Stunning Kitchen Cabinet Colors That Are Still Reigning Supreme In 2024

Kitchens used to be utilitarian spaces filled with rising temps and dinging timers. The home chef rushed around the space to stir pots and remove baking dishes from ovens. But things have changed since those days, and cooking is now seen as an activity that goes hand-in-hand with gathering. Because of that, the kitchen has transformed from a busy working room into a second living room, and people want to design it in a way that is aesthetically pleasing and pleasant to be in. But what is considered aesthetic very much depends on the year you're in, and 2024 saw a shift away from minimalist kitchens towards more colorful shades. If you're redoing your kitchen and want to use a cabinet color that is trending in 2024, we have your back. We asked paint and color experts Sue Kim, Director of Color Marketing at Sherwin-Williams Paints, and Amy Krane, Architectural Color Consultant, principal designer at Amy Krane Color, and host of the podcast "Let's Talk (paint) Color," to exclusively tell us which colors are reigning supreme throughout the year. 

The answers might surprise you. While neutrals are still in, more people are craving bolder pops of color. They have had their fill of the blindingly white kitchens and instead want something a little more organic and with personality. This can include going towards more saturated colors such as green or choosing warmer neutrals that make the space feel homier and more inviting. Below is a breakdown of the top trending cabinet colors to consider.

Since the pandemic, there has been a rising trend of bringing nature inside as a calming tactic. Being surrounded by greenery makes you feel more peaceful and grounded, which is why green really took off as the color of choice for the last several years. And that includes in your kitchen. "All kinds of greens for kitchen cabinetry are popular [right now], with olive and other deep green hues prominently featured," Krane exclusively tells House Digest. "Having said this I've also seen a number of mid-toned greens that lean towards a more whimsical mint or aqua." Even Joanna Gaines says this nature-inspired color is perfect for kitchen cabinets, though she prefers to go the lighter route, embracing a classic grass green like Magnolia Green.

This color is a sharp turn away from the all-white kitchen that has been trending for the last decade, but it's easy to see why it has been embraced. "Green has been in the national zeitgeist since the pandemic and is a leading color trend in interior design for the whole house. Its association with nature and rebirth is understood on an unconscious level and resonates with us all," Krane explains. If you like the idea of the earthy shade in your kitchen but are nervous about dabbling with too much color, try a more neutral shade, such as sage green or a traditional pine.

If green isn't your speed, but you would like to try a color other than white for your cabinets, then consider blue. "Blue is a universally beloved color, used in every room of the house. It really never goes out of style," Krane exclusively tells House Digest. "But with the emphasis on applying more prominent colors in place of neutrals in the home, I'm seeing more and more blue." The all-white kitchen is waning in popularity (and might even decrease the value of your home!) As people are craving more color, they're turning towards blue as a comfortable replacement. Since blue is often used as a neutral in home design, it doesn't feel too bold to dabble with.

If you want to use blue in your own kitchen, there are several different shades you can consider. Krane notes that Benjamin Moore's Hale Navy color, which is a true navy, and Farrow & Ball's Hague Blue, which is a greener blue, have been popular kitchen picks recently. But if you prefer something airier, you can also experiment with a light blue shade. "For a couple of years now, we're also seeing very pale light blues, a color chosen as Color of the Year by a number of national paint brands," Krane shares. "Mid-toned gray blues like Benjamin Moore's French Toile also adorn kitchen millwork." Blue cabinets are then paired with either lighter wood tones or white accents, whether that's with accent cabinets or the room's trim.

Suppose you really love the idea of having green or blue cabinets, but natural wooden cabinets have also caught your eye. If you are having a tough time choosing between the two, you might not have to. One trend that is going strong in 2024 is having sheer-painted cabinets that allow the wood to peek through. "We've noticed a rise in popularity of natural blues and greens for cabinet colors, but these are paired with a level of transparency to allow the natural wood grain to peek through," Sue Kim, Director of Color Marketing at Sherwin-Williams Paints, exclusively tells House Digest. "These colors, when combined with the texture of wood, bring in biophilic benefits and deliver a sense of calm and respite, which we know people are trending towards in their home décor." This allows you to not only see the original lines and knots of the wood but also adds an attractive pop of color to the space.

These types of textured cabinets might seem rather earthy, but that style is very much trending for 2024. "Homes are increasingly becoming our sanctuary, and many are choosing to curate their space with colors and textures from nature," Kim explains. This is also an obvious pushback against the neutral kitchens of the last decade. "What's beautiful about this trend is that we are seeing more color, watery blues, and earthy greens, as opposed to just neutrals." To create a similar design in your own kitchen, look for washed finishes rather than opaque ones.

While more and more people are experimenting with color, that doesn't mean that neutrals are entirely off the table. Instead, people are moving away from the stark-white aesthetic of kitchens' past and are instead veering into warmer undertones. When Krane was asked which neutrals, specifically, have been having a moment, she answered, "Soft, warm neutrals like off-white, warm white, or mushroom." That's because they're timeless, and many people still want to choose a color that will stand the test of time for the next 15 to 20 years. "They never go out of style, and 'warm' is the color buzzword of the moment." This means you want to choose something with a warm undertone rather than a cool one.

Warm beige has been trending in 2024, so it only makes sense that other warm neutrals are also taking center stage this year. In fact, "Unsellable Houses" stars Lyndsay Lamb and Leslie Davis predict that beige and taupe are the cabinet trends to dominate in 2024. The push for more buttery undertones is in part of a backlash against the cool aesthetic of millennial gray, which has had the design world in a chokehold for the last decade. This design relied heavily on cooler colors of gray, white, and black and embraced clean minimalism as its defining characteristic. As more and more people are moving away from minimalism and towards a more lived-in, earthy aesthetic, they're craving warmer neutral palettes to create these rooms, and that extends to the kitchen.

While white kitchens are waning in popularity, white wood finishes are having a moment. These semi-transparent finishes are applied directly on top of the wooden cabinets, giving them a more modern tint while still allowing the natural grain, color, and texture to peek through. "Elegant and soulful whites, such as Minwax Simply White, bring out the beauty of wood grain and pair well with other wood tones," Kim exclusively tells House Digest. "This tactility of wood grain and soft whisper of color brings the serene mood that's much needed for evolving home life." This style goes hand in hand with the rise in popularity of white oak kitchen cabinets, which have a soft, white-tinged wood color. 

White oak is having a moment right now because it's a wood that is minimalist while still being earthy. It doesn't have a punchy color like cherry wood or orange-tinged pine, so it's able to blend into the background. It also feels more contemporary than other wood choices. An all-wooden kitchen can look traditional if you choose a darker wood hue, but the bleached white oak feels more modern and youthful. This is a great option to try if you like white kitchens but crave a warmer version that relies on more natural materials. These look especially great when paired with other earthy kitchen elements that are trending, such as marble backsplashes, wooden ceiling beams, and stone flooring.

As wooden cabinets are upwardly trending in 2024, so are cabinets with mixed finishes. This is when you have a mix of both painted and wooden cabinets. One color, such as white, dominates the bulk of the design, and the wooden shade is then used as an accent feature to break up the monochrome wall. The contrasting cabinet usually highlights a feature in the kitchen, such as a pantry or dish hutch. "Since we've stepped away from a more sterile cold white kitchen, trending kitchen design has included more variety, layering, and tonality," Krane exclusively tells House Digest. You might have already seen this trend embraced by your favorite HGTV stars, such as when Chelsea DeBoer added warmth to a kitchen by mixing white cabinets with white oak ones to give the space more dimension.

 There is also an art to mixing these finishes so they look cohesive rather than quilted together. "The wood is often natural white oak or walnut," Krane explains. "It's so beautiful in a kitchen mixed with one or even two painted cabinet colors. If two, it's best if one of the colors is a warm white or black." This is then usually mixed with a stone countertop, backsplash, and brass hardware. Plus, it's very important how you divide the color. "The divide of color is not vertical, i.e., upper cabinets and lower, but rather horizontal as in an island base or a full height pantry cabinet bearing the wood tone," Krane explains. 

If you're not overly concerned about creating a timeless kitchen and instead crave something a little splashier and with more color, then purple or yellow might be up your alley. These colors bring drama to the kitchen thanks to their dark, rich tones. "Two outliers hovering around the periphery for the bold and unintimidated are burgundy and ochre, separately," Krane tells House Digest exclusively. Burgundy has been quietly trending for the last few years because it adds a cosmopolitan touch to the room. The shade really took off in 2021 when Kirsten Dunst's burgundy kitchen was revealed in Architectural Digest, and people saw that the rich color created a cozy, enveloping feeling in the space. Ochre, on the other hand, is thought to be trending for similar reasons. The deep gold shade is not only unexpected and inviting, but it's also nature-inspired, which is what people currently crave in their spaces.

To use these kitchen cabinet colors in your own space, you can go in one of two directions. The first is to lean into the color and saturate it all over your kitchen. That is what Dunst did in her ranch home, pairing burgundy cabinets with a burgundy backsplash and a burgundy marble countertop, washing the room in the hue. However, if that's too much color for you, you can go in the opposite direction and try to tame the bold shades by pairing them with cream-colored backsplashes or white quartz countertops.