How Black Became the Kitchen's It Color

Save for a few historic blips—think pink and turquoise in the post–World War II years, and avocado green and harvest gold in the ’60s and ’70s—white has remained the default choice for kitchen design, most recently embodied by the Pinterest-approved trend of light and bright cooking and dining spaces. Design manufacturers have taken notice, and sleek black ranges, refrigerators, and more have been a fixture at the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show in recent years. Alexa Hampton chose dark tones for her New York City kitchen, where cabinetry by S. Donadic is painted a Benjamin Moore black.

Alison Levasseur, AD’s interiors and garden director, sees the movement as a pendulum swing toward something with greater depth and sophistication, noting that black and other dark colors work surprisingly well in compact spaces. “It looks like a Dutch Old Master painting,” Reinaldo Leandro told AD last year of the kitchen he designed with partner Ariel Ashe for the home of her sister Alexi and brother-in-law, Seth Meyers. Lauren Buxbaum Gordon, partner at Nate Berkus Associates and proud owner of a black kitchen herself, sees a connection between an inky palette and the possibility of personalization.