White is a popular color for kitchen cabinets, and it's for good reason. Although there are many shades of white, the clean-looking color goes with any color counter top. Since it’s the lightest of colors it also makes space feel bigger and the cabinets will appear to recede in space.

To pick a countertop to match your white cabinets, keep in mind a style that you are looking to achieve. Also decide if you want to have warm or cool undertones, lighter or darker colors, and neutral or vibrant colors.

Warm or Cool Undertones

Warm colors stay in the yellow and cream range while cooler colors have a hint of blue. Warm colors feel inviting and homey while cool colors can feel clean and sterile.

Light or Dark

Whether you choose granite, quartz, marble, travertine, soapstone or limestone, how dark the overall appearance of your counter tops is will depend on the saturation of the darker colors, which will largely consist of grays and brown. If you choose a counter top that has a darker veining it will appear as a darker countertop. Whereas if you pick one with white flecks (like quartz) the overall color will appear lighter.

Neutral or Vibrant

Most counter tops are within the realm of neutral. These will consist of colors that are mostly gray or brown but have a hint of color. If you want to choose a color of counter tops that have a bolder look, choosing something that is primarily blue or red is also an option. Most of these colors will likely still have a hint of gray or brown as an undertone but the saturation of one color over another will have changed.

If you have white counter tops, you can't actually go wrong in choosing colors that will complement the cabinets along with the rest of the kitchen. Just think about the overall design aesthetic that you're looking for.