Gray cabinets might be the most versatile cabinets you can use in your new kitchen.

Gray?! Yes, gray. Move over white, antique white and natural wood. The new neutral is here, and it’s gray. In fact, gray is now so popular that Sherwin Williams named a grayish taupe as the color of the year for 2017. That popularity is due in large part to the versatility of this color we know as gray.

Gray cabinets can be part of almost any kitchen design

Gray cabinets can be stark, sleek and modern depending on the hue and the intensity of the color you use. Or gray cabinets can be light, airy and perfectly at home in a cottage-style kitchen, again depending on the hue and the intensity. Gray works on plain cabinet doors or on embellished ones, from Shaker style to doors with raised panels and chiseled details. You name it, gray does it.

Gray cabinets can be any kind of “color”

We are referring to these kitchen cabinets as gray cabinets, but that gray can be almost any kind of hue, from a yellow to a lavender, a brown to a blue, a green to a taupe. Only see the paints we offer at Wellborn Forest and you’ll see how many are practically a variation on gray. That gray can be almost any shade as well, from a barely there to a color so intense and dark it’s almost black. (And if you’re looking for an exact shade of gray, our color matching service makes that happen.)

Gray cabinets provide the backdrop

Gray is the new neutral, and it provides a perfect backdrop for other colors or for wood, brick or other natural materials. Designers caution against doing an all-gray kitchen, but they’re enthusiastic about gray being one element in a total kitchen design, whether that kitchen is contemporary, transitional or traditional.

Gray cabinets can let the wood shine through

Gray cabinets are also versatile because they can be either painted or stained. When stained, these cabinets can showcase the beauty of the wood grain, as with the Earl Gray stain shown here. Or gray cabinets can be painted then distressed or treated with one of several finish options, so you get exactly the look you want in your new kitchen.

But perhaps the number one reason why gray wins in versatility is that you’ll be able to find the gray cabinets that are just right for you and your dream kitchen!