Matte color with an oak breakfast bar

Color is easiest to live with when it is matte and paired with wood. In the first Nolte design, sage green fronts cover a full wall of tall units and the base run, interrupted only by an oak-look niche with spotlights. In front of it, a green block with the cooktop ends in an oak-look table at dining height — a breakfast bar that also seats a family dinner.

The cooktop block does the most work. It gives the kitchen a second worktop and a place to sit, and its table end sits lower than the worktop, so chairs replace bar stools. Planned as a peninsula attached to a run, the same idea needs less clearance than a freestanding island. Pendant lights over the table end mark it as the dining place. The tall wall holds the oven at eye level and an open shelf unit at its end, so the room has storage on one side and life on the other.

The second design uses the same idea on an island: a cashmere matte block with a recessed grip line, and an oak-look bar that wraps one corner and drops to the floor as a solid leg. Its fronts are an anti-fingerprint matte finish — a practical choice for a kitchen used by children, because fingerprints on dark or soft colors are what most people worry about with matte surfaces.

Both ideas work well in any home where the kitchen opens straight onto the living space. Learn how to size seating on our peninsula kitchens page, compare matte finishes on lacquer cabinets, and see the full range of modern kitchens. Then try sage, cashmere or oak in the 3D configurator.