Ah, the kitchen rugs. We bought these rugs from The Company Store years ago (around 2008). They first lived in our first house’s kitchen and later in our third bedroom. They’re durable and neutral, but they don’t suit the new kitchen. In person they feel a little too small and their honey-oak tone clashes with the avocado-colored walls. So “find a new kitchen rug” has been on our ongoing to-do list for months.
Recently we finally tackled the rug situation during a stop at HomeGoods. Sherry found several 5 x 7 flat-weave rugs for $49 each, and we brought home a stack for what she called our “kitchen rug fashion show.” We planted rugs down quickly, moved them around, and snapped photos, so forgive the imperfect placement and wrinkles in a few shots—this was all about testing options in the room.
My first pick was a bold black-and-white stripe. I figured the high-contrast stripe would ground the space, but once we laid it out it became obvious it was too visually demanding. Even when we tried using it only on the fireplace side of the open room—where we’d considered defining a living area—the stripe still felt chaotic. That experiment confirmed two things: we preferred a single rug to define the living side of the room, and high-contrast, large-scale stripes aren’t right for this space.
Next we tried a more subdued gray-on-white stripe from the same store. We liked that the gray nodded to the backsplash on the other side of the room, but the stripes still felt too high-contrast. It came off as cheap and visually loud, so we ruled out large stripes altogether.
Sherry then suggested a favorite: an ikat-inspired diamond pattern in colors we both liked. The darker tones seemed like a good match for the dark floor and they tied to the dining-room curtains visible from the kitchen. It did bring some color cohesion into view, and Sherry even grabbed a dishcloth cover to help illustrate how the palette could work.
In person, however, that rug felt too busy. The pattern was still fairly large-scale and the colors read a bit circus-like under the kitchen light—better in photographs than in reality. Sherry was disappointed because she’d found a matching runner for the laundry room, but ultimately that rug didn’t make the cut.
After returning the HomeGoods finds, we started testing rugs we already own but aren’t using. First up was a Pottery Barn rug from our old office. It was too light—its off-white looked dull and slightly dirty next to the bright white counters and cabinets. Back to storage it went.
We also tried the Pottery Barn “Clara” rug from our former den. We love that rug in general, but in the kitchen its honey-wheat tones clashed with the subtle avocado wall color. The warm tones made the walls read oddly, so that one was out too.
Next we pulled in a favorite yellow, Moorish-pattern Pottery Barn rug from the guest room. This rug felt more promising: the pattern was refined and not aggressively high-contrast, so it didn’t demand attention the way some of the larger-scale rugs did. The problem was the yellow. Although the room already has some yellow accents, the rug’s yellow leaned orange in real life and clashed with the green undertones in the walls.
Of all the colors we tried, gray started to feel like the most natural choice. Gray doesn’t fight the wall color and it would link visually to the gray tile backsplash on the other side of the room. That led us to define clear criteria for our final rug: a light, subtle, not-too-large-scale pattern, likely in a gray tone to reference the backsplash and unify the living area near the fireplace.
We used that criteria to search for another rug we think will be perfect. It’s on order now, so we’re waiting for it to arrive before celebrating. In the meantime, the yellow Moorish rug is living in the kitchen temporarily while we wait. We’ve learned a lot through this process: that scale, contrast, and undertones matter more than pattern style, and that a single rug to anchor the living side of the open room is the best layout for our space.
What about you? Any rug shopping this weekend? We also managed some family time—four children under three can sound chaotic on paper, but it was a wonderful weekend to have everyone together.
To summarize the kitchen rug hunt: avoid high-contrast, large-scale patterns in this space; choose a single rug to define the living area; and aim for a light, subtle gray pattern that complements the backsplash and doesn’t clash with the avocado-toned walls. We’ll share photos once the new rug arrives and let you know whether our latest pick lives up to the plan.