Yellow is a bold design choice, but it's popular in adventurous kitchens for a good reason – it's a cheerful color full of energy and optimism, associated with cleanliness and freshness. Part of this energetic perception contributes to its association with the marketing of healthy foods. It's appetizing! Yellow is the color of ripe bananas and fresh citrus fruits like tart pineapples and lemons. And if you're working with an especially dark kitchen, there's simply no better way to brighten the space and let this warm natural tone bring nature to you. Check out our yellow room inspiration post to see ideas for the rest of the home.
Quirky vintage appliances and artwork lend themselves to a purely contemporary style thanks to a vivid palette built from bright shades of lemon yellow and tangerine – a pairing reminiscent of technicolor daffodils.
Although the first image shows wooden chair options, these yellow kitchen bar stools use slight variations as a great way soften the effect of a pure yellow theme without reducing the desired level of intensity.
Each material seems carefully chosen to accent the brighter portions of the color palette. Yellow brings out the sunny tones of the wood, and the polished coppery bronze seems to reflect the depth of the orange.
Other accents are more subtle but still fall along the spectrum of spicy appetizing hues – the deep carmine radio and coffee grinder and sage green scale are just two gorgeous examples. A vintage kitchen clockoccupies a central position near the dining counter.
The climbing vines in the slat-covered atrium bring nature into the kitchen, immediately drawing any fresh green ingredients into the overall design theme.
Open directly to the outdoors, the glossy yellow cabinetry wraps around the kitchen and into the traditionally styled dining room. Textural wall panels offer a matte counterbalance to the more radiant materials.
Dandelion is a wonderful color for a space as clean, simple, and minimalistic as this one. It draws up the warm tones from the kitchen's wooden features.
This kitchen serves as an incredible example of using color blocking to distinguish the kitchen from the rest of the open layout living space. It's a perfect cube of vibrant yellow, encompassing each working surface and even the floor.
Can't get enough color blocking? Here, the kitchen is bright yellow, the dining table pale green, and a hint of red alludes to the living room just out of view.
Here's another perfectly monochromatic kitchen, with the only variation coming by way of the metal utensils – a great way to connect with the metal Eames chairs in the dining area. It's a bold look and a daring approach to minimalist kitchen design. The dining lights used here are Beat Pendants by Tom Dixon.
A black and white background allows the yellow kitchen island and cabinetry to stand boldly at center stage. It's also interesting to note the variety of woods used throughout, different on the bookshelf, countertop, and background cabinets.
While the chairs are the only yellow pieces of furniture here, the kitchen itself carries on the theme with a carefully curated collection of yellow storage jars, coffee cups, and other functional additions.
Yet another kitchen that uses a subtle mix of accessories and furniture to drive home the yellow theme. The unique kitchen pendant lights helps too.
Sometimes adding in an alternate accent tends to work as well. The green accent chair complements the greenery in the herb planters.
What a cool industrial-inspired kitchen! A single stripe of yellow runs across the floor to climb the cabinetry and loops back over across the ceiling. Matching accessories dot the open shelves and bright metal fencing leaves a lasting impression. But having an open approach like this means that every one of your accessories on display - including knives, wine glasses, mugs, cutting boards, teapots, cookie jars, etc. - need to be on point.
Of course, it's not necessary to go "all the way" with a yellow theme. This kitchen complements its natural materials with a bold yellow backsplash – a single dramatic element to draw the eye.
This kitchen employs a similar strategy but expands the colorful theme with vivid open shelving as well.
And here's a gorgeous goldenrod backsplash. The soft blue and olive cabinetry sets the stage for a fascinating contrast between cool and warm, bright and pale.
Creating colorful statement accents isn't limited to just backsplashes! Lighting is always a great candidate.
Tables and countertops are a great place to add a favorite color too.
A single glossy yellow cabinet serves as a focal point within this kitchen's smooth wood and concrete palette, creating a tie-in with the dining room chairs.
Yellow details pop up in the most surprising places in this ultra-modern style kitchen. Stripes guide the eye along the island and toward the open shelving display.
Herringbone tiles in white, brown, and yellow exhibit a varied arrangement that breaks away from symmetry in some places.
Ordinary white and yellow tiles become an incredible geometric design thanks to the clever alternating diagonal pattern, resulting in cool twist-effect stripes.
But what could be the easiest way to add a dash of yellow sunshine to the kitchen without major alterations? The answer is a little paint! This gradient makes a huge impression.
And finally, a kitchen that brings several of these accent color strategies together with a mix of yellow features. The creamy yet bright tone is pretty inspiring too.
