Before and After: 4 Kitchens With Two-Tone Cabinet Schemes
Why choose one cabinet color when you can have two? Let these kitchen remodels with two-tone cabinets inspire you
Bryan Anthony
August 24, 2020
Do you think stained wood cabinets look too rustic? White cabinets too boring? Cabinets in green, blue or black just too bold? If you’re having trouble deciding which way to go with your kitchen cabinet finish, perhaps a two-tone color scheme is the right option for you. Choosing upper cabinets and lower cabinets in different colors might add the perfect balance to your kitchen. Check out the before-and-after pictures of these four kitchen remodels with two-tone cabinets and let us know if any of these color combos hit your sweet spot.
1. Light Blue and Navy
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: Jessica Sporn, her husband and their teenage daughter (their other daughter is away at college)
Location: Montclair, New Jersey
Size: 166 square feet (15 square meters)
Designer: Tracey Stephens
Before: The layout of their former kitchen didn’t work for these New Jersey homeowners. A peninsula provided seating but impeded traffic in the U-shaped kitchen. “My clients felt claustrophobic and cut off from everyone when working at the range,” designer Tracey Stephens says. “And the peninsula created a bottleneck between the kitchen and the dining room.”
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: Jessica Sporn, her husband and their teenage daughter (their other daughter is away at college)
Location: Montclair, New Jersey
Size: 166 square feet (15 square meters)
Designer: Tracey Stephens
Before: The layout of their former kitchen didn’t work for these New Jersey homeowners. A peninsula provided seating but impeded traffic in the U-shaped kitchen. “My clients felt claustrophobic and cut off from everyone when working at the range,” designer Tracey Stephens says. “And the peninsula created a bottleneck between the kitchen and the dining room.”
After: Stephens took out the peninsula, freeing up the flow, and put a breakfast bar opposite the range.
The blues of the new porcelain floor tiles inspired the two-tone cabinet scheme. The homeowner had trouble deciding if she wanted to pluck a navy or an aqua blue from the tile to use on the cabinetry. “I told her she didn’t have to decide — we could do both,” Stephens says. She chose Aqua-Sphere for the upper cabinets and Naval for the lower, both from Sherwin-Williams.
Read more about this kitchen remodel
The blues of the new porcelain floor tiles inspired the two-tone cabinet scheme. The homeowner had trouble deciding if she wanted to pluck a navy or an aqua blue from the tile to use on the cabinetry. “I told her she didn’t have to decide — we could do both,” Stephens says. She chose Aqua-Sphere for the upper cabinets and Naval for the lower, both from Sherwin-Williams.
Read more about this kitchen remodel
2. Light Gray and Wood
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple
Location: Warren, Oregon
Size: About 250 square feet (23 square meters)
Designer: Amy Pearson of Adapt Design
Before: A breakfast bar with a built-in electric cooktop and a small island with a prep sink made this Oregon kitchen feel cramped. “The breakfast bar cut off the room and restricted the flow of the space,” designer Amy Pearson says.
The original pine cabinets, covered in a light stain in some parts and forest green in others, were also ready for an update.
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple
Location: Warren, Oregon
Size: About 250 square feet (23 square meters)
Designer: Amy Pearson of Adapt Design
Before: A breakfast bar with a built-in electric cooktop and a small island with a prep sink made this Oregon kitchen feel cramped. “The breakfast bar cut off the room and restricted the flow of the space,” designer Amy Pearson says.
The original pine cabinets, covered in a light stain in some parts and forest green in others, were also ready for an update.
After: Pearson removed the breakfast bar and the small island in favor of a larger island. Its turned legs add a classic touch and allow space for counter stools. The homeowners now eat most of their meals here.
The new Shaker-style upper cabinets feature a custom shade of light gray paint with a subtle green undertone. The new island base and lower cabinets are cherry in a light stain. “The homeowners wanted light, neutral-colored cabinets, but they definitely didn’t want them to be white,” Pearson says.
Read more about this kitchen remodel
The new Shaker-style upper cabinets feature a custom shade of light gray paint with a subtle green undertone. The new island base and lower cabinets are cherry in a light stain. “The homeowners wanted light, neutral-colored cabinets, but they definitely didn’t want them to be white,” Pearson says.
Read more about this kitchen remodel
3. Vibrant Green and Wood
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple with one child living at home and another in college
Location: Wynnewood, Pennsylvania
Size: About 275 square feet (26 square meters)
Designer: Sean Lewis of Airy Kitchens
Before: A gas cooktop on the island and a double oven along a perimeter wall made for a tight fit in this Pennsylvania kitchen. “The old island was pretty small, so having a cooktop on it felt a little dangerous because it took up the entire surface and was hard to get around,” designer Sean Lewis says. The island base and perimeter cabinets were laminate.
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple with one child living at home and another in college
Location: Wynnewood, Pennsylvania
Size: About 275 square feet (26 square meters)
Designer: Sean Lewis of Airy Kitchens
Before: A gas cooktop on the island and a double oven along a perimeter wall made for a tight fit in this Pennsylvania kitchen. “The old island was pretty small, so having a cooktop on it felt a little dangerous because it took up the entire surface and was hard to get around,” designer Sean Lewis says. The island base and perimeter cabinets were laminate.
After: The owners asked Lewis to add a sense of character and history to their kitchen. “They didn’t want a kitchen that felt brand-new,” he says. The designer chose classic materials, such as slate floors, Shaker-style cabinets and subway tiles for the backsplash.
The new upper cabinets are a vibrant shade of green (Talipot Palm by Sherwin-Williams). “I brought in a paint fan in all different shades of green, and the homeowners were immediately drawn to the boldest shade,” Lewis says. The new island base and lower cabinets are cherry in a medium-tone stain.
Read more about this kitchen remodel
The new upper cabinets are a vibrant shade of green (Talipot Palm by Sherwin-Williams). “I brought in a paint fan in all different shades of green, and the homeowners were immediately drawn to the boldest shade,” Lewis says. The new island base and lower cabinets are cherry in a medium-tone stain.
Read more about this kitchen remodel
4. White and Gray
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple with two young children
Location: Napa, California
Size: About 200 square feet (19 square meters)
Designer: Miyuki Yamaguchi Design Studio
Before: These California homeowners searched Houzz for a designer who could turn their cherry-clad kitchen into a lighter space with a classic look. “We shared images from our ideabooks, and our styles matched up so well,” says designer Miyuki Yamaguchi, who recommended painting the old cabinets, restaining the floors and adding new countertops and a backsplash.
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple with two young children
Location: Napa, California
Size: About 200 square feet (19 square meters)
Designer: Miyuki Yamaguchi Design Studio
Before: These California homeowners searched Houzz for a designer who could turn their cherry-clad kitchen into a lighter space with a classic look. “We shared images from our ideabooks, and our styles matched up so well,” says designer Miyuki Yamaguchi, who recommended painting the old cabinets, restaining the floors and adding new countertops and a backsplash.
After: Yamaguchi went with a two-tone scheme for the cabinets because the owners didn’t want an all-white kitchen. The upper cabinets are a creamy white (Swiss Coffee by Kelly-Moore) and the lower cabinets are a warm gray (Galveston by Benjamin Moore).
The new backsplash is a light gray subway tile laid in a herringbone pattern above the range. The wood floors were restained in a charcoal gray.
Read more about this kitchen remodel
More on Houzz
6 Kitchen Makeovers That Benefited From Refaced Cabinets
A Two-Tone Cabinet Scheme Gives Your Kitchen the Best of Both Worlds
Find a kitchen designer near you
Shop for cabinet hardware
The new backsplash is a light gray subway tile laid in a herringbone pattern above the range. The wood floors were restained in a charcoal gray.
Read more about this kitchen remodel
More on Houzz
6 Kitchen Makeovers That Benefited From Refaced Cabinets
A Two-Tone Cabinet Scheme Gives Your Kitchen the Best of Both Worlds
Find a kitchen designer near you
Shop for cabinet hardware
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Only one section is the accent color in our recently completed remodel
I like it!
#1 and 2 are my favorites.