I'm doing a gut reno of my house and my designer proposed a black kitchen. I'm in love. I want something like this picture, but I also want charcoal countertops. Thoughts?
Too trendy. It will be dated in a few years and time for a remodel again. Go with something classic which will last a while.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | October 13, 2025 5:00 PM |
Who cares what's hip and what's dated. If you like it, go for it
by Anonymous | reply 2 | October 13, 2025 5:02 PM |
R2 If he didn't care for opinions he wouldn't have asked for them.
by Anonymous | reply 3 | October 13, 2025 5:03 PM |
If you have a galley kitchen like the photo that is not terribly visible from the living or dining room, do it. If you have an open plan, think if a black wall would look oppressive. Charcoal countertops will drag it down though, you need contrast, balance.
by Anonymous | reply 5 | October 13, 2025 5:05 PM |
Beans don't burn on the grill!
by Anonymous | reply 6 | October 13, 2025 5:07 PM |
The kitchen has always been my favorite room. I prefer it to be cheery and inviting.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | October 13, 2025 5:07 PM |
If money is no object, sure. And by that I mean if you can afford to move out while you redo it in a couple of years when you get sick of your kitchen being a black hole that sucks all of the energy in the house out, then sure, go for it in full with gray counter tops and appliances. The reason is looks good in your picture, OP, is because it has stark white counter tops and is flooded with natural light, has a sky light, and still the photographer (realtor, probably) turned on the counter lights to add just that single additional lumen.
by Anonymous | reply 8 | October 13, 2025 5:10 PM |
R4 - I thought OP was referring to kitchens in black people's homes.
by Anonymous | reply 9 | October 13, 2025 5:26 PM |
#BlackKitchensMatter
by Anonymous | reply 10 | October 13, 2025 5:27 PM |
I was sure this was about kitchens in white households run by black mammies.
by Anonymous | reply 11 | October 13, 2025 5:28 PM |
Between painting everything not moving Gray & Black our world has become a funeral at a penitentiary.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | October 13, 2025 5:35 PM |
[quote]Black Kitchens
I've had more than enough of this shit.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | October 13, 2025 5:37 PM |
This design appeals to me too. The white accents are strategically placed to reflect light. I've had dark walnut cabinets--not much lighter than pure black--and I like the look.
by Anonymous | reply 14 | October 13, 2025 5:41 PM |
My partner’s father went through a swinging bachelor phase in which he had, among other things, a bathroom done with all black fixtures. There’s a reason you rarely see that. It turns out that black surfaces are impossible to keep clean.
by Anonymous | reply 15 | October 13, 2025 5:43 PM |
My former apartment had a VERY large kitchen with probably 30 or so cupboards. They were the standard cheap ass ugly wood. The counters were a creamy pale yellow.
I painted every one of those cupboards high gloss black and the walls Benjamin Moore apple pear. Stunningly gorgeous. Even the property managers didn't want to get rid of it when they redid the building.
by Anonymous | reply 16 | October 13, 2025 5:44 PM |
OP, please consider deep dark blues or greens. I rent this shithole, but I dream of a real kitchen - I won’t fall for the current brass fixture craze, but I’d suck every dick in a casino if I could use some granite instead of laminate.
by Anonymous | reply 17 | October 13, 2025 5:44 PM |
I will stick with my sage-gray cabinets and my marble counters, skanks.
by Anonymous | reply 18 | October 13, 2025 5:49 PM |
Every streak, every fingerprint, and every spot and smear will show up on a black kitchen surface. And every speck of cleaning residue will show up as well.
Do not do this.
by Anonymous | reply 19 | October 13, 2025 6:15 PM |
Any Blatino husbear worth his salt will NOT be happy.
by Anonymous | reply 20 | October 13, 2025 6:15 PM |
I had a dark green kitchen, every surface. I ended up hating it. I moved. I didn't want to go through renovation again. The best advice you have received so far is r8's.
by Anonymous | reply 21 | October 13, 2025 6:19 PM |
The entire home renovation business stays afloat because designers/influencers promote a trend one year, then 5 years later start trashing the very trend they started.
Of course, the sheeple, ever fearful of being ostracized by the cool kids, blindly follow suit.
.
by Anonymous | reply 22 | October 13, 2025 6:30 PM |
Depressing.
by Anonymous | reply 23 | October 13, 2025 6:36 PM |
I think the black kitchen pictured at OP looks ok for a business apartment or a corporate office kitchen. It's kind of cheap looking despite being "designy". I might like an old kitchen with lots of plaster and wood with some black accents. Black linoleum floors give that 1930s 1940s Park Avenue apartment look.
This Italian kitchen with a Venetian ceiling could handle some more black. But not all black.
by Anonymous | reply 24 | October 13, 2025 6:37 PM |
[quote]Every streak, every fingerprint, and every spot and smear will show up on a black kitchen surface. And every speck of cleaning residue will show up as well.
I'm eager to renovate my kitchen (and undo the previous owners' choices) for this reason. At least they went with white countertops, though.
by Anonymous | reply 25 | October 13, 2025 6:37 PM |
We invented kitchens. ALL kitchens are black.
by Anonymous | reply 26 | October 13, 2025 6:38 PM |
Impossible to keep clean. IMPOSSIBLE. My partner has an all black kitchen, and while it looks tres tres chic when spotless and unused, it gets grimy and smeary and spotty and dusty just looking at it the wrong way. If you plan to use your kitchen for anything other than photo shoots, I promise you, this choice will be one of your greatest regrets.
by Anonymous | reply 27 | October 13, 2025 6:44 PM |
The current rage, all white kitchens, are exceedingly difficult to keep clean, as well.
Just the smallest spot or stain is magnified and amplified in an all white kitchen.
by Anonymous | reply 28 | October 13, 2025 6:55 PM |
I think black will show dust and fingerprints more than white will.
by Anonymous | reply 29 | October 13, 2025 6:58 PM |
Black is stylish but what nobody has mentioned is that black is difficult to keep clean.
by Anonymous | reply 30 | October 13, 2025 7:16 PM |
I’ve a largely black kitchen. Dark Mahogany and glass cabinets, chrome knobs, lots of dimmable spots and a white sink, but everything else, the floors, the countertops, and the appliances are black. Looks like the inside of a limousine.
I love it. But consider what R8 says. My kitchen’s compact and is away from the public rooms, so it’s easier to clean and doesn’t visually suck light from the seating areas.
If your layout is similar, go for it.
by Anonymous | reply 31 | October 13, 2025 7:33 PM |
Black cabinetry reminds me of my trip to London where I slept on a black futon with matching coffee table.
Both showed water marks or perhaps other fluid activity. The friend who invited me to London turned out to be a fat-assed, untrustworthy malicious asshole. How many times did I have to defend her nasty behavior to strangers?
OP, black cabinetry brings back nightmares. You may want to flip the script and go with cornflower blue. It’s been out so long it’s due for a revival. Perhaps I could sent you a cloth goose with a ribbon around its neck.
by Anonymous | reply 32 | October 13, 2025 7:45 PM |
[quote]If your layout is similar, go for it.
It's in the back of the house on the first floor away from everything else. Thanks for the tip.
[quote]You may want to flip the script and go with cornflower blue.
I'm gay, but I'm not that gay.
I would consider navy.
by Anonymous | reply 33 | October 13, 2025 7:56 PM |
Navy does not go with food.
by Anonymous | reply 34 | October 13, 2025 8:06 PM |
You've probably heard it enough, but...
Unless you REEEALLLLYYYY enjoy cleaning, do not do this! I actually changed out the dark gray countertops in a rental (with the owner's permission) because every mote of dust showed.
by Anonymous | reply 35 | October 13, 2025 8:12 PM |
Even if you think you like it right now, you will mostly likely not like it 10 years from now.
by Anonymous | reply 36 | October 13, 2025 8:12 PM |
I went royal blue for my kitchen when I renovated five years ago. I regretted it almost immediately.
by Anonymous | reply 37 | October 13, 2025 8:31 PM |
My thoughts are that it's really unappealing.
by Anonymous | reply 38 | October 13, 2025 8:47 PM |
A black kitchen is like something Halston would have had in 1978.
by Anonymous | reply 39 | October 13, 2025 8:51 PM |
Have you ever owned a black car?? They always look dirty no matter how often you wash them......
by Anonymous | reply 40 | October 13, 2025 9:18 PM |
R37 was ahead of the trend. High gloss blue is showing up on Dwell, AD, as well as Archdaily. They pair royal blue with brass fixtures.
I loved Lilac, but it was too cold for a North facing eat-in kitchen. I changed it to a Ralph Loren blue jean denim and it complimented my poor-people’s “river rock” linoleum floor.
by Anonymous | reply 41 | October 13, 2025 9:20 PM |
Ive been blessed with “great grandmas” 1963 formica and dark brown wood cabinets boxed in kitchen...20 yr old Kenmore appliances that will never die. I just turned 70 and will never sink a dime into it...is that so wrong?
by Anonymous | reply 42 | October 13, 2025 9:24 PM |
Once you go Black, you don’t go back.
by Anonymous | reply 43 | October 13, 2025 9:24 PM |
R42, as long as you have VHS porn tapes you will never go wrong! Especially if they’re hidden beneath a floor grazing tablecloth!
by Anonymous | reply 44 | October 13, 2025 9:32 PM |
and it's bloody well staying this way till after the cataract surgery,
by Anonymous | reply 45 | October 13, 2025 9:41 PM |
Careful not to get stuck in a specific design period .
by Anonymous | reply 46 | October 14, 2025 1:37 AM |
Love that kitchen, r46. Wouldn't use the red as a complementary color.
by Anonymous | reply 47 | October 14, 2025 1:39 AM |
Why they gotta be black?
by Anonymous | reply 48 | October 14, 2025 1:40 AM |
I did this with my small kitchen in my condo years ago. It looked great - it wasn't fully black, but had some grey in it. Wasn't overpowering.
But no way would you pair that with charcoal countertops. That's madness.
by Anonymous | reply 49 | October 14, 2025 2:15 AM |
It looks fantastic OP. But it will date badly and need to be redone at some point. I always stick to white kitchens.
by Anonymous | reply 50 | October 14, 2025 7:16 AM |
Black kitchens are for people with food issues. They don’t want to be happy in there.
by Anonymous | reply 51 | October 14, 2025 8:27 AM |