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Once upon a time I did NOT like white kitchens.

Most of my formative years we had a natural wood kitchen. I thought it quite nice.

When I moved out, my mom did a reno and did a 180° turn and went all white. I didn’t care for it, but my mom liked it as did most people who saw it.

Since then, I’ve come around to see the appeal of white kitchens.

In fact, while we have a natural wood kitchen currently, my wife and I, when we either move or renovate will opt for a white kitchen as well.

I can’t help but think my major shift in kitchen color preference is in part a result of what’s popular. White kitchens are popular (as you’ll see from all the data below).

I’ve been exposed to more white kitchens and it’s hard to divorce oneself from what’s the current trend. I believe that trends do influence us and can change our minds.

So while analyzing kitchen colors based on poll votes and Google searches doesn’t answer the question “what is a better kitchen color?””, it does shed light on the issue and may influence your choices.

Besides, when it comes to color, in many cases it’s opinion. Sure, there are objective color rules such as clashes and so on, but at the end of the day it’s subjective.

Let’s jump into the many data points we collected to analyze the white vs. dark kitchen issue.

Poll Results

11,716 people cast their vote so far.

I’d say that’s definitely enough votes to arrive to some conclusion.

Here are the results:

As you can see in the chart below generated from the poll we used, 61.6% of Homestratosphere readers prefer white kitchens.

Let’s get more data

I’d say over 11,000 voters is pretty conclusive.

However, let’s put together some more data just to make it interesting.

As a website publisher we pay for some expensive software that can gather some great data about these kinds of issues. For example, we use software that reports the approximate number of searches for various terms each month.

This data is super helpful in many ways including getting a sense of what’s more popular.

Probably the best keywords to compare are “white kitchens” and “dark kitchens”. Here’s the monthly search volume data:

White kitchens: 6,000 monthly searches in the USA (approximately)
Dark Kitchens: 250 monthly searches (approx.)
Black kitchens: 450 monthly searches (approx.)
Brown kitchens: 150 monthly searches (approx.)

As you can see, “white kitchens” is searched far more often than multiple “dark kitchen” searches combined.

We can go further with this white vs. dark kitchen analysis.

Our kitchen color analysis

We’ve analyzed over 900,000 kitchen designs (yeah, it took a while) to find out what kitchen color is most popular by actual design. These results are based on what professionals are actually designing for clients over the last few years. Here are the results:

Interestingly, brown is by far the most popular, followed by white. This does not jive with other results, but it is based on a different data set.

How about we include one more analysis.

Google Trends Analysis

Google has a nifty online tool called Google Trends. You simply input terms and it compares them in terms of how popular they are. Here’s the chart:

Source: Google Trends

So what is the best kitchen color? White or dark?

I’d say overall, white is more popular and sought after by more people remodeling their kitchen, building a new home or looking for kitchen ideas.

At the end of the day, it’s a subjective question. While kitchen color data is interesting and it tells you what’s popular, you have to live with it.

Speaking of kitchen color data, is it helpful?

It can be. If you’re remodeling or building with resale consideration, it never hurts to do what is popular and in-demand. People buying houses usually prefer not having to do a big reno (I definitely fall in that camp).

What do you prefer? Take the poll above.