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Rental Kitchen Color: Consider Brown

2009_08_24-Brown.jpgWe've been talking about rental kitchen makeovers, and we often hear laments about bland oak cabinets and brown tile. So here's one idea: don't fight the rental kitchen brown. Embrace it.

 
 

We found this luscious brown kitchen at Atelier Abigail Ahern, and we were immediately intrigued by the possibilities of a brown kitchen. Yes, the cabinets here are white (as are many other rental kitchen cabinets) but we could totally see a rich, sophisticated brown playing off those unwanted wood cabinets in a rental kitchen.

Instead of trying to paint them or get rid of the brown entirely, why not embrace them and go the opposite direction with a mellow, rich brown like this one? Work the cabinets into rich brown color scheme and make your kitchen look like you wanted it that way all along.

Yes, this walks a line of danger; it could fall off the edge into too-retro 70s orange and brown, but for those of you who are allowed to paint your kitchens, this might be an option to at least play around with.

Do you have a brown kitchen?

Related: Five Small Kitchens from This Old House

(Image: Graham Atkins Hughes)

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Kitchen Design, brown, painting, rental kitchen, color in the kitchen, brown kitchen, paint the kitchen

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Comments (7)

I really like the masterpiece paintings above the stove. They add a certain calming elegance the kitchen and make it more formal. What a cleaver idea. I'm going to try that in my kitchen.

posted by lona on August 24th 2009 at 12:00pm
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That centerpiece of a range doesn't hurt.

posted by meleyna on August 24th 2009 at 12:25pm
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I think the particular shade of brown is key. The one pictured above is a very cool-toned brown with gray and what seems like plum undertones--a sophisticated and elegant color. A cool shade like that would make warmer-toned wood 'pop' rather than blend in.

posted by slowdown on August 24th 2009 at 12:29pm
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That is a truly gorgeous kitchen!

The colour is quite unusual; I never would have considered it for a kitchen...

posted by mschatelaine on August 24th 2009 at 12:44pm
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not normally into brown, but this is lovely!

posted by DUSKIN on August 24th 2009 at 9:18pm
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i would need to actually see brown applied to a drab rental kitchen to believe in its worth as a kitchen color.

this kitchen can get away with anything. very chic.

posted by SwedishChef on August 25th 2009 at 6:49am
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Another option for the white cabinets is a deep slate gray, it looks beautiful and doesn't risk the 70s look. But, I really like that brown.

posted by CKBH on August 25th 2009 at 11:59am
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