Colors that go with Epernay for cabinets
Epernay · #D6B96C
Epernay (#D6B96C) — soft ochre — C2 Paint's 2026 colour of the year (swatch is an honest sRGB approximation — the official code is authoritative) — pairs best with muted red, teal, green, and dusty rose. With cabinets, match it to muted red, drawn from 8 historically-grounded combinations below.
Cabinet color is a long commitment — the partners that age well are warm neutrals and one quiet accent for hardware or tile.
About epernay
Epernay is soft ochre — C2 Paint's 2026 colour of the year (swatch is an honest sRGB approximation — the official code is authoritative) — a saturated, warm colour that reads as mid-toned. As a warm tone it looks most resolved next to cool and neutral partners that temper its warmth, and it needs both lighter and deeper shades nearby for the value contrast the eye reads as finished. That balance is what makes it feel earthy in cabinets.
- HEX
- #D6B96C
- RGB
- 214, 185, 108
- HSL
- 44°, 56%, 63%
- CMYK
- 0, 14, 50, 16
Accessibility: put dark text on epernay for AAA legibility (contrast 9.2:1 against near-black).
Why epernay pairs with muted red, teal, green, and dusty rose
Across the 8 historical combinations below, epernay sits most often beside muted red, teal, green, and dusty rose. That tracks with colour theory: a warm, mid-toned tone like this one wants cool and neutral partners that temper its warmth so the scheme feels intentional rather than flat, and both lighter and deeper partners supply the light-to-dark range the eye needs. Cabinet color is a long commitment — the partners that age well are warm neutrals and one quiet accent for hardware or tile.
- muted red
- teal
- green
- dusty rose
Using epernay in cabinets
With cabinets, match it to muted red and teal. Because epernay is mid-toned, it can cover larger surfaces, with dusty rose added for depth.
8 combinations with epernay, from the 1933 Dictionary
Light Brown Drab & Pyrite Yellow +1
Plate 239 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Light Brown Drab, Pyrite Yellow, Glaucous Green.
#cab356 #b59392 #b4cdc2
Eosine Pink & Pyrite Yellow +2
Plate 287 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Eosine Pink, Pyrite Yellow, Pale King's Blue, Calamine BLue.
#cab356 #f37f94 #a7d4e4 #78cdd0
Grass Yellow & Rikyū Grey
Wild grass yellow tempered by the muted grey favored by the tea master Sen no Rikyū.
#DCCB7A #878A74 #F3EBDA
Light Brown Drab & Ochraceous Salmon +1
Plate 223 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Light Brown Drab, Ochraceous Salmon, Turquoise Green.
#d8a37b #b59392 #b5decc
Pyrite Yellow & Peach Red +2
Plate 250 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Pyrite Yellow, Peach Red, Sea Green, Nile Blue.
#cab356 #f15a30 #00b49b #bce4e5
Eugenia Red | B & Maple +2
Plate 282 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Eugenia Red | B, Maple, Cobalt Green, Lilac.
#c59f6b #da525d #96d1aa #b984af
Red Orange & Pale Lemon Yellow +2
Plate 241 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Red Orange, Pale Lemon Yellow, Isabella Color, Dark Medici Blue.
#c5a56e #dd4027 #ffefae #547076
Pomegranite Purple & Ochraceous Salmon +1
Plate 220 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Pomegranite Purple, Ochraceous Salmon, Aconite Violet.
#d8a37b #b71f57 #a36aa5
Epernay in other settings
Other colors
Studio
Work with this pairing
You have the hex codes for Epernay for cabinets. These are the materials a colour study like this actually gets made with.
-
Strathmore
300 Series watercolour pad, 140 lb cold press
140 lb cold press is the weight that takes a wet wash without buckling — the paper most colour studies end up on.
View on Amazon -
Pentel
Fude Touch brush sign pen
A felt brush tip for the labelling and linework around a swatch study — the annotation half of a colour notebook.
View on Amazon
Amazon Associates affiliate links — your price is unchanged and a small commission keeps the archive free. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
From the archive
Support the archive The full catalog, on your disk, as a thank-you.
- All 378 palettes (348 Wada + 30 editorial) in five formats
- Figma design tokens (W3C-spec JSON, drag into any file)
- Tailwind v4 + v3 configs — drop into any project
- CSS custom properties — every plate, one stylesheet
- 378 museum SVG plates — print-ready at any size
- Full JSON — colors, names, eras, moods, dominant hues
Launching soon. The free archive stays free, always.
Library
Go deeper on colour
The colour-theory books behind pairings like Epernay — history, reference and the science of what works together.
Torn between the two Wada dictionaries? Vol 1 vs Vol 2, compared plate by plate →
Book links are Amazon Associates affiliate links. Your price is unchanged; a small commission supports the archive. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.