Getting the warm kitchen look right is trickier than white or grey kitchens due to the complex undertones of beige. And this is EXACTLY why I created a neutral colour wheel with the most useful neutrals on it – to make your job easier!
And I’ve even curated some beautiful warm neutral paint colours from Sherwin-Williams to help you get started.
🎉 Birthday giveaway winners are listed at the bottom of this post! 🎉
Since you all loved my video on the best colours for the warm kitchen trend over on YouTube, and many of you asked for the Sherwin-Williams colour equivalents. So, here they are!
The Warm Kitchen Trend
The warm kitchen, as I explained in the episode, is much tricker to get right than white or grey kitchens.
Why? Because now we are in the realm of the undertones of BEIGE. And having cut my colour skills when beige was last trending, I can tell you first hand that beige can go BADLY wrong if you aren’t aware of undertones.
Beiges are the yellow-based (touched-by-light) warm neutrals on the right side of my Understanding Undertones Colour Wheel.
They are the extroverted –warm hug–colours of the neutral world. Where the greys hang back as the aloof cool and shaded neutrals. Greys are a bit more forgiving if you get the undertones wrong, because of their cool nature. If you unwittingly mix a blue grey sofa with green grey carpet, no one is hugely offended, even if it’s not perfect.
But throw pink beige in with yellow beige in a room and now you want to turn the lights down LOW. Like OFF. So you don’t see it. You might just know it looks off but you’re not sure why.
And that’s where we’re at with the warm beige kitchen my lovelies. I shared a couple of real life situations on the episode. If you haven’t seen it, you can check it out here.
So here are some of the best paint colours for warm painted kitchen cabinets in Sherwin Williams.
The Best Sherwin-Williams Neutral Paint Colours for a Warm Kitchen Design
1. Green Beige Complex Cream
Green beige complex creams are a great way to make a soft foray into the look. Your cabinets will be a beautiful versatile cream without any bossy pink undertones. It works well to paint the walls the same fresh colour, SW 7042 Shoji White.
2. Green Beige
Green beige is one of the most versatile undertones. It’s the coolest of the beige undertones and looks creamy without pulling overly yellow or fleshy pink. SW7541 Grecian Ivory.
3. Muted Sage Green
While not a beige or a neutral technically, a surprisingly versatile colour for warm painted kitchen cabinets is muted sage. SW 6164 Svelte Sage is a pretty muted sage that’s almost neutral.
4. Green Grey
Yes, green grey is a warm grey. But it is beige adjacent. Right next to green beige on my Understanding Undertones Colour Wheel. And it’s a very popular choice for this warm kitchen trend. SW 7036 Accessible Beige.
5. Pink Beige
While pink beige wouldn’t be my first choice if I had a blank slate, you might have pink beige tile or granite in your home and so need a pink beige to relate. In the Killam Colour System curated list of paint colours, I have included the best pink beiges that aren’t overly pink, but tend to have enough of a pink undertone to get along. SW 6106 Kilim Beige is a pretty pink beige for cabinets.
Here’s a deeper pink beige kitchen similar to SW 9102 Quinoa.
6. Taupe
Taupe is also not technically beige. It’s right between violet grey and pink beige towards the top of my Understanding Undertones Colour Wheel. It’s warmer than grey and cooler than beige which makes it a very popular neutral undertone.
You can see in this kitchen below that it’s quite a pink taupe and not as yellow as the overall read of the floor which is pink beige. There is, however, some greyer taupe in the floor, and the warmer countertop is helping tie it together. This is a pinker taupe than I think is versatile, similar to SW 6079 Diverse Beige.
Instead, the taupes in my System Colours are the more versatile ones that aren’t as overtly pink. Like SW 7037 Balanced Beige. Which looks like this below.
So there you have it. Some of the best colours for the warm kitchen trend!
The way to keep this look with warm neutral painted cabinets fresh and versatile is to keep the hard finishes and flooring timeless! Then you can repaint the cabinets any colour in time. The Benjamin Moore colours are all listed in the video you can watch it here.
If you would like help creating a timeless kitchen with the CORRECT undertones, check out my eDesign packages (click on the icons below):
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Now that warmer neutrals are trending…
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Thanks for your article on beige kitchens. I have an ikea green beige kitchen ( a little more green seems to sit between green beige and green grey).
My problem is I have black widows throughout the house, so do I paint off white trim around black widows so my doors and all trim can be off white while having complex cream walls, or do I paint everything a complex cream which includes my walls, doors and trim ( can appear dark and dirty) , or paint my house (walls, doors and trim) off white?
Black windows are so limiting. I can’t cover up my black windows because I want the light and view.
I would love a solution, it is churning me up inside and brought me to a standstill as I don’t know which way to go. The inside of the house is needing a repaint.
Hi Maria, Thank you for providing all the photos and your opinion on the various BM and SW beige colors. As always, your explanation of why a color does or doesn’t work is valuable. Congratulations to the winners of your birthday giveaway!
Happy Birthday Maria!!
Thank you for sharing so much of your insight and wisdom. I have learnt so much from you.
At the heart of your work, you are an educator, wanting to share your wisdom and life-view.
Mimi Goldberg Shulman
No orange beige?? Can’t help it, it’s still my favorite! 🙂
Me too!! I love Casa Blanca with my red oak floors!
I think my Dover white walls fall into this category. We are working on cabinet paint colors and sticking with Dover seems to be the best option at this point…?
I’ve been following your work for years and thank you for all the content you provide! I love these trending kitchen colors but I’m afraid they’ll be out in a few short years. Do you think they’re also timeless? Thank you!! <3
Happy belated birthday! I am so happy I heard about you and have now been devouring everything that your post! I too am stuck with an orange beige floor! Reading all I can find on your posts about orange beige. I feel like my eye is getting better and better at understanding undertones since I picked up your wheel!
I’m not surprised to see Kilim Beige on the list. It’s a popular general Sherwin-Williams color in my area. It’s on my bedroom walls and had been the primary tone of all the walls in a business where I worked as well. I was surprised to see it described as having pink undertones, but of course she’s right as usual. What I notice is its versatility. It might be a little dark for any kitchen that doesn’t have lots of natural lighting, though.
We have concrete floors and Dover white walls. Trying to decide on cabinet colors now. I believe Dover has a yellow/orange undertone so I don’t know if any of these cabinet options will work for us. Sticking with Dover cabinets might be our best option at this point.
I have a Taj Mahal slab that has grey violet undertones. Any recommendations in SW?