A Designer’s Guide to Modern Home Transformations
By Sarah Chen, Lead Designer at Inspo Cabinetry
After a year of guiding clients through transformative home renovations, I’m excited to share insights from what proved to be a fascinating year in home color trends. As we reflect on 2023, we saw homeowners increasingly embrace color as a way to infuse personality into their spaces while maintaining the sophisticated appeal of modern design. Let me walk you through the colors that not only dominated 2023 but continue to shape our design conversations with clients in early 2024.
The New Neutrals: Breaking Traditional Boundaries
The definition of “neutral” evolved significantly in 2023. Warm whites, particularly Benjamin Moore’s White Dove
and Sherwin-Williams’ Alabaster (SW 7008), remained the backbone of many of our kitchen projects. However, these weren’t your grandmother’s white cabinets. We saw clients confidently pairing these warm whites with dramatic stone backsplashes and mixed-metal hardware, creating kitchens that felt both timeless and decidedly current.
What truly excited me was watching clients embrace sage green as a new neutral. In several of our most successful kitchen renovations, we treated sage green lower cabinets as a grounding element, often pairing them with warm white upper cabinets. This combination brought the organic, calming qualities of nature indoors while maintaining the clean lines essential to modern design.
Dramatic Statements: The Rise of Sophisticated Darks
Perhaps the most striking trend of 2023 was the fearless use of deeper tones. Soft blacks and deep navies moved beyond accent walls to become statement-making cabinet colors. One of my favorite projects from last year featured a wall of floor-to-ceiling navy cabinets in a home office, creating a sophisticated backdrop for both virtual meetings and focused work time.
The charm of soft black revealed itself in unexpected ways throughout the year. We installed several kitchen islands in deep, rich blacks that served as stunning focal points against lighter perimeter cabinets. These darker tones proved particularly effective in larger spaces, where they helped anchor open-concept designs without overwhelming them.
The Unexpected Stars: Colors That Surprised Us
If you had told me at the start of 2023 that terracotta would become one of our most requested colors for kitchen accent pieces, I might have been skeptical. Yet here we are, having completed multiple projects featuring terracotta-colored pantry doors or kitchen islands that inject warmth and personality into otherwise neutral spaces.
Mushroom tones – those complex, warm taupes – emerged as another unexpected favorite, particularly in butler’s pantries and home bars. These spaces became perfect testing grounds for clients wanting to experiment with color while maintaining connection to their home’s overall design scheme.
Looking Forward While Honoring the Past
As we settle into 2024, I’m seeing these 2023 trends evolve in exciting ways. The confidence in color that defined last year has set the stage for even more personalized and nuanced color applications. Pale blush tones, which were primarily reserved for powder rooms and dressing areas in 2023, are now being considered for kitchen and living space millwork, suggesting a continuing shift toward softer, more intimate feeling homes.
Professional Insights for Your Next Project
When approaching your own cabinet color selection, consider these designer tips that proved invaluable throughout 2023:
- Think in terms of color families rather than individual shades. Your cabinets should feel intentional within your home’s larger color story.
- Don’t shy away from using different colors for upper and lower cabinets. This approach adds visual interest while maintaining cohesion.
- Consider your lighting carefully. We saw many clients successfully use darker cabinet colors in spaces with abundant natural light.
- Remember that hardware and countertop selections can dramatically impact how a cabinet color reads in your space.
The most successful projects of 2023 weren’t necessarily the ones that followed trends most closely, but rather those that thoughtfully incorporated trending colors in ways that reflected their owners’ personalities while respecting their homes’ architecture.
As we continue through 2024, I’m excited to see how these colors evolve and combine in new ways. The foundation laid in 2023 – of using color confidently while maintaining sophistication – provides an exciting jumping-off point for this year’s projects.
