My Favorite Readymade Cabinetry Colors

Obviously I’m knee deep in our kitchen renovation and have spent the past couple months planning every inch of the space. I wanted to touch on a topic I’m frequently asked about… cabinetry color. This time around I selected a color that wasn’t expected. Luckily, you don’t have to splurge on totally custom cabinets to get beautiful, unique colored cabinetry! In our previous kitchen, that’s exactly what we did- I went into Emmett’s work (he works for a local cabinetry company) and mixed up a custom stain and paint color for our custom cabinets. I’m not going to lie- it’s pretty expensive and time consuming to go that route. In the end I got exactly what I wanted, but this time around I was surprised to learn there are hundreds of readymade colors and door styles that I would’ve been been equally as excited about. Click through for my favorite readymade cabinetry colors available from Diamond (the brand we’re using this time around) and Kraftmaid– both found at Lowe’s.

Obviously portions of our kitchen are sponsored by Lowe’s, but I wanted to let you know… this post is not. This was a topic I wanted to write about and felt would be helpful for many of you ordering your cabinetry in the same way. We used Kraftmaid cabinets from Lowe’s in our Ohio kitchen and absolutely loved them, our second kitchen was obviously 100% custom (thanks to Emmett’s work giving us a good deal), and we’ll be installing Diamond cabinets in our current kitchen. I feel like after having a taste of every brand and scenario, I now have pretty valuable insight.

While I loved the process of 100% custom cabinetry and being able to control each and every little detail, I’ll admit- if you’re not a designer or if you aren’t working with an interior designer- that’s a very difficult route to take. Even I was in a little over my head during the design process. There are SO many more decisions to make. I specified everything from door profile, wood species, custom colors, and sent plenty of CAD files to get exactly what I wanted. The end result was perfect (pictured below), but I don’t think I’d do it again. For the cost, I’d rather go the semi-custom route and have lots of options to choose from, rather than starting the time-consuming, laborious process from scratch.

I went through the kitchen design process six years ago at Lowe’s for our very first kitchen reno (pictured below), and honestly I don’t remember a lot about it. I had a very specific, basic white shaker-style look in mind, it fit the budget, I made selections, and boom- I ordered everything, Emmett installed it, and we were done…. it turned out exactly like I had pictured. That brings me to my current kitchen. This time around, I went in not really knowing what to expect since it had been so long. I’ve grown as a designer and really wanted this to be our BEST kitchen yet. I wasn’t sure if I could top our previous totally custom kitchen, but I was sure going to try (spoiler alert- I’m positive it’s going to be even more incredible AND functional).

I went into my local store and was seriously blown away at the selections, options, and customization process. This time around, we’ll basically have a semi-custom kitchen that will end up looking even better than our previous one. The best part? I had parameters, examples, displays, and physical products to help me design and decide. When I first announced our kitchen renovation, I mentioned this was the fastest space I’ve ever designed- and kitchens aren’t easy, so that’s saying something. I think a lot of that had to do with the easy selection process. I went into Lowe’s, pulled product, colors, samples, tested cabinet functions, and made educated decisions while creating flat lays. I’m going to walk you through that entire process on Wednesday, so stay tuned for that (the “How to Design a Kitchen at Lowe’s” post)… BUT this post is all about sharing my favorite options- color options, in specific. So let’s get to it…

If you’re struggling to choose a cabinetry color, I wanted to narrow down the choices even further for you because there are 100+ options at Lowe’s. Here are 18 of my favorites from the popular Diamond and Kraftmaid cabinetry lines. I took photos of swatches I pulled in the store, check them out below.

FAVORITE DIAMOND CABINET COLORS

For this kitchen, I knew I wanted dark and moody. Green would’ve been an obvious choice for me because you guys know- that’s MY color. It’s in my comfort zone, it’s my go-to palette, and it would’ve been so easy. I decided to mix things up in the kitchen and choose a color that still nods to green, but also navy. I landed on Maritime, but Naval, Abyss, and Jasper were close frontrunners.

In my opinion, Diamond offers the better saturated colors, while Kraftmaid wins the neutral battle. I’d recommend choosing your door style first, then nail down the color… that will narrow the color selection even further by determining the cabinetry line.

FAVORITE KRAFTMAID CABINET COLORS

Kraftmaid has some really beautiful medium hues. Have you noticed the trend of greige, soft sophisticated cabinetry? I was VERY tempted to go that route as opposed to my dark & moody pre-determined aesthetic. The Kraftmaid colors were THAT good. I went in with an idea, picked up the Pebble Suede swatch and *almost* changed my mind.

In the end, if I had to choose cabinetry colors from Lowe’s again… these are most definitely my 18 favorites. Hopefully they’ll help some of you decide if you’re also planning a kitchen renovation. Check back on Wednesday for a peek at what the cabinetry / kitchen design and ordering process looked like. I was pleasantly surprised and have some very realistic renderings to share (exciting)!