Noticed recently, with increasing frequency: kitchens where color-stained wood does more with less. Tinted linseed oils and pigment-rich Polyx-oils offer a tactile alternative to lacquered gloss or flat paint—allowing tone, grain, and texture to coexist.
It’s a resourceful move: cost-conscious, low-VOC, and richly expressive. The result is a custom look without the custom price tag. Here, ten kitchens that make the case.
Above: A London remodel from architects O’Sullivan Skoufoglou features pale blue linseed oil on birch plywood cabinets finished with a minimalist cutout pull. Photography by Ståle Eriksen from A Colorful Yet Restrained Family Home That Doubles As an Art Gallery.
Above: In a muted dark green tone, stained ash storage cabinetry and drawers were integrated into a project by SMS Arquitectos, a firm based in the Algarve of Portugal.
Above: A Berlin kitchen with forest green linseed stained cabinets complement the green marble worktop; from O’Sullivan Skoufoglou.
Above: In the kitchen of Seb and Brogan Cox, the couple integrated a glowing yellow pantry. Made of solid British ash which was stained bright yellow. Photograph by Beth Davis from Kitchen of the Week: A Material-Led Celebration of British Wood.
Above: Plywood cabinets and frames in a Lisbon kitchen were stained in mid-green and completed with contrasting unfinished wood handles. Photography by Francisco Ascensão, courtesy of Atelier José Andrade Rocha from Marvila House: A New Modern Extension for an Old Charming Townhome in Lisbon.
Above: In a project by Welsh studio Rural Office, ash kitchen cabinets by Studio Pren were custom stained in a light gray wash to reveal the natural variation of ash beneath. Photo from @rural_office.
Above: In the Garde Hvalsøe and Dinesen showroom in Aarhus, Denmark, a blueish oil is applied to ash shelving and door frame. Photo by Claus Troelsgaard from Kitchen of the Week: The Dinesen and Garde Hvalsøe Kitchen in Aarhus.
Above: A deep red linseed oil pigment from Linolie & Pigment (Bilbao) was applied to compact kitchen concept designed by Kóre Projects for Studio 11:40.
Above: In a Bristol kitchen from Jetsam Made, birch plywood cabinet fronts were stained to match the powder coated steel frames in RAL 6011.
Above: In one of 61 different townhouses originally designed in 1967 by Eyvind Retzius and Svein Bjoland, architects A kitchen designed by Smau Arkitektur delivered a custom pine wood kitchen finished in Linolie & Pigment Helsinki Linseed Oil.
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