5 Smashing Black-and-White Kitchens in Different Styles
The classic high-contrast palette works with everything from traditional to contemporary style
The black-and-white color palette suits every kitchen style. From traditional to Scandinavian modern, transitional to chic contemporary, the black-and-white combo provides a versatile base for a variety of textures and finishes. Here’s how five designers used the high-contrast pairing to create beautiful kitchens in a wide range of styles.
It’s not all stark contrast, however. In addition to the wood counter stool seats, matchstick blinds add warmth and texture. And clear-glass cabinets allow the homeowners to switch up the accent colors with their personal collections.
Takeaway: Use a big swath of black for a graphic punch. The size of the island base makes it a powerful modern element.
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Takeaway: Use a big swath of black for a graphic punch. The size of the island base makes it a powerful modern element.
Learn more about this kitchen
2. Classic White With Black Contrast
Soon after their last child left the nest, these homeowners were ready for a lifestyle change. Not wanting to leave their beloved neighborhood, they decided to make their existing home new to them. Their biggest desire was to transform their dark and dated kitchen into the classic white room of their dreams. Designer Liz Schupanitz brought their vision to life.
Cabinet paint: Capitol White, Benjamin Moore
Browse lantern-style pendants in the Houzz Shop
Soon after their last child left the nest, these homeowners were ready for a lifestyle change. Not wanting to leave their beloved neighborhood, they decided to make their existing home new to them. Their biggest desire was to transform their dark and dated kitchen into the classic white room of their dreams. Designer Liz Schupanitz brought their vision to life.
Cabinet paint: Capitol White, Benjamin Moore
Browse lantern-style pendants in the Houzz Shop
Before, the microwave was over the range, but the couple wanted to replace it with a vent hood that could serve as a focal point. So she designed an appliance-and-storage wall that could accommodate additional ovens on the left. The vent hood was painted to resemble zinc.
Adding strong dark contrast to the room’s traditional white keeps it fresh. Black-and-white buffalo-check stool fabric, dark iron lanterns, an almost-black paint on the vent hood and black granite countertops that resemble soapstone add just the right doses of darkness to the light, bright kitchen. Farrow & Ball’s Stony Ground paint adds warmth on the walls.
Takeaway: Using shades of gray to ease the stark contrast can lend a more traditional look.
Learn more about this kitchen
Adding strong dark contrast to the room’s traditional white keeps it fresh. Black-and-white buffalo-check stool fabric, dark iron lanterns, an almost-black paint on the vent hood and black granite countertops that resemble soapstone add just the right doses of darkness to the light, bright kitchen. Farrow & Ball’s Stony Ground paint adds warmth on the walls.
Takeaway: Using shades of gray to ease the stark contrast can lend a more traditional look.
Learn more about this kitchen
3. Chic Contemporary With a Heavy Dose of Brass
This couple was moving from a traditional home to a newly built contemporary one. Black and white provided a great base for designer Sarah Kahn Turner to give her clients the sleek contemporary kitchen they desired. A pair of brass Lindsey Adelman chandeliers set the tone for the design. When Turner showed them a wallpaper with similar lines, they knew they had to have it.
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This couple was moving from a traditional home to a newly built contemporary one. Black and white provided a great base for designer Sarah Kahn Turner to give her clients the sleek contemporary kitchen they desired. A pair of brass Lindsey Adelman chandeliers set the tone for the design. When Turner showed them a wallpaper with similar lines, they knew they had to have it.
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Turner achieved the sleek look of the room by hiding the appliances behind white laminate doors. This allowed textures like the dark-stained cerused-oak island base, the hot-rolled steel of the shelves and the polished brass on the chandeliers, stools, hardware and faucets to stand out. That sleekness, combined with the dark bar side of the kitchen, truly makes the room something unexpected and different from the norm.
Takeaway: A dark wall facing a light wall will amp up the drama.
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Takeaway: A dark wall facing a light wall will amp up the drama.
Learn more about this kitchen
4. Bold Patisserie-Inspired Style
This homeowner, a graphic designer, had a vision of how she wanted to transform the kitchen she shares with her husband and their two children. “My client had a strong vision of the look she wanted — French patisserie-inspired style with subway-tiled walls, bright white cabinets, some open shelving and accents of black and metal — but needed help putting it together,” says kitchen and bath designer Alison Griffin. A black-and-white palette emerged, with walls of subway tile accented by marble with beautiful gray veins, silvery metal finishes and dark wood.
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This homeowner, a graphic designer, had a vision of how she wanted to transform the kitchen she shares with her husband and their two children. “My client had a strong vision of the look she wanted — French patisserie-inspired style with subway-tiled walls, bright white cabinets, some open shelving and accents of black and metal — but needed help putting it together,” says kitchen and bath designer Alison Griffin. A black-and-white palette emerged, with walls of subway tile accented by marble with beautiful gray veins, silvery metal finishes and dark wood.
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A wall covered in chalkboard paint gives the homeowners’ children a place to be creative and put their own stamp on the kitchen. The black stool bases, pendant lights and window sashes carry the color across the room.
Takeaway: Black and white is a good choice when you want commercial kitchen style.
Learn more about this kitchen
Takeaway: Black and white is a good choice when you want commercial kitchen style.
Learn more about this kitchen
5. Scandinavian Modern With an Industrial Edge
Designer Laura Lakin took a crisp Scandinavian-inspired approach to a flat in this converted school building in East London. She played off existing features such as high ceilings, exposed ductwork and raw brickwork with industrial elements.
Because the kitchen is open to the living room, she had to think carefully about the views from one space into the next. A colorblocked scheme lends a bold, streamlined look from the living room. “I wanted to play with the duality of light and dark,” she says. The patterned rug in the living room picks up on the boldness and black-and-white color scheme in the kitchen.
Designer Laura Lakin took a crisp Scandinavian-inspired approach to a flat in this converted school building in East London. She played off existing features such as high ceilings, exposed ductwork and raw brickwork with industrial elements.
Because the kitchen is open to the living room, she had to think carefully about the views from one space into the next. A colorblocked scheme lends a bold, streamlined look from the living room. “I wanted to play with the duality of light and dark,” she says. The patterned rug in the living room picks up on the boldness and black-and-white color scheme in the kitchen.
A high-top dining table creates a transitional zone between the living room and the kitchen, serving both spaces. The light wood on the tabletop and modern light fixtures lend the Scandinavian feel, while the Tolix stools and black metal table base add an industrial vibe.
Takeaway: Light wood tones can soften stark contrast in a Scandinavian modern way.
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Takeaway: Light wood tones can soften stark contrast in a Scandinavian modern way.
Tour the rest of this flat
Your turn: If you have a black-and-white kitchen, what style is it and how does the color palette work for you? Please share your thoughts and photos in the Comments.
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Browse more photos of black-and-white kitchens
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More on Houzz
Browse more photos of black-and-white kitchens
Hire a kitchen remodeler
Shop for kitchen products
With their three boys “sorta moved out,” these homeowners had the time to give their dated kitchen a complete renovation. They enlisted designer Jennifer Grey to help them renovate while staying within the kitchen’s original footprint. Her clients’ request for something bolder and brighter, as well as the dining room’s black-and-white wallpaper (back left), inspired the color palette.
The largest swath of black comes in on the island’s base. The dark finishes on the light fixtures pick up on the color from above. The tones of the gray grout between the herringbone tiles and the veining in the marble-like quartz countertops fall somewhere between black and white.
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