Get This Look: Warm Wood Tones In A White Kitchen
When we talk about white kitchens, we generally hear three types of comments:
- I love it!
- How do you keep it clean?
- It’s just too white. I like warmth and color!
For those worried about keeping a white kitchen clean — I’ve had two white kitchens and it’s really no more work to keep clean than any kitchen. It’s definitely an issue of personal preference, but I have loved my white kitchens.
And, for those of you who want a warmer more colorful white kitchen — just add a few different elements and you’re set! Of course, if you don’t like white, no white kitchen will fit your taste. But if you like the white but want to add a different dimension and some warmth, today I have 8 tips for you to create a look like this one! (image via Better Homes and Gardens)
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8 Tips For A White Kitchen With Warm Wood Tones
1. Decorate and Organize At The Same Time
Often that space above the cabinets is filled with purely decorative elements — which is fine — but making some of the space (or all of it, if it’s a small area) a place to organize and store odds and ends helps free up valuable lower space for the things that you need more often. Seasonal decorations, disposable dishware, extra table linens — no one will know what you have stored up there in these simple but stylish baskets!
2. Add Varied Textures
White kitchens are very clean and smooth looking, but the key to making them home-y and not orphanage-y is to use a variety of textures throughout the room. The white isn’t just flat white — the white beadboard on the walls and cabinets adds dimension without adding visual noise. And did you see that barn door on the pantry? You know I love barn doors 🙂
Varied texture also helps add warmth to the kitchen by using similar tones in a variety of warm, natural materials. Wood countertops, woven baskets, and linen (or muslin or burlap) fabrics work together to add a little bit of country charm to a modern white kitchen.
3. Make It Useful
A kitchen that is just beautiful isn’t one any of us want to cook in — we want something that is both beautiful AND useful! Add a little bit of necessary function to the kitchen with a memo board near the stove to hold recipes or other reminders, and a nicely framed whiteboard adds some family organizing without looking too much like a whiteboard.
4. Shine It Up
The copper storage canisters and deep metal cabinet hardware and faucet contribute to the warmth of the other textures and add a little class. Find similar copper canisters to here (or try these in brushed bronze) to add some shine to your kitchen.
5. Go For Butcher Block!
If you’re looking to add warm wood tones to your kitchen, you can’t go wrong with butcherblock. There are many ways to DIY and install butcher block countertops, but here are just a few of the ways we’ve seen here on Remodelaholic:
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Reclaimed Wood Countertop | Butcher Block Countertop Using Wood Flooring | $100 Wooden Countertops
6. Add Modern Touches
If you want to go full-on white country kitchen, keep your furniture to more traditional wooden styles. But if you want your kitchen to feel a little bit more modern, barstools are a great place to start! We like these vintage-inspired metal barstools from Wayfair.
7. See To The Floor
Wood flooring is one of my favorite ways to add both warmth and style to any room. In this kitchen, the wood floors really pull the whole look together — and the wood tones don’t have to match exactly! The different colors of wood look great together. We love our wood floors, and they are a great fit for a kitchen area because wood is durable and cleans well. See different ways you can install and restore wood floors here.
8. Add A Rug
Wood floors look lovely, but accenting with rugs makes the place more cozy and allows you to express your style. And a simple flour sack print like on the rugs in this kitchen is easy to DIY! You can paint a rug to add some color like I did, or you can start with a plain rug and paint it any design you want! Beth from Home Stories A to Z shows you how to paint stripes.
More great wood and white kitchens
(see even more on my Kitchens board on Pinterest)
via Country Living
Cape 27 featured on Remodelaholic
See more great rooms in our Get This Look library:
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Small Kitchen Luxury | White Gender-Neutral Shared Bedroom | Sunny Corner Banquette
Lorene has been behind the scenes here at Remodelaholic for more than a decade! She believes that planning projects and actually completing them are two different hobbies, but that doesn't stop her from planning at least a dozen projects at any given time. She spends her free time creating memories with her husband and 5 kids, traveling as far as she can afford, and partaking of books in any form available.
I agree with adding natural elements. Once I added a bamboo shade to my kitchen window it immediately warmed up the room. Then, I made sure to add small touches of texture around the room. I as a little worried it would look sterile after we painted it and hadn’t decorated yet. These things made such a difference!
Great tips Jennifer, thanks!
While I love white kitchens, when we were getting ready to paint our cabinets, the white just felt too overpowering in our kitchen. We ended up using a darker ivory with a chocolate glaze to warm them up.
https://www.krusesworkshop.blogspot.com/2013/11/house-tour-dining-roomkitchen.html
My white cabinets are paired up with Carrara marble counters on the perimeter of our kitchen, but we used a walnut top on our island, which helps warm up the room, along with the wood floors. Keeps the white cabinets and stainless appliances feeling not so sterile.
I love white kitchens. Mine is white and no regrets. Warmed up also with a dark wood floor. Always have variety as can change with seasons or holidays. Enjoyed your feature.
In the first kitchen, there is no range hood. How do you keep grease from getting all over the kitchen and the house?
Love the white – I never found it hard to keep clean. The only thing I would change are the stools because I like a back and a little softer!
Pay attention to the washability of your whites.
My own white cabinet doors are some type of shiny vinyl process — not the matte vinyl but very slick. (Not laquer either, not sure how that would wash.) I got them off the shelf from Home Depot 25 years ago, thinking we’d replace them when the budget allowed… they are still new-looking! And no, they don’t look vinyl or anything unnatural.
They are SO easy to clean. I just use a dishcloth and then occasionally do a whole kitchen cabinet clean — swipe the door fronts with a blue glass cleaner type spray and an old white tee.
Great tip, thanks for the reminder!
Your tip about using different textures in a kitchen to achieve a warm wooden tone was really helpful to read. I’ve always wondered how people are able to pull off the “hybrid” look really well, and you’ve definitely given me some ideas on how to do that using different fixtures. I’ll start looking for wooden furniture sets that can go hand-in-hand with my modern kitchen remodel so I can achieve this look for myself.