Stained Wood Or Two-Tone Cabinets: How To Choose

Cabinets cover more of a kitchen than any other finish, so their color sets the tone for the whole room. The project photos in this post put two approaches side by side. One kitchen keeps stained wood cabinets all the way around. The other goes two-tone, with dark lower and tall cabinets and white uppers. Both are good kitchens. The question is which one suits the family who will cook in it.

What Each Palette Does

The all-stained kitchen pairs warm wood cabinets with white counters, a subway tile backsplash and a frosted glass pantry door set right into the cabinet run. Wood on every cabinet gives the room a consistent warmth, and the white counters and backsplash keep it from feeling heavy.

The two-tone kitchen uses dark lowers and tall cabinets with white uppers, around a large stone-look island with woven stools and black cage pendants under a vaulted ceiling. The dark cabinets anchor the room, while the white uppers keep the top half bright. It reads more graphic, and the black pendants tie back into the dark cabinetry.

Look At The Whole Room, Not Just The Doors

Cabinet color never stands alone. It sits against the counters, the backsplash, the floor, the hardware and the light fixtures. In the stained kitchen, the frosted pantry door and subway backsplash are part of the palette. In the two-tone kitchen, the stone-look island top and black pendants carry as much weight as the cabinets.

When you're comparing, look at full-room photos rather than cabinet samples alone. Notice how much natural light each room gets, because a palette that feels cozy in a sunny kitchen can feel dark in a shaded one.

Get Specific With Your Inspiration

A lot of people come to us with a Pinterest board of kitchens they love. That's great, and we want to see it. But my business partner Colten Roth, who runs our builds, pushes for specifics: "Do you like this one specifically, that one specifically? Do you like this about this one, that about that one?" In his view, "all those specifications are crucial."

A kitchen you saved for its stained cabinets might also have a floor you don't like. Pointing to the part you love keeps the design from becoming a blend of everything. And if we combine a few ideas and you end up hating it, Colten's take is that it's fine, because "at least you know now, too."

See It In Person, Then Decide

When it's time to choose, we send clients to a lumber yard to see cabinets in person. Real wood grain and real paint in front of you tell you more than a screen can.

Then make the call. Colten's advice is simple: "Make a decision and be okay with your decision." If you're torn between two palettes you genuinely like, he adds, "it probably doesn't matter because you probably like both of them and you're going to be okay either way you go."

For couples, agree on how you'll decide before you start. As Colten puts it, "you've got to have a way to make decisions." Maybe one person leads the kitchen and the other leads the exterior. Maybe you each narrow it to two and pick together.

If you're planning a kitchen as part of a custom home in Lincoln, bring the photos you keep coming back to. We'll help you find the thread that runs through them.