White kitchen cabinets are considered the most timeless element of kitchen design . They?re stark and bold and people are attracted to the arctic glow of it all. The key to designing with white kitchen cabinets is to make sure that the room has other contrasting features. You don?t want the kitchen to appear sterile and blank. What you do want is a kitchen with character, where the beauty of the white cabinets is complemented nicely with other colorful features. Let the Light Shine In Sometimes a kitchen window and a few hanging lights just aren?t enough to illuminate a dark area. By adding white cabinetry, you brighten the room and allow more features to soak up the spotlight. This works especially well in small or galley-style kitchens . Not only do the white cabinets make the space lighter, but also larger and more spacious. With the white cabinets blending into the background, the eyes are drawn to other features like gorgeous views out the window, fabulous decorative flooring or cheerful countertops. Cabinets as Canvas No one said that white cabinets had to be made of laminates or melamine – some of the classiest white cabinetry are painted white cabinets . The advantage of paint is that you can make them look more antiqued and vintage. They can also give your kitchen more of a country feel or a French provincial look. They won?t be as stark white as melamine, but that?s what gives them such charm. This style goes well with farmhouses, colonial-style homes or arts-and-crafts houses. It?s more relaxed looking and adds a bit more texture to the cabinets. Mix & Match One way to create a nice contrast in your kitchen is to mingle white kitchen cabinets with dark, rich, wooden cabinets. You can have all white base cabinets with dark cherry, hickory or walnut wall cabinets or vice versa.

Another idea is to mingle the dark cabinets with the white in the run, offsetting the different colors by hanging them at different heights on the wall or pulling some of the base cabinets forward. The different cabinets can match in style or vary, just make sure that you have other features in your kitchen that help tie it all together, like a complementing countertop, floor or wall covering. Great moldings that match the base cabinets can be attached above wall cabinets to enhance the contrast. Stark Raving White Some kitchens are just made to be white . For any number of reasons. They are light and airy, feel more spacious and look cleaner and less cluttered. Keeping most of the kitchen white can accomplish all of those things, but you still need to guard it from blandness. A great way to do this is with character-building features like intricate moldings, varying heights and depths of cabinets and adding glass inserts to upper cabinets or open shelves. Best of Both Worlds The decision-making process that goes along with kitchen remodeling can sometimes have you flustered. No worries, though, eclectic kitchens can be fun, too. Although white cabinets are timeless, they?re also great with other styles and colors. The old-fashioned statement that white goes with anything holds true for kitchens as well. So, if you?re not married to the modern or classic/traditional look that white cabinets offer, mix it up a bit. Modern style white cabinets mix beautifully with Old World wooden cabinets. Inversely, you can have white cabinets with a more antiqued look blended with wooden or laminated cabinets that are more in-sync with today. The key here is to not try so hard to marry the styles together – just let it be. Please bookmark and share

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The Arctic Glow: Kitchen Designs with White Cabinets