I Can’t Stop Thinking About Gwyneth Paltrow’s Kitchen Cabinets (The Color Is So Dramatic!)

The light and bright white kitchen has been in favor for so long that it can be jarring to see, well, the complete opposite. So when Gwyneth Paltrow’s Long Island kitchen popped up on my Instagram feed, it immediately had my attention. A black kitchen, and a black kitchen that didn’t feel dark, gloomy, or even all that moody? I was immediately hooked.

In this video Paltrow first shared back in July, you can see that both Paltrow’s kitchen cabinets and kitchen island are painted in a dark charcoal color, offset by an eggshell finish on her ceiling that subtly reflects the light.

And it’s because of this that the black cabinets work so well in her space against the other lighter features in her kitchen — the shiplap ceilings, the walls, the subway tile backsplash, and the floors, which are all white, keep the space from closing in on itself. 

The concrete countertops, which are a light gray, balances out the black.

Paltrow also warms the kitchen up with natural wood tones, like her island countertop, to prevent the space from feeling too sterile. And it definitely helps that she’s working in a space that doesn’t feel cramped or dark to begin with. Paltrow has vaulted ceilings, lots of natural sunlight, and she’s using black as a means to accent the features in her space, rather than color drenching the whole room. 

Sometimes it’s cool to lean into the moodiness a dark paint color can bring to a space. But if you want to go bold and stay bright like Paltrow did in her Long Island kitchen, striking the right balance between your darks and lights is going to be key in keeping a room from feeling like a cave. 

Use your darker tones as accents, and remember that good lighting is your best friend.