If you want your kitchen to look sleek and shiny like a magazine photo, you can achieve it with careful choice of cabinets, countertops, flooring materials, and a well-thought-out overall design. There’s nothing quite as impressive as today’s high-gloss kitchens, and they all rely on a few simple rules to create that sleek modern look.

One of the easiest ways to achieve a great bright contemporary kitchen is to choose contrasting colours. For example, use glossy black kitchen cabinets to contrast with a white countertop, or use glossy white kitchen cabinets to contrast with a black countertop. If these opposite extremes aren’t for you, but you still want a look that makes the same striking impact, you can explore glossy cream cabinets that look great against natural woods. It’s easy to overdo it, so make sure you keep everything balanced. You don’t need a perfect ratio of one color to another, but consulting an expert to help you find that sweet spot is always a plus.

There’s more than one way to create a stunning high-gloss kitchen. Many choose to use bright woods throughout and then go for a bolder countertop or backsplash to really bring out the natural beauty of the wood. You can also use different tones, patterns, and lighting to create this effect, giving you an incredible degree of flexibility and versatility.

Choosing a highlight color can really give high-gloss kitchens a special quality. It’s usually best to choose just one bold color and keep it consistent across any black, white, and wood and stainless steel accents you may have. Choosing a bright kitchen cabinet color and keeping everything else subtle and very dark or very light can create a magical room that really stands out. Speaking of stainless steel accents, almost every high-gloss contemporary kitchen is perfect for stainless steel. Sinks, refrigerators, and accents blend seamlessly, but black and white appliances can also look great.

The big takeaway is that high gloss kitchens need balance. You need something bold, but if the whole kitchen is too bold, it can be flashy or hard to blend in with the rest of the house. When choosing colors, remember that your contemporary kitchen will be full of aggressive angles and attractive geometric shapes, so you don’t need to go overboard by choosing the brightest colors or the most intricate wood patterns.

Don’t focus too much on any one item; you need to consider how they will all work together. If absolutely, it must positively have a certain color; keep in mind that you may be limiting the selection of components that will pair well with it. That being said, there are exceptions to every rule, and thinking outside the box can lead to fantastic results. As long as you have fun and like what you see, that’s all that matters.