18 Ways to Make Your White Kitchen Cabinets the Star of Your Space
The simple shade has delicious design potential.
When it comes to decorating your kitchen, choosing the right color for your cabinets is a seemingly small decision that can make a huge impact. Your kitchen cabinets have a lot more to offer than a convenient spot to stow your pots, pans, and appliances— they can inform the overall look and feel of your culinary space. Bolder cabinet colors like red or blue can help you lean into your inner maximalist, while neutral tones are a perfect, pared-back paint shade. But, if you’re looking for a tone that can be dressed up or down to match your style, you can't go wrong with white.
Known for its simplicity and versatility, white is the perfect blank canvas for your kitchen. Whether you pair with a luxe countertop, cheeky hardware, or a great backsplash, white kitchen cabinets can cater to a range of design styles. Need proof? We’ve pored through the archives for the best white cabinet ideas, proving just how versatile—and inspirational—one shade can be.
Punctuate With a Pop of Color
Why settle on one cabinet hue when you can choose a few? If your style skews a bit more maximalist, leave your cabinets white and add a splash of color to your island. Let this sweet space from Tom Scheerer show you how it’s done.
Couple With a Colorful Countertop
Looking for another way to inject color? Paint your countertops in an unapologetically bold hue. Take a cue from this Portugal pad, where designer Jacques Grange combined lapis countertops with bright, white cabinets.
Keep it Simple
Calling all minimalists: Front-slab cabinets are the perfect way to drive your pared-back design agenda forward. In his New York apartment, Thom Filicia paired Poliform cabinetry with Brazilian quartzite countertops and a Miele range. Slim nickel pulled handles are featured on the lower row of cabinets, mixing a sleek style with easy access.
Let There Be Light
Speaking of front slab cabinets, this style is the perfect match for a statement-making light fixture. Nicole Fulton added an illuminating touch to her client’s Greenwich Village townhouse with a shape-shifting chandelier from Rewire. It’s a bright idea that adds plenty of flair.
Match With Marble
For a luxurious touch, pair your white cabinets with expanses of marble. Designer Kelly Behun tapped Molteni&C to help spruce up this Upper East Side oasis. To complement the rich, white detailing, Behun added a chandelier from Hudson Valley Lighting and Pierre Jeanneret-inspired chairs, courtesy of France & Son.
Create Contrast
What’s black, white, and gorgeous all over? The kitchen Lily Dierkes designed for her very first Nashville project. Sleek black countertops deftly offset the crisp white cabinets, creating a dash of drama without upstaging the rest of the space.
Design a Touch of Drama
Or, if black countertops feel too severe for your taste, incorporate some noir hardware as designer Carolyn Pressly did here. The use of simple knobs and pulls—plus a slim dark trim—is a measured-yet-masterful way to create contrast.
Add Open Shelving
An all-white kitchen offers an excellent opportunity to display your finest serveware. In her Long Island home, style maven Linda Rodin selected a mix of traditional white cabinet and floating shelves, allowing her to show off her collection of Mexican pottery.
Go For Glass-Fronted Cabinets
Torn between traditional white cabinets and open shelves? Get the best of both world with a glass-fronted cabinet, as seen in this New Jersey home tour by Cullman & Kravis. The glass panels here offer the perfect vantage point to check out that collection of colorful dinnerware.
Be Bold With Your Backsplash
Just because you’ve selected white cabinets doesn’t mean your kitchen can’t embrace its bold side. Marc Glimcher perfected the balance in this Hamptons home, thanks to the wall tiles from Fireclay Tiles. The beige and white colorway works with the white cabinets, not against them.
Go Back to Nature
Warm up your sleek white cabinets with some dark wood accents. In this Hamptons home, Tim Godbold offset the Henrybuilt cabinetry with a wooden island and walnut chairs from Thomas Hayes Studio.
Embrace Your Curves
For a subtle-yet-innovative take on the typical white cabinet, take a look at furniture designer Mark Grattan’s home in Mexico City. Here, the cabinets’ rounded edges offer just the right amount of visual intrigue. And, when paired with a leafy green tree and handmade rug from Oaxaca, this galley kitchen is equal parts cool and curated.
Work in Wooden Details
Consider this Spanish villa's kitchen a masterclass in giving your white cabinets a fresh, bohemian flair. Here, Lorenzo Castillo paired these ornate set with woven paneling. Factor in the surrounding blue and white Spanish tiles, and the space is undeniably idyllic.
Experiment With Styles
As this Mill Valley kitchen proves, you don't have to choose just one type of cabinet. Designer Holly Kopman juxtaposed front slab and Shaker styles into confined space. The crisp white palette brings some decorum to the differing styles.
Paint Your Wall
This Milan apartment is proof that white cabinets can fit comfortably in a bright, bold space. Here, textile designer Lisa Corti painted her kitchen walls lilac and added a bright blue table, but kept the cabinets a soothing off-white. The result? The cabinets offer some welcomed breathing room for an otherwise colorful culinary corner.
Stay Golden
If you want to add some sparkle to your kitchen, incorporate some brass hardware as seen in Michael Bruno's Tuxedo Park, New York home. Vintage Knoll chairs and 19th-century light fixtures from a Paris flea market round out the look.
Defy Gravity
Want to maximize your white kitchen cabinets? The only way to go is up. Designer Marie Flanigan opted for floor-to-ceiling cabinets to make the most of the available storage space. Quartzite countertops and a ceiling pendant from Gregorius Pineo completes this Houston home.
Wow With All-White Everything
Can’t get enough of white surfaces? Go big by matching your cabinets to your countertops...and your walls...and your accessories. Fashion designer Jeffrey Dodd’s Manhattan apartment perfects the all-white kitchen.
Kelsey Mulvey is a freelance lifestyle journalist, who covers shopping and deals for Good Housekeeping, Women's Health, and ELLE Decor, among others. Her hobbies include themed spinning classes, Netflix, and nachos.
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