Kitchen Design
Decorating Guides
Cooking With Color: When to Use Orange in the Kitchen
Try a dash of Cayenne or swaths of Sweet Orange for zesty, high-energy kitchen flavor
Similar to its red neighbor on the color wheel, orange is an attention-grabbing hue that stimulates the appetite and flatters skin tones. It's an excellent kitchen color choice for those living in cooler climates, because of its warmth. But working with orange can be challenging, too — light shades tend to read as pastel and peachy. Those tones are fine for a nursery or kids' room, but in a kitchen I tend to favor bold bursts of pumpkin, carrot and tangerine. Just a little bit of these high-energy hues goes a long way and can make a room look busy, so they tend to work best in noncluttered, minimalist kitchens.
Here you'll see some of my favorite oranges for kitchens and examples of how you can use this color in your home.
Here you'll see some of my favorite oranges for kitchens and examples of how you can use this color in your home.
This is a vibrant shade of pure orange, but because it's not the main color in the kitchen and the remainder of the palette is light and neutral, it draws your eye to the interesting custom shelving and cabinetry.
That's not to say that orange can't be paired with other colors. Blue is a good choice, because it's opposite from orange on the color wheel. The two colors offer the most contrast to each other, so they make a bold, high-energy combo. When working with complementary colors, I like to make one the bolder hue and let the other serve as a lighter, background shade. The intense carrot color here looks fantastic against the sky blue island in this kitchen.
A bold orange accent hue is a great way to tie various wood tones together. These woods have some orange in them, which gets picked up by the vibrant orange backsplash tile and accent wall color. By turning up the volume on the orange hue used here, it really stands out while still working in harmony with the wood. The effect is rich and warm — perfect for a home in a colder climate.
Here's another fantastic bright orange backsplash. The remainder of the palette in this kitchen is clean, light and neutral, with lots of white and stainless steel, so the red-orange backsplash and refrigerator really stand out.
One more beautiful attention-getting orange backsplash — this one has a more traditional feel due to the handmade quality of the backsplash tiles from Waterworks.
I love how a touch of orange delineates this elegant kitchen in the open-plan space.
Gray continues to be a popular neutral, and it serves as a nice cool contrast to the fiery orange hue in this beautiful modern kitchen.
If you are drawn to orange but are leery about committing yourself to orange cabinetry, backsplash tiles or appliances, consider using the hue in ways that are relatively inexpensive to change later on, such as painted accent areas in the kitchen. I love this papaya orange, but it would be very easy to repaint the walls.
Or you can try using an eye-popping orange for kitchen furniture and accessories. This airy white kitchen can host any accent color. Just stick to one or two of your favorite bolder hues in a kitchen like this, so it doesn't get too busy.
Tell us: Have you used a little or a lot of orange in your kitchen? Post a photo in the Comments section below and share the details.
Tell us: Have you used a little or a lot of orange in your kitchen? Post a photo in the Comments section below and share the details.
Some of my favorite oranges (clockwise from top left):
1. Waves of Wheat 095-4, from Mythic Paint
2. Sweet Orange 2017-40 from Benjamin Moore
3. Tangerine Dream 123-7, from Pittsburgh Paints
4. Sunbaked Orange GLO08, from Glidden
5. Baby Carrot 8-11, from Pratt & Lambert
6. Autumn Blaze 2002-1A, from Valspar
7. Montana Dust AC212-5, from Kelly-Moore
8. Cayenne SW6881, from Sherwin-Williams