The Kitchen Paint Color Zillow Says Could Add $1,500 To Your Home's Value

The beauty of being a homeowner is the ability to design one of the most used rooms in your house — your kitchen — to your exact taste. Want bright, red wallpaper border? No problem. Prefer hardwood to tile? It's all good. But if you're planning on putting your home on the market, design trends may help dictate your home's value. There's one easy renovation that can add monetary value and appeal to your kitchen: paint. According to a 2025 press release from Zillow, an olive green kitchen can boost your home's value by more than $1,500, and that color trend is continuing into 2026. The National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA/KBIS) reports that while neutral paint colors remain popular, 86% of design professionals still see green as a top trending color for 2026.

By adding olive green cabinets or walls to even an otherwise simple kitchen design, you increase buyer interest. Adding color to a kitchen has several advantages, including breaking up spaces, creating an inviting, intimate atmosphere, and adding aesthetic form to the most functional room in your home. There's even something called color psychology, which plays into human moods and behaviors. Red and orange are said to psychologically stimulate appetite, and deep, warmer colors like olive green create a grounding, calming feeling. Zillow studies support the fact that potential home buyers find muted shades of green in the kitchen to be preferred over other colors. Olive green is neutral enough to be considered universally pleasing to the eye, as opposed to bright colors that some may consider anything but relaxing.

When it comes to paint color, it seems that the days of beige and "Agreeable Gray" are fewer and farther between. While these colors still work as a neutral palette that prospective buyers might consider acceptable (or at least an easy fix), bright colors can often be perceived as garish and more difficult to change. Olive green is considered a contemporary color that complements trending materials like stone, wood, and more organic substances. Sterile, white, minimalist kitchens are trending out. Quartzite and slip-matched marble are taking over as countertop choices, and olive green's deeper shade is appealing because it evokes a feeling of serenity and works well with sustainable elements, bringing a touch of nature into the culinary space.

While you may be saying goodbye to granite and quartz, the trend back to other types of stone makes green an excellent choice. Zillow found that olive green in particular trumped lighter shades, like sage. This is because warmer earth tones create a more intimate space, and today's buyers are looking toward bolder, grounding comfort colors, especially in a kitchen, which is often the heart of the home.

With more dramatic shades taking center stage, there are plenty of other hues to consider for your kitchen. Rich blues, like Navy, are also trending, and charcoal gray has garnered new attention. If you don't want to ditch the idea of a white kitchen altogether, don't worry. Clean, white subway tiles are still a classic, and look lovely next to olive green.