A Cohesive and Colorful Kitchen

How can you add a personal touch to a new-construction spec home’s kitchen? Designer Rachel Cannon was tasked with turning a neutral, all-white kitchen into a cohesive and colorful kitchen for a 2016 home in a traditional neighborhood development.

“Our assignment was to take the ‘all-white box’ that’s appealing to the average home buyer and turn it into something very special and personalized for our clients,” Rachel says.

Rachel added the pendant lights over the sink and island to bring a little bit of sparkle to the kitchen. The lights and hardware in the kitchen are silver, while the starbursts are gold. The warm tone of the wood beams on the ceiling and the floors allows Rachel to mix the warm-toned gold details with the cool-toned silver hardware in an integrated way.

Purple and orange are both secondary colors on the color wheel, and they contrast one another well. Paying attention to the undertones of a color is one way to ensure your colors will look cohesive together. “Kalamata” and orange both have warm undertones that Rachel uses throughout the room to create a cohesive look.

Rachel and her clients settled on neutral colors in the kitchen, accenting it with a bold purple. Adding another color to the space, Rachel chose several orange accessories to bring contrast to the space.

The standout of this space is the starburst range hood. The idea for Rachel’s design came from the client’s own wardrobe.

**RACHEL RECOMMENDS THESE PAINT COLORS FOR A NEUTRAL KITCHEN WITH A SPLASH OF COLOR: “LAMB’S WOOL” AND “SHOJI WHITE” FROM SHERWIN WILLIAMS AND “KALAMATA” FROM BENJAMIN MOORE.**

“On a trip to Chicago, I found the starbursts in a store. I knew immediately that I had to buy them, because my client is never without her diamond starburst necklace—it’s her signature piece,” Rachel explains.

As a result of all her design ideas, Rachel took a “cardboard cutout house” and turned it into a space with visual interest that reflects her clients’ own personal tastes and interests.

The purple counter stools were some of the rst things that Rachel knew she needed for this space. Purple is a color the client loves, and it really contrasts with the neutral cabinets, walls and countertops of the kitchen. The gold buttons on the chairs tie into the gold starbursts on the range hood.

The window treatments are mostly neutral, but they feature a border of aubergine, thus tying into the purple accents in the kitchen and dining room. The ceramic pots and the tulips add an orange accent in an impermanent way to allow the clients to mix and match different décor elements throughout the year.

Rachel felt the range hood was dominating the room and wanted to add a layer of interest to it. She chose these gold starbursts that she attached to the hood as a surprise for her clients—who loved them.

Rachel Cannon is based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. You can see more of her designs on her website: rachelcannonlimited.com and on Instagram: @rclinteriors.