It takes conviction to go bold in a lemon yellow kitchen but wow, does it pay off.
Shining with personality from top to bottom this vibrant and unforgettable lemon yellow kitchen ranks as one of the greats. There’s nothing safe about the color choice for the cabinets and backsplash yet the pairing has perfect pitch because of the way color is used. But let’s get real. It takes guts to go with yellow base cabinets and black counters without thinking ‘taxi!’
The combination works in this kitchen for several reasons. First, the color occupies horizontal zones. Because the counters are darkest, they create a continuous line that holds the brightness of the base cabinets and island in check. As the eye moves up, the color gets lighter. And while the glazed patterned blacksplash tile includes the strong citrus hue, the diamond pattern mixes in enough white for leavening. Painting upper cabinets a gentle cream and walls very bright white helps layer and balances the whole scheme. A stainless steel range, hood, dishwasher and refrigerator mix and match.
This kitchen isn’t large, elaborate or blessed with unusual appliances. There’s a Sub Zero and Wolf range top but faucets on the sinks are unfashionably low (at least for the moment). Yet somehow I get the sense that a real cook lives here. Perhaps it’s the strategic placement of the built-in knife rack between the stove and the prep sink or the open storage for cutting boards – details that signal high function that’s really a match for the bold style.
(Source: bhg.com)
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My mind went to ‘school bus.’ I think it’s because you’re a city girl, NY in particular, and I’m NW almost-rural.
I actually love it in the 2nd photo, but I think the island takes it over the top for me. Although, I can’t think of anything that would work instead.
No matter what, it’s a fun, bold, sunny room.
No school buses in the city. The kids walk. Didn’t see one for years and years — until we moved to the country. LOL.
But taxis, yes.
I think I just like big yellows even though most people don’t.
I had a yellow kitchen in the early 90s. We moved into it. It was a wide galley with yellow laminate slab doors… with dark blue accents, including a cutesy wallpaper border. I think the counter was white, but I can’t remember. It was FAR from what you show above in design sense and overall quality — I think it ruined yellow for me. 😉
Sounds like my reaction to wood-tone laminate apartment kitchens.
Yellow & blue is the most difficult combo imo. It has to be the right yellow and the right blue in the right amount or I want to run screaming. IKWYM.
This kitchen was the original inspiration for me when I started my remodel in late 2010. I tracked down the cabinet paint color and everything but couldn’t find a backsplash tile that pulled it all together as in this kitchen, so I aborted the plan. Going a bold color like this and gambling that I’d be able to find the right tile in the future was too fraught with peril.
I couldn’t find the tile either but may in time. I never stop looking. Would you like to share the name and brand of the yellow used on the cabinets?
The paint is BM Semolina. The tile is Ann Sacks, but unfortunately discontinued by the time I was looking.
Thanks so much Sas for the info. Someone else may want to use Semolina. AS seems to run their tile store like a fashion business, which, I suppose it is. Suppose when it stops selling they drop it; too bad.
What did you end up doing with your kitchen?
I went for soft green cabinets, and a multi-color ceramic backsplash in greens and other earth shades. The kitchen still has a lot of color, but not as in-your-face as the Semolina. I found for colorful kitchens it was simpler for me to find a great tile first and build the rest of the kitchen around it. Much easier than trying to find the exact right tile to go with a pre-selected cabinet color.
I have yellow kitchen, well only the tiles but my house at least from the outside is yellow, typical South of France’s house with green shutter