle. You’ll want to keep a classic color scheme with a predominant color like gray and accents of white.

Greige is the Perfect Gray for a Kitchen

Kitchens are a unique decorating challenge since most of your color will come from cabinetry, countertops, and flooring. Many kitchens don’t have much wall space for painting, so you’ll want to give a lot of consideration to the basic colors in the room. Neutral colors are the most popular choice for kitchens.

Greige Bridges the Gap Between Neutrals

Gray or beige paint in your kitchen can help you bridge the gap between wood, hardware, and flooring. Greige is an even better choice than gray or beige because it has the best of both colors, bringing the cool neutrals of gray and the warmth of beige. Greige walls and cabinetry can give your kitchen a high-end look even in a modest home. Mixing greige cabinetry with warm wood like in a neutral kitchen from Omega Cabinetry shows how warm and cool neutrals work together.

Mix and Match Gray Kitchen Ideas

If you’d like to add interest to your kitchen, but don’t want to add lots of colors, try contrast instead. Mixing and matching your cabinetry in deep charcoal gray and white creates a multi-layered style that can make your small kitchen look larger. The secret is to use contrasting neutrals. White and beige, beige and white, or white and gray, are all great combinations for a neutral kitchen.

Create a Custom Kitchen Look With Contrast

Mixing white or gray cabinets with dark wood finishes creates a gorgeous custom look for your kitchen. The key to using this stunning style is to strive for a balance between the two finishes. Mixing cabinet finishes works best with strongly contrasting colors so that there is no question that these cabinets are very different. Find inspiration in kitchen design to help you create the right balance for your contrasting colors.

Make Your Kitchen Island a Focal Point With Color

Even if you choose a kitchen filled with beautiful gray cabinetry, you can still treat your island as a separate furniture piece. This is a designer trick to make your kitchen look more spacious and create a custom kitchen look on a budget. For a gray kitchen, choose island colors like black, charcoal gray, or white. More vibrant colors can be used for your kitchen island, but like cabinets, you’ll want a color that will endure for a number of years even if you change the wall color at some point.

Using Gray as a Neutral

No matter your decorating style, if you love a clean look for your kitchen then you’ll want to keep things simple. A crisp neutral like Sherwin-Williams Kestrel White lets warm cabinetry pop but still creates a simple kitchen design. Gray can play a part in your uncluttered kitchen color palette as the color of countertops or flooring. Matte finishes like concrete reduce glare and absorb light giving you a more kitchen space.

Cool Neutral Colors for Your Kitchen

If you love the clean look of pale gray but worry that it may look too industrial, try a soft gray with blue undertones like Sherwin-Williams Breezy on your kitchen walls. A hint of blue undertone to your gray walls can make your kitchen feel more relaxing and welcoming. Be sure to pair your cool gray with crisp white trim color to balance your kitchen color palette. The secret to a fresh color palette for your kitchen is using the right balance of color so that the space doesn’t feel cold at all, just refreshing.

Any questions please feel free to ask me through Andrew@sinotxj.com