Black and white kitchens may seem typical or boring, but they are anything but. True, they are simple as far as the color scheme goes, but there is still a lot of room for creativity. From floor to ceiling the possibilities are limitless. The simple pairing of black and white is timeless and can be apart of any home from victorian to modern. The look will be bold and crisp every single time. Going for a bold and modern color scheme can be tempting, especially more a big remodel, but design fads come and go quickly. A simple black and white kitchen design will last decades.
How to balance the colors is the ultimate question. Creating a black-dominated look will lend the room to a more sophisticated and elegant design. A white-dominated design, one the other hand, will be more open, bright, and tend to be more modern. It is certainly not necessary to split square footage equally between, and it is often better to pick one to accent the other. And like with any design, make it work for the space available. If space is limited favor white and if space is plentiful, you can favor black. And no matter what size the room is, it’s always best to keep and simple and pick one or two key features to show off (backsplash and decor on the kitchen island are always great go-tos to add some color).
For any home, a black and white design will work. To help get your grand ideas of the ground, we’ve pulled together a few different designs that show a variety of ways to approach a black and white kitchen.
1. Checkered Floor Love
The go-to black and white move is, of course, tile floor and this is the perfect room for it. It is a smaller kitchen, so the tile isn’t overwhelming. Instead, the rest of the kitchen can stay simple while the floor takes care of the fun. Since the space is small, it’s best to go with white cabinetry and walls to keep the room from shrinking. Leave the black to the low-level items like counters. Plus, the subway tile backsplash is the perfect go-to for a black and white theme.
2. Bold Black Cabinets
Black cabinetry is always a bold choice and there are a few must-haves to consider before going for it (all shown here). One, the space must be large. Dark walls can create a claustrophobic feeling while white walls can open up a small space. Two, the whites must be sharp and clean. Warm whites or cremes will just be dull in contrast to the black and any imperfections will be amplified. Lastly, the kitchen must let in a lot of natural light. Without natural light (or floodlights) the whole space will be dark and low energy. Plus, you can’t go wrong with subway tile and marble countertops!
3. Pop of Color
This black and white kitchen is absolutely gorgeous. Two things stand out about this space: the orange stools and black hood. Since black and white are neutral and concentrated pop of color is a great idea and simply having a black fume hood instead of a typical stainless steel one creates a design piece out of a mechanical necessity. Lastly, since this kitchen as ample storage below the counters the lack of upper cabinets really opens up the room, and tiling the entire wall adds dimension but not clutter.
4. Ying-Yang
Most black and white kitchens rely on a dominant color for the cabinets and walls and the opposite color for the counters and accents. But this kitchen decided to go for a ying-yang design instead with the marble countertop bringing it all together. It is a very bold idea, but in the right space it really can pay off. If you notice, this kitchen has a lot of mix and matches pieces, not just the black-white parallel. One wall has open shelving and the other black cabinetry. And even the pendant lights are slightly different from one another. To reiterate, this is a bold design, but if you’re going for something fun and unique, this is will be a great inspiration.
