8 Blue Paint Colors to Consider for a Kitchen Island

If your own kitchen lacks direct inside-outside flow, a sky-blue accent color on the island, such as Soft Chinchilla from Benjamin Moore, can bring the suggestion of open airiness. This is a fantastic “safe” color to use for your island if you want a dash of color but don’t want anything too vivid or wild.

Tip: When it comes to paint colors, what you see on a computer monitor or other screen is not necessarily what you get in reality. Before committing to a paint color, have your painter or kitchen designer create large sample swatches that you can evaluate during different times of the day to make sure the hue is right for you.

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2. Soft gray-blue. Here’s another light blue option, this one cooler and with a bit more gray in it. Blues transform into neutrals as more gray is added to the formula. A neutral blue-clad island is perfect for those who want only a soft splash of color, or for those who have bold elements in the kitchen that they wish to take center stage.

Pacific Bliss from Kelly-Moore is a similar paint color that contains a nice mix of blue and gray. It’s a rather cool hue, so it might not be the best option if yours is a predominantly cold and overcast climate.

Tip: Just because a color looks fantastic in a kitchen featured on Houzz does not mean it’s necessarily going to work in your own kitchen. A color consultant, decorator or designer can work with you to make sure a specific island color you might be eyeing would work well in your own kitchen.

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To get that tropical island vibe in your own home, test out a color like Atlantic Blue from PPG Pittsburgh Paints. It packs a punch but, again, because it calls to mind the vibrantly blue seas found in a warm and lush locale, it can actually bring a calm and cool feeling to a kitchen.

Tip: Pair a bright color such as this with white or light, cool neutrals and make sure the kitchen has good lighting so the island sparkles.

This provides the perfect opportunity to go bold with a saturated blue hue such as Pitch Blue from Farrow & Ball.

Tip: An eye-catching blue like this on your island is going to draw the eye right into it. Make sure your counter or bar stools are worthy of being part of the focal point of your kitchen.

Simply Periwinkle from Valspar is a similar paint color to check out.

Tip: Paint colors that are a blend of two different hues — purple and blue in this case — are going to look very different depending on the time of day and quality of light. You definitely want to have large sample swatches painted up so you and your design professional can make sure the hue never veers too purple or blue for you.

Charcoal Blue from Behr is a similar almost-navy paint color.

Tip: If you have kids or entertain at the island often, a medium-to-dark neutral color like this one is perfect for camouflaging the inevitable scuff marks that will appear at the seating side of the island, especially if your countertop overhang is not very deep.

Navy plays nicely with white, grays and wood tones but has a bit more life to it than pure black.

The designer of the kitchen above had the island clad in Van Deusen Blue from Benjamin Moore.

Tip: If you have rich wood elements in your kitchen that you want to stand out, blue is the perfect accent color to include in the mix. This is because blue is the complementary color of orange and brown wood tones. They each make the other appear more vibrant.

8. Beachy blue. Where navy is strong, solid and sophisticated, a blue such as this is soft, soothing and exudes a fun, casual vibe. If you want a kitchen that gives you the feeling of being beach-adjacent, a soft watery-blue hue on the island paired with light natural wood tones and lots of sunlight will bring that coastal cosiness.

Aqua-Sphere from Sherwin-Williams is one of my go-to medium-blue paint colors. It’s a “just-right” color that isn’t too light or too dark. It also has some gray in it, making it a near-neutral, but it in no way feels sad or drab.

Tip: Paint colors tend to look lighter and brighter when painted up in large expanses versus what you see on a small test swatch. If you are having a hard time picking a particular blue hue from a range of similar options, go for the one that is lower in chroma (colorfulness) and darker in value (lightness versus darkness).

Your turn: Have you added blue to your island? Share a photograph and the paint color you used in the Comments.

More on Houzz
Cooking Up Color: 5 Ways to Bring Blue Into the Kitchen
Designer Secrets: 9 Beautiful Saturated Blue Paints
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