Kitchen Ideas With Cherry Cabinets | eHow

With their underlying red tones, cherry cabinets bring daring warmth and style to a kitchen. Yet the boldness of their color compared to more subtle wooden cabinets poses decorating challenges when it comes to designing a balanced and pleasant-looking room. Decorating ideas for kitchens with cherry cabinets focus on complimenting and highlighting the warmth of cherry wood instead of overly accenting or cluttering the look.

To tie together a kitchen with cherry cabinets, stain the kitchen's trim and molding a similar cherry tone and choose wooden furniture made of a similar wood. You don't have to match the stain of your cabinets exactly for this look to work. Simply having all the wood carry a warm, reddish tone will balance the room and make its wooden parts look like they go together.

Cherry wood has a warm tone that goes well with warm colors such as red, orange or yellow; trying to pair it with cooler colors like blue or green can lead to clashing or an undesirably mismatched look. Try to choose tiles, accessories and countertops that feature warmer colors, unless you want to deliberately clash for an eclectic look. You can also choose warm colors such as a bold red or a deep mustard for cabinet lining paper.

Since black is a combination of all colors, it tends to be considered a warm color. Pick black toasters, microwaves and mixers over white appliances to reinforce the warmth of cherry kitchen cabinets rather than compete with it. Many stoves and dishwashers also come in black.

Neutral colors such as cream, beige or chocolate brown make a good base to counter the bold color of cherry kitchen cabinets because they draw attention to the cabinets rather than confusing the eye. Paint your walls and trim with subtle neutral shades to create a calm canvas over which the boldness of your cabinets' color will shine.

Another way to avoid competing with bold cherry cabinets is to paint walls with matte or low-sheen paints. These paints have a finish that doesn't gleam or shine in the light, and they allow the color of the paint to stand on its own. You can get away with bolder colors if the sheen isn't distracting, letting the pigment itself take center stage.