is my white kitchen outdated?

6 years ago

Hi, we are in the design phase for our new home and hope to break ground in spring 2020 with completion in about a year. I love the look of white cabinets, black hardware and light gray walls but realize that in a year and a half this style might be already outdated. We plan to work with a designer, but does anyone have a pulse on design trends in the next two years?

Featured Answer

Mrs Pete

6 years ago

White is a color -- not a design. Sure, you can use white, but whether it's "out of style" will depend upon the details you choose.

For example, here's a white kitchen that would've been popular in the 1980s -- in fact, I rented a house in college that had these very cabinets, and I love-love-loved them. Yeah, it's a white kitchen, but it's certainly not "timeless'.

Here's a newer white kitchen -- maybe from the 2000s. The cabinets are white, but they don't look "up to date" because they're raised center -- wish I could've found an example with a glaze and fancier edgings, but note that the backsplash and the snaggletooth-tops say "yesteryear".

Finally, here's today's white kitchen: Shaker cabinets, white countertops and subway tiles.

So the real question is, "What details should I use in my white kitchen?"

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Comments (11)

jmm1837
6 years ago
If you like white, go for white. It might be more popular now than it will be in 2 years, but white has been around for years and it will never date the way some one-one of trends have. Just make sure you go for mostly drawers, not cabinets in the lowers. And if black handles date, that's an easy fix.
James Bennett
6 years ago
I'm no designer, but white cabinets are timeless. They have been in homes for decades. Hardware and paint can easily be changed. Also, just because something becomes "dated" doesn't mean you have to quit liking it. I still like oil rubbed bronze fixtures and that's about mid 2000's. Since oil rubbed bronze is hard to find, I settled for matte black. I stay away from things like trendy wallpaper and flooring which cannot easily be replaced.
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James Bennett
6 years ago
Those cabinets are white and brown and it's assumed the OP isn't going to install cabinets from the 80's.
Holly Stockley
6 years ago
White, glazed, snaggletooth, furniture leg accents. Is this what you meant, Mrs. Pete?

I suppose the question for the OP is, are you planning to sell within 5 years, such that a dated kitchen would be detrimental for resale?

Also important to ask:

What do you like?

What is the overall style of the house?

What colors are you using elsewhere in the house?

What sort of flooring are you planning?
User
6 years ago
@Mrs Pete....the cabs in your last pic are not shaker.

I know many say white cabinets are timeless, but there was a time in the not too distant past when all one saw was stained kitchen cabinets (at least where I lived) and white was just not used at all. White definitely seems to ebb and flow in its popularity and it’s hard to say where it will land in a year or two.
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Patricia Colwell Consulting
6 years ago
IMo white kitchens are timeless if you choose a simple cabinet as for design it is more important to get function first and BTW Mrs Pete was giving examples of different white kitchens and whether they were timeless or not Who cares waht the trend will be in a year for crying out loud the paint color trends are just down right ugly some years . Do a style that is simple make sure you have a good layout and it will be as timeless as anything else
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Kevin Twitty Interiors
6 years ago
Do the white kitchen. I have been designing for over 12-years and I have been doing white kitchens all 12-years of that time. It doesn't do out of style. Have fun with your design and build process. Make sure you are happy in the home you have!
A B
6 years ago
Every trend, every style, every color, will always become "outdated" eventually. What you should do is build a kitchen that coheres with the style of the house as a whole. Then it feels authentic and genuine.

When you try to force a trend (or the trend from two years in the future) into a space that doesn't work with it, that's how you get outdated.
tedbixby1981
6 years ago
If you love the look, then go for it as what you love will outlast any trend as you won't care because you LOVE it.

https://www.elledecor.com/design-decorate/trends/g29890387/kitchen-trends-2020/
Gerry
6 years ago
I have white, glossy, flat front cabinets that I love. They’re 32 years old and in great shape so I chose not to gut the kitchen when we moved in six months ago. The house that I sold had a dated Tuscan look kitchen that the buyer called her dream kitchen. Get what you like.