Primitive Americana Kitchen Colors

Classic Americana decor defaults to subdued, age-dimmed colors with lots of crazed red, white and blue paint. Use this formula for an instantly recognizable American Primitive kitchen. But set aside the cliche for accents, or even an entire kitchen, by embracing the bright colors that historical researchers have uncovered in American Colonial homes. Either way, tuck a battered 13-star flag in somewhere to anchor your decor in earlier times.

Colonial Colors

Thomas Jefferson didn't spend much time in his kitchen, and it's unlikely that he or any other slaveholder decorated a smoky, busy workstation to coordinate with the rest of the house. But Monticello, Jefferson's estate, shows the vivid colors that were available to wealthy Colonial families, and nothing was restrained about them. Chrome yellow, a shade with a lot of orange in it, covered the walls of Jefferson's dining room. White, as trim color and wall paint, came in hues affected by the available chemicals used to make it, although white would show smoke residue fairly starkly and wasn't ideal for ceilings near the stove. Pale blues, grays and yellows were common, but so were rich reds, burgundy, teal, cinnamon, chocolate and plum. Shiny black gave a polished finish to wood cabinets and furniture.

Iconic Colors

Primitive Americana artifacts appear homespun, weathered, faded and pragmatic. Medium and light -- or faded -- blues covered pine furniture. Paint your reproduction breakfront with crackle glaze to simulate the crazing of an antique, and color it dusky blue with glimpses of the original wood in all the places that would experience normal wear. Hang a slab of wood on the wall, painted to look like the flag for the 13 original American Colonies -- old barn red, slightly faded French blue and antiqued off-white for "authentic" flavor. Upper and lower cabinets stay in character with creamy buttermilk paint. A handmade wood cupboard, topped with a piece of butcher block to form a kitchen island, blends in with a dark teal paint job. Leave the rest of the furniture various shades of worn wood.

American Original

Meld the wide spectrum of real Colonial colors with the traditional American Primitive palette to achieve your own Americana style. Paint walls soft lilac, cabinets sage green and the wood chairs around the natural maple breakfast table a low-gloss black. Or cover the walls in barn red, add cabinet doors and shutters of weathered barn wood, paint wood floors in faux-aged large diamonds of black and white, and cut open stars in the shutters to match a row of tin stars arranged on the wall over the sink. Go for drama with eggshell-finish black walls, natural wood countertops and plank floors, a modern brushed stainless range and fridge and thick, white-glazed pottery canisters on the counters. A pot rack displays black iron frying pans, red enameled cookware and a few prized polished copper pots.


A melange of period pieces, selected with an eye toward emphasizing homespun Americana, coalesces to add a Primitive vibe in the kitchen. Painted beadboard walls are a canvas on which pastel or deep-hued milk paint or whitewash defines a bright or moody food prep station. Butcher-block counters, a salvaged farm sink and old barn-wood lower cabinets avoid any hint of the urbane. Open shelving, made of painted or stained wood, means you have to edit what goes on them and keep it in order. But no-doors upper shelves are your license to display chunky Mid-Century plates in muted, solid colors such as chalky light green or custard-yellow; a curated collection of Americana duck decoys, colored in teals, emeralds, browns, whites and oranges; hand-thrown clay mugs with white or brown glaze, hanging from cup hooks; small tin milk and cream pails; and blue-striped pottery pitchers crammed with wildflowers.