Don’t you just love IKEA? I sure do! My trips to IKEA are usually a little different than most because I shop for color. Today, let’s talk about the color of IKEA’s kitchens.

If there is one room in the house that needs the most thought when it comes to color, it’s the kitchen. When you look at most kitchens you’ll notice that they don’t really have that much wall space for color. Most of the walls are taken up by cabinets, appliances and either windows or doorways so where does the color go?

The photograph I have above is very interesting. Do you see the walls? They are painted brick. This is a bit unusual for the typical kitchen to have but what a great color! It freshens and brightens this tiny kitchen and as you can see, you can bring in just about any accent color – I love the yellow. This looks like a fresh stick of spearmint gum 🙂

Less is more with this kitchen. It’s really simple and streamline with yellow being the main focus is this room. Yellow is a great color to start your day with. It warms up your eyes and starts the energy flowing in a positive way. Love the earthy wood on the wall for grounding this design and soft floats of gray squares on the floor for interest.

Get the “Professional” look for your kitchen. Now THIS is a nice take on a blue kitchen. The gray-stainless accents dominate the look of this kitchen with pops of blue to cool your eyes. It’s sleek, modern and very suitable to coordinate into the rest of your home.

This kitchen is the perfect set up for “Coffee and Conversation”. It’s a bit basic but that’s ok for the people who have all the busyness in the surrounding rooms. The white backdrop is perfect to enhance the birch veneer and the high back black bar stools are the grounding color for this room. I’d add some additional color with a plant or some greenery here and there.

Here you go! Green. Now there are many, many ways to incorporate green into your kitchen. The obvious choice would be a paint color if you had the wall space. This Kelly Green is a bit eye popping for my taste first thing in the morning but it’s the perfect lift me up for a otherwise very white kitchen. It’s clean and coming in strong with a blast of color to bring the eye from one side of the kitchen to the other. Any more color in this kitchen may be too much because of it’s size. Very nicely done.

Like it “Sleek & Sexy?” I know when there are too many color choices sometimes people have a tendency to choose all white, gray or a combination of white, gray and black. Is that bad? No but it’s safe, classic and you can always add color to the room with your accessories of course.

Brown is the best neutral to have in the home. It’s earthy, warm, inviting, grounding and will go with every color you have in the rest of your home. Since the kitchen is the center of the home, keeping it a neutral without being color specific is a really good way to go – yes you heard that from the color guru! With the way homes are designed, especially if you have an open floor plan, this design allows you to be creative in the other rooms while the core remains the base of your color palette.

Ok so you pick your favorite kitchen design and now comes in the color! Where do you put it, how much and which colors do you choose? Yikes that’s a lot of questions and answers that will take a day to write. So, let’s start off simple.

KNOBS: Hmmmm, not sure I like these – yea, I’m sure I don’t but if you do, it’s a really easy way to add color to your kitchen in a small and affordable way. Personally, I’d go for a more classic look with a glass or another hardware with a little more classic appeal. These look like they belong on a dresser in the kids room.

UTILITY CARTS: Yes! If the style of your kitchen allows it, this is an excellent way to add color to your kitchen.

PLANTS: And this goes for any room of the home of course. Whether they are the real deal of not, plants are always great to have in the home to add color, height, or to add a little something to a space that just needs a little love.

DECOR: You’ve heard me talk a lot about green lately and I’m not stopping now. Look now pretty these vases are! It’s a subtle green that will compliment any and all of these kitchens.

CANDLES: Candles are something that you can find in just about every home. They smell good and like these lanterns, can also look pretty cool. I actually have these in my home bar – a black and red one. I also bring these out on the porch in the summer. These are such a great find at IKEA for only $4.00. They also sell a huge box of the tea light candles that go with it.

So you see, kitchen design can be very intimidating but you just need a color plan. What colors do you want to have in your home? What style? There’s a lot to consider but IKEA is certainly a great place to start for some amazing ideas.