9 Swoon-Worthy Green Paint Colors for a Chic Kitchen

Nature surrounds us in green, and it's only natural to carry the color indoors throughout your home whether through a clever mural or paint. While an array of cabinet colors have gone in and out of fashion over the years, green is a color that feels proper in a space where earth's bounty is harvested and cooked. Ironically enough, nature's favorite hue was one of the toughest and most toxic colors to create in the world of pigments and paint.

The efforts of artists and textiles designers to embody the natural world with the color green remained elusive until 1775. There is no lasting green in natural pigments. Ancient Egyptians used malachite and other minerals to create a fleeting green pigment that quickly turned black. Textile designers had to dye cloth yellow and over-dye with indigo to achieve shades of green on cloth. Green may have been abundant in nature, but not easy to replicate.

It wasn't until the late 18th century that a synthetic form of green paint was invented called Scheele's Green by Swedish scientist Carl Wilhelm Scheele. Initial excitement regarding this long-desired addition to the artists' palette quickly turned to the realization that arsenic, the main ingredient in the paint (as well as other subsequent chemicals in other green paints), was toxic.

Napoleon Bonaparte's fatal stomach cancer was thought to be due in large part to the green paint covering the walls of his bedroom in his St. Helena abode. Monet's favorite green paint has been said to have caused his blindness later in life. Even William Morris's wallpapers were linked to arsenic greens. While Morris was known for his earthy blue patterns, research found arsenic hiding in original wallpaper samples leading to the conclusion that many of his designs were in fact meant to be green. This not only shows the transitory nature of even synthetic greens (Morris didn't know the health risks associated with the paint at the time), but nature's reputation to hold court over at least one color in history.

Over the years, many strides have been made in using alternative ingredients and today, we are fortunate to have green paint that is not noxious. For a color with the most varied shades in history, it makes for a gorgeous kitchen that will feel not only calming but healthy. We asked designers which green hues they are embracing in the kitchen as the color begins to fully take reign as king of the neutrals.