I spend a lot of time looking at pictures of kitchens, and I see some really, really expensive designs. Not everyone can afford marble countertops or inset cabinetry or a $20,000 cooking range. But there is one thing that pretty much everyone can afford, and it will make your kitchen look like a million bucks.

The solution? Paint everything the same color. That’s right, everything: the cabinets, the walls — even the ceiling if you want to really commit. We’ve documented before how painting furniture the same color as the wall can make a space look bigger, and also give cabinetry and shelves a built-in look. As it turns out, this is particularly true in the kitchen.

In this kitchen from Plain English , walls, cabinets, and range hood alike are painted a deep hunter green, for a moody, immersive look. Note that the olive green of the island is just one shade different, to add a little bit of contrast.

In this kitchen from Københavns Møbelsnedkeri , everything — even the doors — is painted in a dreamy shade of light blue. (They didn’t go quite as far as painting the ceiling, though.)

If you love the look of open shelving, but want something that blends in a little bit more, try painting your shelving the same color as the kitchen wall, as in Glamour .

This kitchen from deVOL has cabinets and walls in the same shade of hunter green, while a marble countertop and backsplash, and a rustic wood ceiling, add plenty of texture.

This kitchen from Architectural Digest , via Casinha Colorida , takes it all the way with painted walls, painted cabinets, and a painted ceiling. Bonus points for the gorgeous chevron floor.

Of course, an all black all over room, like this one from Scandinavian Love Song , is not a look for everyone, but it definitely is a look.

Teal walls, teal cabinets, and teal shelving give this kitchen from Design*Sponge an elegant, cohesive look — and set off the marble countertop and white dishes beautifully.

But Nancy, you may be saying — all these kitchens don’t just look like really, really high-end kitchens. They are really, really high-end kitchens. But this look can also work in humbler spaces as well. For evidence, I offer up this kitchen makeover by Meghan Pflug for One Kings Lane (also lead image above) where a fairly dismal rental kitchen was painted so that the cabinets matched the color of the wall. The result? Perfection — and on a very reasonable budget.