Today I stumbled across a Facebook post with a picture of a very purple kitchen. The person who posted it said, “Can’t wait for the comments.”  Mine was, “I love it!”

I noticed the photo had been shared from another source, a listicle of the worst kitchen fails. It’s one thing if you install a cabinet that blocks an adjacent drawer from opening and don’t fix it; that is sort of a fail. But a good many of the kitchens that made the list were given  down for color choice.

When did we become so judgmental of personal tastes, and yes, maybe even needs? Maybe the proud owner of this kitchen is somehow enriched by the color purple. Maybe it gives a whimsical energy to what can be a lot of kitchen drudgery.

Maybe this Hello Kitty kitchen is a tribute to somebody the designer once loved—even her own inner child. Maybe hers, or any of the other’s who dared to paint their kitchens outside the pallet of beige and brown, were repressed in their love of bright colors. Maybe this is their way to break free, be surrounded with the colors of their dreams and finally stop giving a flying fuck in hell what anybody thinks of it, thank you.

Maybe it’s none of our business what people do with their personal spaces, even those seen publicly—like window trim, front doors, the cars we drive, the clothes we wear. This is a sarcastic maybe. You get that, right?

I’ve always been free with the application of color in my life. I like bright, brilliant colors because I live in a northern region of the United States with many more dark than sunny days—and I have S.A.D. My wardrobe is full of purple, fuchsia, lime green, hot turquoise and more of the tropical rainbow.

My first branding colors for the MAD Goddess were Orchid and Orange, a contrasting pallete that wasn’t much seen then. Now I see it everywhere. I have since muted my orange, and I’m not sure why. That’s for another time, I guess.

After enduring a small, dimly lit kitchen for the first several years of my marriage, when we remodeled and I designed the 24 x 12 foot real cook’s kitchen of my dreams, I choose a nice, sedate, medium oak for the cabinets. Then I installed dark, green-cork pattern commercial vinyl squares on the floor and painted the walls bright apple green. I got a lot of judgment. I didn’t care.

Unable to sprout wings and fly to some tropical destination with the first signs of fall, I once painted my bedroom in the colors of an ocean sunset and hung deep coral colored sheers on the windows so the light coming through them made the room glow. I was told it looked like a brothel. I didn’t care.

I share my space with another human being. I kind of like him. Okay, I like him a lot, but—please— his favorite color is brown. If not for him, I just might paint my cabinets in these colors that remind me of a candy necklace and happy childhood memories. He might have another heart attack if I did. I didn’t cause the first one and I sure don’t want to cause any subsequent infarctions. However, there’s nothing stopping me from having a collection of dishes in shades of these delicious colors—Hello Fiesta.

Studies on the effect of color on mood abound. All of us react differently. So it’s okay if you would never paint your kitchen purple, or candy necklace colors, or eye-popping green. But it’s not okay for you to pass your highfalutin judgment on those who do.

And btw, If I ever get that snow bird park model I’m dreaming of in south Florida, I’m painting the cabinets this color with glass tile backsplash in multi-shades of sea-glass. Ditch the dark wood accents and decorate with an ocean theme. And a mermaid. There has to be a mermaid.

Note: All of these photos came from the same Worst Kitchens Ever source. I am not linking it because I don’t want to give them traffic. If you want to see it, use your google.