Minimal kitchen: wall colours that look calm and wipe clean without worry

A minimal kitchen starts with walls that don't steal the show

A kitchen is already full of colour: bottles of fish sauce, vegetables in the basket, brightly coloured pots. So the walls of a minimal kitchen should be a calm backdrop that lets everything else take the lead, not a wall shouting over the wok.

The simple formula: pale main walls, cabinets or counters in the same tone, then one wall with texture or a colour just a touch deeper. The kitchen looks intentional without looking cluttered.

Which colours work for a minimal kitchen?

Warm whites like Pearl White and muted creams like Oatmeal make a small kitchen feel airy, and sit well with wood and marble. Pale greys like Soft Gray, or a concrete grey like Wet Cement, give a modern kitchen a clean look.

If you want a kitchen that feels fresh but still calm, try a muted green like Tea Leaf or Milk Green Tea. It has the feel of a kitchen with a pot of Thai basil on the windowsill.

Kitchen walls you wipe often need the right finish

Voqe Wall Paint comes in two finishes, Eggshell and Semi gloss. On kitchen walls that get touched, steamed or wiped often, the shinier Semi gloss wipes clean more easily than a matt finish. Walls around the dining table, which see lighter use, can take Eggshell.

For a feature wall in the kitchen or dining nook, use Voqe Mineral Finish, a matt, limewash-style mineral finish, then seal it with Voqe Mineral Wax, a clear semi-gloss for interiors that helps reduce dirt, makes the wall easier to wipe and adds durability. Seashell, Pebble and Siam Olive are three shades that suit a natural-toned kitchen.

• Behind the sink and anywhere that gets splashed directly: tiles or Tile Finish
• General kitchen walls that need frequent wiping: Wall Paint in Semi gloss
• A feature wall in the dining nook: Mineral Finish sealed with Mineral Wax

Old tiles behind the stove don't need ripping out

Plenty of older kitchens still have floral tiles from another era that stop the room ever looking minimal, and ripping them out fills the whole house with dust. Voqe Tile Finish is a semi-gloss coating that goes straight over your existing tiles: the same tiles, with a whole new surface.

The shades that suit a minimal kitchen are Soap Bubble, a clean white; Linen, a soft beige; and Wet Cement, a concrete grey. The sample kit (170ml/42ml) is ฿285 and the two-part set (3.028L/0.757L) is ฿2,200. For the wall right behind the stove, which takes direct heat, ask our team before you start.

A small condo kitchen, painted in a day

Condo kitchens are often narrow and windowless. Voqe Wall Paint is low-odour and low-VOC, touch dry in 20-30 minutes, and ready for a second coat in 1-2 hours. Paint in the morning and you can cook dinner that evening; just run the extractor fan or keep a door open for ventilation.

Most small kitchen walls take less than a gallon of paint. The 0.946L size is ฿399 and 1 gallon is ฿1,299. If you still can't decide, send a photo of your kitchen to LINE @dynohomes and the team will help you choose a colour for free.