1
High-Shine Blue
Karyn Millet
ELLE DECOR readers are smitten with this high-gloss galley kitchen in the California home of design insiders Joe Lucas and David Heikka—and it’s easy to see why with its cheerful blue paint job. “Before, the cabinets were all white, and I follow a golden rule—no white kitchens—so we immediately painted them,” explains Lucas.
2
Electric Blue Upper and Lower Cabinets
Lauren Miller
This Toronto home features tall ceilings and elegant historic details such as ornate moldings, but designer Sam Sacks’s goal was to create a dwelling that was “loose and cool and livable” for the young homeowner. Key to her strategy was contrasting all that period fanciness with electrifying hits of blue—Sacks’s favorite color. In the kitchen, Yves Klein Blue upper and lower kitchen cabinets stand out against a white exposed-brick wall. Black countertops and a few bare plywood cabinet doors give the look a hit of De Stijl flair.
3
French Seaside Blue Kitchen
Stephan Julliard
Jean-Louis Deniot incorporated the whimsy of Tintin into his vacation home off the coast of France. No space is as charming as his kitchen, with its custom blue cabinets—accented in neat, cream trim to play up the windows—and old-timey checkerboard floor.
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4
Primary Blue
Mark Luscombe-Whyte
Landscape designer Jenny Graham cites orange as her favorite color, but here in her minimal Argentinian kitchen, she contrasted her beloved tangerine with a bold, custom cobalt on the kitchen cabinets.
5
Gray-Blue
Nick Johnson
6
Pale Blue Everything
Francesco Lagnese
Emily Todhunter designed this Manhattan home to be “nearer to the sky” so a pale blue, of course, was the color of choice throughout the home—and particularly in the kitchen, where she doused the entire room in Benjamin Moore’s Van Courtland Blue.
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7
Blue Island
Alanna Hale
Designer Jessica Davis and architect Gustave Carlson breathed new life into a classic California home first designed by Joseph Eichler in the 1970s. Their intervention included fun jolts of color, including the bright blue island and cabinets in the kitchen.
8
Deep Blue-Green
Isabel Parra
If you’re on the fence about painting your cabinets blue or green, why not combine them? Budding design firm Perifio painted their own kitchen cabinets a deep teal from C2 Paint, a shade that helps draw in the green of the surrounding countryside.
9
Blue with Industrial Accents
Peter Murdock
The beauty of blue cabinets is that the hue also complements a surprising spectrum of materials, from timber to terrazzo, the material of choice here in a sleek vacation home designed by architect Blaze Makoid and interior designer Joe Nahem.
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10
Classic Duck Egg
Stacy Zarin Goldberg
Duck-egg blue is a total classic when it comes to kitchen cabinetry, and this is one of the most elegant examples out there. Here, in a Washington, D.C., residence, designer Zoe Feldman opted for Farrow & Ball’s Card Room Green, a shade inspired by Victorian homes.
11
Splashes of Azure
Stephan Julliard
Not ready to embrace an all-blue kitchen? Try it in smaller doses, like in this happy Portuguese cooking space designed by Jacques Grange. In lieu of entirely blue cabinets, Grange deployed it just on the outer edges.
12
Sky Blue in the Sky
Thomas Loof
It’s only fitting that a home in the clouds would have equally vertiginous cabinetry. This Richard Mishaan–designed apartment, in Herzog & de Meuron’s Jenga-like 56 Leonard skyscraper in New York City, includes floor-to-ceiling blue cabinetry in a shade that matches the blue of the sky and the Hudson River far below.
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13
A Whisper of Blue
Trevor Tondro
If you have stainless steel appliances, a pale blue with gray undertones is the route for you. Here, designer Alison Palevsky picked a barely there blue shade (one that makes appearances throughout this sprawling California home) to contrast with the Viking stove and hanging pot rack.
14
True Blue Cabinets
Stephen Kent Johnson
OK, this technically isn’t a kitchen—it’s actually a bar area in a Hamptons home—but there are plenty of lessons to be learned here, courtesy of designer Poonam Khanna. She incorporated floor-to-ceiling vibrant blue cabinets (in Philipsburg Blue by Benjamin Moore) and leaned into their Crayola brightness with a set of sunny yellow chairs.
15
Bright and Light Cabinets
Emily Gilbert
You don’t necessarily have to have all-white-everything in a kitchen to create a space that feels fresh and airy. Case in point: For this kitchen in a Hamptons home, designer Daun Curry chose the faintest of sky blues for the cabinets and a soft, pale gray marble for the island and backsplashes. It’s a bright idea to us!
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16
The Deepest, Glossiest Blue
Francesco Lagnese
Conversely, if you are intrigued by black kitchen cabinets but aren’t quite ready to move to the dark side, navy can be a chic intermediary. In this David Netto–designed kitchen, high-gloss cabinets and a poppy orange tile exude plenty of drama.
17
Blue Paint, Black Tile
Alex Lukey
In a Canadian lake house, the kitchen is painted in Benjamin Moore’s Van Deusen Blue, the pendant lights are by Urban Electric Co., the backsplash is in Saltillo Tile, and the counters are Caesarstone in London Grey.
18
Blue Vintage Range Kitchen
Björn Wallander
In Designer Brian J. McCarthy’s New York City apartment, an all-white kitchen makes use of a few blue elements: A stove and hood by La Cornue, and the wide swaths of pale blue stripes on the floor.
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19
Blue Kitchen Chandelier
Mikkel Vang
The homeowners kept the original tile backsplash and flooring in the kitchen of this Loire Valley home. English mahogany chairs and a stylish chandelier, which was found at a flea market, give the space a lived-in feel.
20
Blue and Red Kitchen
Richard Powers
The kitchen in fabric expert John Robshaw’s Connecticut country house is a study in fearless color choices. The walls are painted in Rose Quartz and the cabinetry in Starry Night, both by Benjamin Moore, creating a bold but impressive palette.
Anna Fixsen, Deputy Digital Editor at ELLE DECOR, focuses on how to share the best of the design world through in-depth reportage and online storytelling. Prior to joining the staff, she has held positions at Architectural Digest, Metropolis, and Architectural Record magazines. elledecor.com
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