Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will…”
― George Lucas
The age old struggle between dark and light happens not just to Luke Skywalker but to Interior Designers too. I love the all white trend for interiors and white kitchens are some of my all time favorites. However, I get tired of the crisp and cheerful white sometimes and long for some moody, darkly handsome kitchens for a change.
Here are 8 dark and interesting cabinet kitchens for inspiration in case you’re looking towards the Dark Side…I also have a photo of my own step towards a dark kitchen at the end of this post!
Going to the dark side in your kitchen takes a real commitment. It’s not traditional and it does create a certain, un-kitcheney atmosphere that I think you need to accept. Dark kitchens can take on a movie set look to them, especially at night – go with it and create your own hero’s journey saga in your kitchen. Maybe your lasagna will taste better, who knows?
Here’s my kitchen update:
I am in the process of taking my kitchen dark and I wrote about my Mad Men era, pine kitchen in this post from last month and shared my super piney pantry:
I used Rustoleum’s Cabinet Transformations product in black and it was really easy and looks fine, but I don’t know that you couldn’t get the same results with a few coats of a good primer and a quality paint. I did finish it with wax and not the manufacturer’s cabinet finisher because I wanted a more antique patina. The only problem with the wax is that it smelled toxic and took a lot of elbow grease. I also applied it before putting on the new hardware which was a mistake. I learned that it’s not an easy thing to touch up wax coated furniture…
It does look a lot better – although the white, centrally located outlet needs to be painted and I should apply more wax to the finish that got dinged during installation. We have a dark kitchen and I’ve found that I kind of like the added drama of the black cabinet wall. The rest of the house is all white and it’s kind of refreshing to have a moody, British library style in the kitchen.
A mythological image that has to be explained to the brain is not working.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Hero’s Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life & Work
The Colorado Nest 