Why you should be embracing green kitchens
Green is a colour associated with wisdom (think sage and you get the idea) and it certainly seems to ring true when it comes to picking a kitchen colour as the popularity of green kitchens has been on the rise for a while, with a sage green kitchen being the top of most people's colour wishlist. We're not talking about the walls here, but green kitchen cabinets – they've been featured in many a House & Garden house over recent years and we simply cannot get enough of them. So, whether you fancy a dark green kitchen or have more of a thing for an olive green or emerald kitchen, be inspired by these from the archive to paint your own and stop you being… well, green, with envy.
Michael Sinclair1/24Walls in Edward Bulmer’s ‘Dutch Orange’ set off his ‘Invisible Green’ on cabinetry built by Orior Furniture to Martin Brudnizki’s design and finished with Arabescato marble in his Sussex flat.
Boz Gagovski2/24Stella Weatherall's Notting Hill townhouse is packed with smart kitchen ideas, with smart and stylish storage solutions like a plate rack and floating shelves.
Christopher Horwood3/24This basement kitchen in an 18th-century Huguenot weavers' house in Spitalfields is just heavenly, with its original flagstones and muted cabinetry in a tonal green. We particularly love the use of tongue and groove panelling as a splashback, which works well with the traditional aesthetic.
Dean Hearne4/24The kitchen in Daisy Sims-Hilditch Notting Hill flat is Neptune's ‘Suffolk’ design, painted in Edward Bulmer's ‘Verdigris’ and featuring Beata Heuman's ‘Bow’ handles. The back wall has floor to ceiling cabinets to maximise space, with a ladder to help reach the top, and open shelving in the middle to give it a greater sense of openness.
Astrid Templier5/24The kitchen is particularly successful in transporting you to the countryside in Pandora Taylor's Herne Hill house. The coherent rural aesthetic feels “juicy and all-encompassing,” with lush 'Beech Document Green' wallpaper from Lewis and Wood bringing the leafy garden inside. This is reflected in the Edward Bulmer ‘Invisible Green’ cabinetry and cottage-y furniture, including the vintage dresser and ceramic wall lamps from The French House. Pandora chose The Cloth Shop's ‘Washed Linen' fabric for the curtains, which adds a tactile finish and creates a cocooning warmth in the evening. She converted a 1950s fireplace cover into a hood, which – along with the vintage chairs and bespoke Pandora Taylor table – creates a Victorian ‘scullery’ look.
Mark Anthony Fox6/24The cabinetry in this Herefordshire kitchen was made by a local joiner to owner Phoebe Clive’s design. It has an Eastern-European-style pediment and is painted in ‘Invisible Green’ from Edward Bulmer. The sink curtain is in an Indian block-print cotton sold at Tinsmiths, the shop owned by Phoebe.
7/24The kitchen in this London apartment refreshed by Laura Stephens needed to feel distinct from the other living spaces, so Laura placed a bold blue lamp on the island as a ‘punctuation mark’ between the areas. The lampshade is bespoke with a Samuel and Sons bobble trim. The island was made bespoke to Laura's design, with ‘Gustavian inspired diamond motifs’ that echo the bedroom wallpaper.
Dean Hearne8/24The kitchen units in this house by Field Day Studio in Putney were a bespoke design, with handles from Brascote & Co. The island was found at Pintor and customised with an extra shelf. The kitchen, formerly a squat and gloomy space, was opened up with a raised ceiling and a glazed wall to allow light to come in from the utility room. An old refectory table was deftly modified with extra shelving to make it work as an island with plenty of storage.
Mark Anthony Fox9/24An antique table takes centre stage in this kitchen by Emma Burns, where she has paired it with chairs from OKA and chosen ‘Studio Green’ a moody dark green by Farrow & Ball for walls and units, which are from Devol. ‘I wanted this space to read as a dining room rather than a kitchen,’ she says. ‘Mottled’ tiles by Balineum.
Christopher Horwood10/24In the artist Natasha Mann's house, Farrow & Ball's ‘Palm Green’ compliments tiles from Milagros. The kitchen is by Pluck Kitchens. The copper sink is from The French House and Mullan pendant lights.
MICHAEL SINCLAIR11/24Plain English cabinetry and panelling in ‘Army Camp’ green is balanced by Papers and Paints’ ‘Pure White’ on the walls and Parachilna’s ‘Aballs’ pendants over the island in the kitchen of a house in Hampstead Heath.
Mark Anthony Fox12/24At Charlotte Boundy's Victorian London terrace, The British Standard kitchen is painted in two tones – Edward Bulmer’s ‘Brunswick Green’ and ‘Lilac Pink’, which is one of Charlotte’s favourite pinks.
Paul Massey13/24With her lampshade-making business starting to take over her west London family home, Rosi de Ruig moved operations to a nearby studio and took the chance to give the Victorian house a vibrant new look. Rosi bought the kitchen cabinets from Ikea and had new fronts made for them, adding brass handles from Peter Jones. Vibrant ‘Parrots Plume’ gloss from Dulux on the cupboards and island, and the door to the newly created larder, sets off the crocheted ‘Simple Shade 03’ pendant in lava from Naomi Paul above the island. The ‘Flora’ metal wall lamps are from Maisons du Monde.
Chris Horwood14/24Sophie Warburton, founder of Host Home, kept the existing kitchen in her London house, repainting the units from a pillar box red to the calm green of Benjamin Moore's ‘Guacamole,’ an olive green with blue undertones. The tiles are zellige tiles in a colourway called ‘Pastel Sand’ and pair very well with the green kitchen cabinets. A pop of colour comes from part of Sophie's glassware and ceramics collection, with all the glasses from Host and mugs from Mud Australia.
Maree Homer15/24This emerald green kitchen in a 19th-century former whaler’s cottage in North Sydney might be too bold for some, but if you take away the pink walls and panelling, the colour itself is very charming. The paint used here is Dulux’s ‘Green Gables’.
Yuki Sugiura16/24The sage green kitchen has become steadily more popular and ‘Sage Green’ from Little Greene is a wonderful choice for green kitchen cabinets. Here, in Matilda Goad's house, it is paired with plaster-effect walls and red and white checkerboard zellige tiles to great effect.
17/24In her former farmhouse (she has since relocated to London), fashion stylist Louise Roe also used ‘Sage Green' by Little Greene on the kitchen cabinets. Against white walls and with light streaming in, it creates a fresh and bright kitchen scheme.
Simon Brown18/24The glossy black Aga contrasts with the olive green kitchen units and reclaimed chestnut floor in this north London artist's studio turned house by interior designer Caroline Holdaway. Black accents continue in the handles and rail above the cooker and work well to toughen up the overall aesthetic.
Paul Massey19/24A dresser by Plain English, painted in the company’s ‘Army Camp’ green, shows how to achieve a stylish dark green kitchen. Being the kitchen-cum-dining room of Rita Konig's farmhouse, you can expect that it works brilliantly. The room has three huge windows on the opposite side from the dresser, which stop the dark green feeling oppressive.
Andrew Montgomery20/24Often, a coat or two of paint can be all a kitchen needs to feel fresh and new. That was precisely the case in this bright green kitchen in Henrietta Courtauld's house, which Maria Speake had repainted in an Emery & Cie green to refresh the room.
Simon Brown21/24Charles Hurst, who often works with designer Caroline Holdaway, built this kitchen in Robin Muir's house. The island unit is painted in a matt green similar to 'Greengage' by Designers Guild, while the worktop is in English oak. It makes for a bright, jolly green kitchen, tempered by the cool neutrals and abundance of wood.
Tim Beddow22/24In the emerald green kitchen of Sarah Vanrenen's London house, an abundance of light from the garden brightens the tone and the pink rug on the floor provides a wonderful balance for the colour of the cabinets. The paint is not solid, but instead has brushstrokes visible which give a country feel to this green dream.
Christopher Horwood23/24An olive green kitchen takes centre stage in a former tannery overhauled by Howark Design. The paint shade is bespoke and has been paired with neutral panelling, a copper worktop and a zingy orange range (out of shot).
Alexander James24/24This house by John McCall is dramatic and does not shy away from colour. The green kitchen cabinets take centre stage against a soft terracotta wash on the walls by decorative paint artist Hughie Turner, devised to make the green pop.
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