It's all personal preference. I love the look and wish I'd done it in my kitchen! We only did the island dark all other cabinets white.

No, not out of date. Upper white cabinets will let it breathe. Have you considered some open shelving or a glass cabinet? What are your color options for base cabinets? Marine blue is pretty popular and looks beautiful.

I agree that it's a matter of personal preference, although if your kitchen is small, it might make it seem smaller than an all light kitchen which can seem more airy. I personally don't care for the 2 tone look

“Out of date“ or not wouldn’t be my concern. A friend of mine did it in her kitchen & I think it made her kitchen look smaller & very chopped up ( for lack of a better term ). Sorry to say, her kitchen looked better before the remodel IMO.

This really depends on how the cabinets are arranged in the kitchen. If the cabinets are next to each other in a row for example, two-tone color scheme can give you some relief from the monotoned look. But if they are broken up already with appliances, etc. it is better to keep them the same color, especially in a small kitchen to avoid the "chopped up" look as another comment pointed out.

If you can post some pictures; it would help those trying to advise. I personally love two-tone. I think if you keep your wall paint color very light (close to color of the upper cabinets) it helps reduce choppiness.

Could you post a picture of your kitchen and what colors you were thinking about? That would help a lot. If there is a lot of light in the kitchen, you can go with darker colors and be fine. If it's darker, I would stay with lighter colors. An all-white kitchen doesn't need to be boring, but if you are worried about all white being boring, a light gray or even a light color (like green) could be pretty and still airy. Or you could do white on top and a light color on bottom like the small kitchen below. You could also do a fun backsplash to keep the boring away. In a small space, you can get away with a crazy backsplash.

Light two-tone

Light Green

Fun Backsplash

So these are the colors I was thinking. Upper cabinets, coconut, countertop sparkling white and lower cabinets maritime.

The cabinets would be all together with stainless appliances similar to this.

The counter top might make the cabinets look too yellow. Be careful of that.

Given your description of the layout, I feel the contrast between cabinets is too strong in this color scheme. A lighter base cabinet color would work better .

if u are totally sold on the counter, use the colors in that for your cabs.... i agree, less contrast is best in this application.

i personally, with that counter, would do a light upper and lighter base cabs... i feel the upper sample is very 'yellow'... i would go do the color of the background of the counter for the uppers and the lightest 'fleck' in the counter for the base cabs

We are doing two-tone Schrock cabinets in our kitchen right now! We went with Maritime for the lowers and Dover for the uppers. I liked the sample of Coconut, but the showroom had it installed in a two-tone section with Maritime and I don't like them together, too stark. We are doing a soapstone-looking granite for counters. I don't think you need to go with a dark counter for a two-tone kitchen but I am not sold on that quartz for this application. (Although we are using a very similar quartz in our bathrooms.)

Question, what is your flooring? Ours is antique heart pine and that figured heavily into our choices. If the flooring is that tile in the photo I think I would choose varnished cabinets rather than painted.

Below left to right, Dover, Maritime, Coconut. (The colors look off on my monitor though)

Like most things it is a trend and a personal preference so I will give you mine for all it is worth...I personally don't like the 1/2 and 1/2 of light on top dark on the bottom. But I do like having some dark with the light in the room ie. I like a dark based or different color island or pantry to infuse some interest into the all white kitchen. I am doing all white kitchen with dark wood maple pantry. If I had an island I would probably do that instead but will only have a peninsula. With doing the pantry different it is on it's own and will look like a separate piece of furniture with large cupboard doors on top with mirror inserts and drawers on the bottom. But I personally think the kitchen cabinets should all be consistent and act as a single unit.

emho23 do you have a pic of your countertop? I an not sure of this countertop.

Next week I'm ordering my cabinets. "Dove white" uppers and "Tobacco" lower cabinets. With a Hanstone Chantilly counter top.

You could also include some glass cabinet doors to "mix it up" and reduce the uniformity.

2 toned kitchens can be quite attractive.

I prefer darker on bottoms & lighter on top to keep the room feeling more open.

Here's some inspiration photos :) Enjoy.

I did two tone peppercorn bottom and oyster top. Key was lighting as I had LED lighting in ceiling and under cabinet lighting and went with a light tile floor. I have a window at the sink and a slider. Pictures so that you can see how it looks. Note on one side of the room I have two tone but on the side with refrigerator I did all peppercorn and at coffee station added glass doors with inside painted peppercorn. Go with what you want and will be happy with. Of your selections I would revisit the counter.

Not a fan of two tone. Just looks like you can't decide on what color you want. Few examples really feel like a purposeful use of color to me. I do like the example above of white uppers and very light grey lowers. I think your contrasts are too stark, especially in a small space.

Toni, your design came out so great - and that pop of color lime KitchenAid mixer is forever smileworthy. Especially on your natural-looking countertop. Well done.

Hi, Marianne--

One additional factor to consider if your existing wall, ceiling and trim color palette. Will those be staying as they are? If so, recommend capturing samples of those tones and setting them against your cab color samples as there will be color contiguity that you won't want to be unaware of. If your trim is already white and you're happy with it, I'd let that guide your white cab color and see if you can have your uppers finished out to match - that way any cab crown will flow seamlessly into any existing crown you've got (especially in an open plan design) already in the mix.

I don't think that "tuxedo" kitchens - as some KDs call two-tone plans - will ever fully go out of style, but it's really about what's ideal in your specific space, especiallya s you mention that it's small in scale. If you can share a few images and a plan of your operating design, folks will definitely have some more constructive thoughts about your specific setup. Cheers to your project!

LOVE my two-tone kitchen. I went with a soft off white (beach house by omega cabinetry) I set for the top and a mid-tone wood for the base. Ended up looking similar to the wood base pics above. Really warmed up the small kitchen. All white would have been much too stark for me.

Marianne, none of our kitchen has been installed yet so no pics of the countertop. I haven't even picked the slab yet. But it will probably be something like honed Jet Mist or Silver Grey granite.

Hi Marianne, I love your quartz choice; I would just take it a shade more off white. Something similar to Adirondack Birch by Radianz. Keep in mind that cabinets are a vertical plane; countertops are horizontal. In general, counters will reflect your overhead lighting and look even brighter because of that. Make sure you look at your samples, in your kitchen, in the correct plane. Bright, sparkling white quartz, can easily make off-white cabinets just look dingy.

Thank you all for the ideas. Nothing is finalized, i have a lot more to consider.!

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I would put dark upper and lowers with that countertop . Not the white ...because the color white will not look good with the countertop . ...And in a small kitchen both upper and lower in dark or black would
make it look sleek sleek and elegant . Better than the chopped up look . It was good seeing the samples of different color kitchens ..too me it's not as attractive as all one color ...but then , it's your kitchen ...you can cut out paper in different color and put it together by taping the area ...live or look at it for a while ....and see ...if you still love it in the morning !

I have a smaller, two-tone kitchen. I tried to avoid "choppiness" by keeping the counters, backsplash and wall color the same; with the cabinets just a touch brighter--but similar tones. Yes, I do know the layout isn't perfect :) But we only had inclination and funds for a mini-redo. Cabinets used to be Natural knotty alder, counters were a black and orange granite. Backsplash was shiny black subway tile.

Chocolate, this looks great. Excellent example of two tones working together to compliment the flooring, too. Nicely composed palette overall - light and bright but still lots of storage in an open plan zone. Well done.

Here because I'm thinking about the same thing for my small L shaped kitchen.

Did you finish your kitchen? If so, how did it turn out?