Kitchens with Personality

Look out minimalist kitchens. As consumers gravitate to bolder colors, creature comforts and even design styles that ‘’say yes to the mess,” there’s growing momentum for kitchens with personality. While neutral items will never be out of place, it’s a good time for home and housewares retailers to lean into unique and eye-catching housewares that add color and character to one of the most beloved rooms in our homes.

‘All White’ Not Necessarily All Right

“A neutral kitchen will never go out of style, but the moment is calling for more,” says Good Housekeeping magazine, while noting that designers are seeing top kitchen cabinet colors for 2026 that are much more daring than they’ve been in recent years.

“We’ve been surprised and excited at how quickly clients have moved away from the all-white kitchen,” Cheryl Stauffer, principal of Crimson Design Group, tells the magazine. “Clients are asking for colors that feel connected to nature, paired with materials that bring depth and texture. This momentum is going to carry us into 2026.”

Bold colors are cropping up in kitchens in everything from cabinets and walls to seating and light fixtures.

Kitchen Couture

Couture is not a word you often hear associated with a kitchen. But Whole Foods Market actually named “kitchen couture” as one of its top trends for 2026.

Here, they’re referring to the trend of displaying food products with attractive packaging on counters or open shelving, instead of relegating them to the inside of a cabinet or pantry. Think artful displays of vinegar and oil bottles, tins of sardines and packages of coffee beans.

Anything that speaks to a person’s personality or favorite foods is game, since the aesthetic aims to bring color, lift emotions and provide a canvas for the many food brands who started embracing packaging that’s “so beautiful they’re almost works of art,” Whole Foods Market principal category merchant and olive oil sommelier Brooke Gil tells Real Simple.

Housewares Opportunity

Of course, not everyone can afford to buy new kitchen cabinets or will want to display every single can of soup they own. So, it’s logical that shoppers will also be gravitating to home and housewares items in a variety of unique styles and colors.

That could include decorative storage items like Hand Painted Floral Canisters from Signature Housewares or the Primavera Handpainted Stoneware Pitcher by Euro Ceramica. But it also includes “counter-worthy” appliances like the Harry Potter Electric Kettle by Select Brands and Laura Ashley, 4-Slice Toaster from New Dawn Innovations.

Make sure to include other clever solutions that will add some color and character like these reusable cotton flannel “not paper” towels (Earthly Co. Notepaper Towels by Port Style Enterprises) or Con-Tact® Brand Deco Squares by Kittrich Corporation, which are self-adhesive and easy to apply/remove.

And don’t forget some items to help people display their decorative kitchen or food items. A few ideas? Delta Cycle’s Slim Floating Shelves and these stackable bamboo bins from Seville Classics.