Two Tone Kitchens are Hot!
by Tommy Smith

As a home lover, one of the biggest ways to get the most bang for your buck when remodeling your house, is investing into your kitchen. Most real estate agents recommend kitchen remodeling over any other room to increase your home’s appeal and market value. With that in mind, how you update your kitchen is key, so today we are going to cover some popular two-tone trends that can make your kitchen sleek and beautiful.

Normally when one is focusing on remodeling a kitchen area, there are three different points of interest to focus on. With a two-tone theme, this still holds true and provides you with a consistent method of upgrading that holds the test of time.

Kitchen Cabinets

One of the biggest ways to show some pop in your kitchen is to decorate, update, stain, color, or completely change out your kitchen cabinets. With most kitchens, your cabinets are showcased on the walls and floors giving you a wide palate to work with when two toning your home. The trend is to see your kitchen walls, floor and ceiling a uniform color, while maximizing the layout and style of your cabinets to add a pop of color and depth. By using softer and lighter tones in the rest of the kitchen area, your cabinets will take the center stage with ease and beauty. Kitchen cabinets can be dressed up in many ways, whether you are planning to use a stain based treatment, paint colors, accent pieces or hardware, your two tone selections and designs are almost endless when it comes to working with the intricate designs and layouts of cabinets.

Kitchen Counters

A kitchen is so much more than just a room for cooking. With millions of Americans using the kitchen as a center hub for gathering, it is no wonder that the kitchen demands respect in the market place. Often times when people walk into a home, whether that is your home or a friends home, the first thing they notice in a kitchen is the counter tops. Why? Because society tells us that the quality of your kitchen counter represents the quality of your home. With that in mind, what better way to showcase your design skills then leveraging this natural mentality with creative, elegant and priceless two tone accenting. Similar to the kitchen cabinet approach, you would maximize the counter surface space by using soft, light tones on your walls and cabinets, while giving a bolder and stronger color, look, or stone to your counter areas. This will bring the eye to the center of the room and allow your counters to shine.

Floors and Ceilings

The most subtle form of two tone design is leveraging your floor and ceiling as the center piece. With so many people pulling your eye to the cabinets and counter tops, I often find relief in the more subtle designs. The concept still holds true in the sense that you want to stick with soft, light colors for your kitchen cabinets and counter tops while accenting the ceiling and floors. The easiest way to achieve this balance is to install crown molding onto your ceilings.
By matching your crown molding with your floor treatment, you can bring a cohesive design together without overwhelming the eye. Painting your entire ceiling is not recommended as that can give the appearance of a smaller room and detract from the other pieces in the design. Instead, find ways to accent your ceiling that matches your floor design and color to get the best results when two toning your kitchen in this fashion.