Southwest Kitchen Colors

Browns

• Browns are a staple in any southwest kitchen. Use light tones to reflect the colors of the desert sands or the rich, deep tones found in clay. Anchor your kitchen with these colors by choosing furniture in the shade of brown that you like best, and accent with the other colors found in southwestern-style kitchens.

Oranges and Yellows

• Oranges and yellows are reminiscent of the hot desert sun. Both colors warm and brighten up a southwestern-style kitchen. If your kitchen is small, try a pale yellow instead of something bright, and accent with dusty orange pottery. Or go bold and beautiful with a hand-painted, yellow hutch filled with colorful pottery. Sunflowers in a clay pitcher will add just the right, cheerful touch to the room.

Reds

• The rocks in the dessert are not the gray shade of granite, but a fiery red color due to the large amount of iron they contain. That rich red color is frequently seen on southwestern art. Bring these reds to your kitchen, but only in small amounts. An accent wall of deep red in your eating area lends an upscale feel to the room, but blood-red walls around your kitchen might stifle the appetite. Alternately, limit the reds to pottery placed on top of the cabinets, or choose a rich mahogany for the wood in your kitchen.

Blues

• Blues range in shade from a reflection of the vibrancy of the wide desert sky to the greenish-blue found in the famous turquoise jewelry of the region. Most colors in a southwest kitchen are warm, but blue is a cold color. For that reason, you should use this color only as an accent color. A hand-woven basket filled with bits of turquoise, for example, looks stunning in the middle of a table. Aqua pillows on a hand-carved, southwestern-style bench are a cozy way to liven up an eating nook.