Welcome to the dark side, my friends.
We’ve been hinting a lot about the plans for our kitchen, but as I mentioned in this post, I was really anxious about sharing our plans before I finalized them. I wanted to make a bold choice, and when I’ve made bold choices in the past, I’ve occasionally gotten “feedback” that was tempting to listen to…
ANYWAY, I just wanted to get quiet and really focus on what I wanted, and what Dustin wanted, and make the right decisions for us. And now, since we’ve finalized our plans, I wanted to start by sharing our inspiration journey for the kitchen.
After leaning HARD into the white kitchen in our last house, in this house, we decided to run in precisely the opposite direction…
That’s right, friends. Today we’re sharing all the inspiration for our black kitchen.
We have a lot of black in our house—we did a black and white bathroom, and we’re putting in black windows. But the biggest concentration of black is going to be in the kitchen, where we’re really laying it on.
The All Black Kitchen
I saw this kitchen way back in 2019, right around the time we were putting in an offer on our house. I credit it with our eventual plans for a black kitchen. I mean, it’s stunning! And the way those brass pulls look on the black had me at hello. It also inspired our faucet purchase—we needed a new one when we moved in, and we’re keeping it during this remodel.
I think the open shelves here are really lovely, but just not quite practical for our lives (ahem, Dustin hates them).
This is the inspiration image, from Seth Meyers’ kitchen, that I keep returning to. I’ve looked at it about a thousand times, and it keeps me calm when I start doubting everything. This is such a lovely black-on-black moment. I’m really inspired by the charcoal black shade on these cabinets—it feels so much more dynamic than it would if it matched the countertops.
Plus, this kitchen seems to get GREAT light—which our kitchen also does, thanks to two massive south-facing windows (one of which is actually going to be a sliding door, so even more light!). I think that sunlight is really playing in our favor, as it does here.
Another great case for all dark (is this blue or charcoal?), with even that deep walnut butcher block playing along. This space also seems to get good light, which keeps it feeling fresh, not dark. I do have to say, I hate the bright white sink in this context—something we will be avoiding!
This lighter countertop is giving us more of a tuxedo kitchen than the previous examples, but taking that dark tile backsplash all the way up the wall is such a nice choice to lean into the dark elements. I really like the dark shelves on it, too—just driving it home.
Another black tile backsplash, this time in a herringbone. This is such a lovely shot, and even with the flat panel doors and all black color scheme, it feels pretty relaxed and classic, not overly modern. Plus, of course, I love the brass pops against the deep black.
I’m an HGTV addict, so I was happy to see Jenny Marrs (“Fixer to Fabulous”) do the full-on black kitchen—and it turned out so dreamy! You can’t see it, but this kitchen is also across from a whole wall of windows. Light is critical to the black kitchen, hmm?
This is also a lot of similar black tones—no charcoal, really. But it still feels dynamic and interesting, probably because of the mix of textures. (I mean, check out that backsplash in the range nook.) Basically, you can’t go wrong! There’s no wrong way to do any of this, let’s just pick things we like, hmm?
Would You Do a Black Kitchen?
So, I’d love to know: do you think the all-black (or tuxedo) kitchen is a bold choice? How are we feeling about it (positive answers only!)? I know you need some more details to truly decide, so tomorrow I’ll be sharing our kitchen selections and mood board!
While a lot of things are delayed right now, we’re hopeful that we will get cabinets in just a few weeks, and then countertops about a month (sigh) after that. It will take some time to come together, but I’m excited to see the finished product!
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