Beyond Faddish Kitchen Colors: Marsala, Pantone’s Color of the Year
If you love wine hues around you, you’ll love Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2015: Marsala. And yes, it’s just as delicious as it sounds — a rich, winey red/purple with subtle hints of brown that is making a splash on everything from furniture to couture. The bad news is, the folks at Diamond Kitchen and Bath can’t advise you on those new Marsala-trimmed stilettos; the good news is, they can help you outfit your kitchen in this “hot” hue in ways that might amaze you. Here are just some ideas you may want to try:
1. BRIGHT NEW CABINETRY
One of the best ways to totally renew your kitchen is with new or updated cabinets, and the Marsala color family is a breath of fresh air that warms cool palettes and brightens neutrals. The combination of this lush red with white walls makes both the pristine white and the red tones truly “pop,” while pairing it with brushed finishes, stainless steel, or dark granite raises your kitchen’s sophistication quotient by several (or several dozen!) points. It’s chic in combination with polished wood flooring, a natural with marble or quartz, and classic when played against dove gray laminate or tile.
2. FABRIC, TEXTURE, AND AURA
If you’ve recently upgraded your cabinets and don’t want to make that dramatic a change, you can incorporate this color into the trimmings, window treatments, and other accompaniments that give your kitchen its unique personal touch. It’s pure luxury on a leather banquette, but equally cozy when patterned with cream on country-kitchen chair cushions. It’ll lend a soft, complimentary glow when filtering sunlight through tall windows; cover a farm table with it in placemats or supple linen cloth and you have instant elegance for any occasion.
Speaking of special occasions, don’t forget subtle details like candles, crystal, and glassware, or lamps that employ this lovely hue, too. Combine these with towels, oven mitts, or kitchen implements to match, and a wonderful thing happens: a deep sensory palette enhances the aura of “home,” mingling with the sound of voices, the scents of great cooking, and the glow of ambient light.
3. WALL AND FLOOR ACCENTS
It goes without saying that a deep wine shade like this is fabulous on a floor, whether in a laminate, a tile, or a rug. Conversely, raising the sightlines with an accent wall in Marsala injects a wonderful note in neutrals such as sand or natural wood grains; a backsplash of this tone in the glass is reflective and soothing at once. It’s a common element in fine art, whether polished sculpture or abstract paintings, so don’t overlook the possibilities of using artistic accents to infuse your room with a whole new mood.
4. WORK CENTERS
Finally, Pantone’s color choice makes one of its most striking appearances in new finishes for the essentials in the kitchen — your stove, your fridge, and other appliances. A chef’s six-burner range in this deep tone can be the focal point of the room, and the matching vent hood above it makes for a sleek, clean look that’s undeniably cutting-edge and contemporary.
Mount a farmhouse sink, either white or stainless steel, in a base of Marsala for a combination of chic and practical; consider it for your dishwasher, cabinet or drawer pulls, or the background of open shelves that display glassware, vintage crockery, or cookbooks. Subtly illuminated by well-placed spots, it’s the kind of tone that can lighten the darkest nook.
CONTRAST AND HARMONY
Let’s face it: some colors that designers declare to be “all that”…sometimes aren’t. In this case, however, the range of materials, clothing, furniture for all rooms of the home, window treatments, lighting, and accessories enlivened by this “vintage” shade is easy to live with and love for a long time to come. If you’d like to employ this latest décor color in your next kitchen redesign, ask the professionals at Diamond Kitchen and Bath to help you get started!