Warm cabinets and walls balanced by cool white floor tiles.
The American biologist Barry Commoner noted that "The first law of ecology is that everything is related to everything else." This also holds true for the ecology of architecture and design, down to all the details. The particular stain color of a cherry cabinet and the degree of sheen on the cabinet surface have aesthetic relationships with all the other architectural elements in the room: floor, ceiling, windows and, importantly, walls. It takes some care to get these relationships right, which assures that each element complements and enhances the others. Does this Spark an idea?
Warm Cabinets With Cool Walls
Psychologists generally agree that colors in our environment affect our emotional state. Dr. Kalyan Meola notes that subjects associate warm colors, such as red, orange and yellow, with cheerfulness, liveliness and excitement, and associate cool colors, such as green, blue, purple and mixtures of white and black, with peacefulness, purity and calm. Architect John Storyk recommends that rooms where occupants spend a lot of time should have a balance of warm and cool colors, so that they will always find their current mood supported by some colors in the room. This suggests that if you have warm cherry kitchen cabinets, you might choose a cool color for your walls, such as a light French blue or gray.
Integral Color Design
You can achieve a similar balance between warm and cool kitchen colors by matching cherry cabinets with gray or blue slate floors. You could then paint the walls cream or light beige--neutral colors that bridge between warm cabinet colors and cool floor colors. This color scheme works well with cool gray or black granite counters. Alternatively, you could paint the walls a very light gray wash, then warm up the color balance with butcher-block countertops. In both instances, the wall colors provide a neutral background that supports stronger floor, cabinet and countertop colors. This kind of integral color design creates a sense of unity.
Include Texture
When selecting colors for your kitchen, also consider the textural relationships between the important architectural elements: floor, walls, cabinets, countertops and ceiling. You can balance lacquered, high-sheen cherry cabinets with matte light gray walls. If the cherry cabinets have an oiled finish, you can paint the walls a glossy near white or light gray, then select a slightly warmer floor color or pattern.
Include the Ceiling Color in the Design
Including ceiling colors in kitchen color schemes will further unify the design. A kitchen with a balance of relatively strong color elements in the rest of the room might benefit from a low-key ceiling color. You can tie together dark cherry cabinets, black granite countertops, red linoleum floor squares and French blue walls with a light gray ceiling color.
Tags: cherry cabinets, light gray, paint walls, architectural elements, between warm, black granite