Popular Home Design Choices HGTV Stars Just Can't Agree On

The number of different design opinions out there can be overwhelming. In fact, there are many popular home design choices even HGTV stars just can't agree on. You'll notice this if you're a big fan of the network — or even if you just follow one or two of the stars on social media. Many often hold opinions that directly contradict each other. Wait, aren't we supposed to hate open shelving? I thought marble was the best countertop choice! What color is the best for my kitchen cabinets? Depending on which designer, realtor, or architect from HGTV you ask, you're going to get a different answer each time.

And that's totally okay! Part of the fun of HGTV shows is taking the advice that works best for you, but ignoring the rest. Your favorite stars can't seem to agree on most things, even design choices you might think were set in stone (aren't all-white kitchens supposed to never go out of style?!) This is all the more reason to follow your heart (and personal eye for style), while taking tips from HGTV as they are given — with a grain of salt.

Open shelving is a pretty controversial design choice, so much so that even designer power couple Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent can't agree on it. In a clip of their hit show "The Nate & Jeremiah Home Project," Brent is eager to install open shelves in the client's kitchen to make "a pretty big visual impact," per YouTube. Yet, his husband isn't so sure about how that will actually work, because open shelves tend to look crowded and messy. "The only thing that I'm worried about with open shelving with a family with a kid is that they need room for, like, sippy cups," Berkus said. "They need something at eye level for drinking glasses and things like that." In the end, the couple compromises with mostly closed cabinetry, but one row of open shelves above the sink for more decorative rather than functional items.

In fact, the debate extends far beyond the couple, as Lyndsay Lamb posted on Instagram, saying, "My #1 tip to making your kitchen both beautiful and functional: Open shelving." She insisted that if you add a little greenery, plus things you use every day, you can't go wrong. Yet, the Property Brothers disagree! "Let me just say nooooo [to open shelving]," Jonathan Scott told Apartment Therapy. "You have to have upper cabinets, unless you have a huge abundance of storage in a pantry." In fact, it's one of the things he would never do when designing a kitchen.

Butcher block countertops have been around for a long time. They are generally thought to be relatively stylish and cheap to install. Yet some stars are bigger fans of the wooden option than others. In Season 4, Episode 9 of "Good Bones," host Mina Starsiak Hawk tells her client, "We mixed it up a lot," per YouTube, when showing off the new kitchen countertops. "So, we've got the matte granite here, and the surround is butcher block, which I think helps warm it up." In this instance, she combines the more earthy tones of the wood with the coolness of the granite to add life and personality to the space. This pops up a lot in her other work, as one quick glance at her portfolio shows plenty of butcher block countertops in the kitchens she designs.

For other stars, though, no matter how nice the wood might look, it's too much of a hassle to keep around. One such person is Martha Stewart. "I did use wood originally for my outdoor working kitchen, but I don't like wood as a countertop as much as I like stone," she told Frederic Magazine. "It's much easier to clean."

Nate Berkus is a big fan of natural stone. "I always encourage my clients to invest in materials that will stand the test of time and not in trends that come and go," he shared on Instagram. "Design elements like marble and brass, which have been around for a really long time, continuously prove to be better additions than fleeting trends." Because marble comes in many different forms, Berkus offered advice on selecting the best stone in a different Instagram post. "I think actually the first question you should ask yourself when you're trying to pick marble for your kitchen ideas is not about color, but it's actually about the busyness of the stone," he said. "How much veining do you want? How much energy do you want the stone to have?"

Yet, as with any countertop choice, there are others who think you should stay away. This is how Jasmine Roth feels about marble countertops. "Alright, this is more of a cautionary tale. Everyone thinks they want marble, but honestly, it's SO easy to damage," she wrote on her website. "Brett and I had marble countertops put into the first house we ever built — the 11th Street Retreat — and we spent years babying the countertops." Roth goes on to say that because marble can stain and scratch quite easily, it's not a good fit for busy people or families with young children. You really have to stay on top of its care, which just isn't realistic for most.

Painting your home's trim is quite the hot topic in HGTV land. Whether it's the exterior trim like columns and shutters or interior crown molding, the number of opinions is about as different as the number of stars. "It depends on the vibe you want. A full-on black home is contemporary, while white trim can lean traditional," Keith Bynum and Evan Thomas from "Bargain Block" told HGTV. Here, they admit that black trim on a black house works just fine for those going for an ultra-modern look. To soften things, add some color — be it white, or naturally stained wood. "On this house, we left the wood natural on some siding shingles and the porch frame, and it really stands out," they said, describing a recent project.

Yet David Bromstad, well known for his love of bright colors, simply thinks that black trim just isn't worth it because of its required upkeep. "Black may be neutral, but it's actually the toughest color to take care of," he said in an interview with HGTV about trim colors. It seems like no matter how contemporary you'd like to go, it's still not an option for him due to the effort of keeping it nice. 

Kitchen hardware is things like drawer pulls, hand towel rings, faucets, and light switch covers. Our favorite HGTV celebrities remain divided as to whether or not these things should be the supporting act, or the star of the entire show. For Hilary Farr, it's the former. "I rarely want to make kitchen hardware a feature, especially if it's open concept, because it becomes distracting," she told Apartment Therapy. Instead, she typically opts to select "lean and very linear hardware that will blend in with the cabinetry." This way things still look chic, but your eye is drawn to other larger features, like the modern appliances, colorful cabinetry, or chic countertops.

Yet for other designers, namely Lyndsay Lamb, bold kitchen hardware is one of the best ways to let your style personality shine through. She even advocates staying away from matchy-matchy sets so things don't get too boring. "Undertones of the metals are super important when trying to mix and match," she wrote for the Lamb & Co. website. "Nickel, gold, brass, and copper all have warm undertones and can be more easily mixed. While chrome and stainless steel both have cool undertones." If you want to stay away from metal altogether, she also mentions that black and white options don't have undertones at all, so you can use them in any type of kitchen without issues.

Kitchens are one of the busiest rooms of the house and your favorite HGTV stars can't decide if kitchen color schemes should be busy, too. For example, Leanne Ford is known for her love of white hues — and the way she styles kitchens follows suit. "There's always exceptions to all of our rules, but I keep pretty neutral, which makes it feel minimalist on its own, but really easy and warm and welcoming," Ford told Coveteur when describing her interior style. Of course, she doesn't mention kitchens by name here, but after watching just one or two episodes of "Restored by the Fords," or taking a look at the star's kitchen design portfolio, you'll quickly see that her preference for shades of white and soft, neutral colors shows up more often than not.

However, "Fix My Flip" guest-host Francesca Grace thinks that the more color in the kitchen the better. "As a maximalist, I tend to stay away from neutral palettes, and I think we're going to be seeing a lot more color in the kitchen," she told Forbes, discussing kitchen trends that will never go out of style. "Think lots of rich colored hues, like dark greens, blacks, and blues, even merlot-colored cabinets." Yet cabinets aren't the only place that Grace thinks you can incorporate color, as even stone countertops, like marble with lots of veining, can add a nice touch.

When putting together a kitchen, many designers will tell you that you can't go wrong with white. White countertops, white appliances, white cabinets — this is chic and will forever be classic. However, the Property Brothers don't tend to agree ... at least not without a few caveats. "If people are going modern, they think of white everywhere, but maybe some contrast is good," Drew Scott said in an interview with The Kitchn, indicating that all-white kitchens are a bit stark and sterile and that they need some other tones in them to feel livable. "Too much of a good thing is not a good thing," Jonathan Scott added about others assuming that all-white kitchens will always be in style. "White is classic and nice as long as you don't go too ultra-white on the cabinet."

Yet Leanna Ford, known for her love of the color, disagrees. And her different opinion could not be more obvious with a quick look through her body of work. "I think white paint is fail-proof [and] timeless. It makes everything look better and cleaner," she told Business Insider. Yet in this case, it seems like both designers have a point. In kitchen design, white can be a powerful weapon, but only if used correctly.

Sometimes, stars can't even decide for themselves whether or not they like a trend. For example, Alison Victoria has two very public and very opposite opinions about black paint exteriors. For this trend, it seems that Victoria's stance is all about the context of the house and what looks best with certain materials. In Season 2, Episode 11 of "Windy City Rehab," she votes against a black stain on the home's exterior because it will take too long to fade into the desired hue, reducing the impact of the look. "I don't want the siding to be a harsh black. I want it to look weathered," she said, per Realtor.com.

Yet when interviewed by HGTV about the appeal of a home's black exterior, she had a different take — because of how she recommended the property be styled. "You might think a black house would disappear into the darkness, but not if you have good exterior lighting," she said. She states that by evenly spacing three wall scones across the home's exterior, it still looks majestic, even after nightfall. Plus, uplighting from pathways or garden lights can also contribute. "And remember," she continued. "Interior lights create a soft, gorgeous glow at night."

In Season 2, Episode 8 of "Tough Love with Hilary Farr," the homeowner's place is filled with shades of orange. It's their favorite color and they express to the audience that they enjoy bold, bright hues. Farr agrees, to a point. "I have to say I am a fan of lots of color," she said, per Realtor.com, finding a touch of common ground with her client. "I am a fan of orange. I'm not a fan of too much color or too much orange," she continued, indicating that while the color can be styled correctly in some cases, she wasn't feeling that this was one of them. "This falls into the latter."

Yet other HGTV stars don't even like to attempt to work with the color, like Joanna Gaines. "Purple and orange are the hardest colors for me," she said in a Country Living design workshop. She went on to say that the colors seem a bit too much like you're following a theme rather than effortless design. They tend to belong more to theater sets than living rooms.

When picking out paint colors, it's commonly accepted that more neutral colors tend to stay popular longer. If you select a white, gray, or even a nice beige, for example, designers think that it'll be significantly more relevant than, say, choosing the color of the year, which might go out of style before December. In fact, choosing trending colors is one of the mistakes everyone makes when selecting paint. But for some HGTV stars, even neutrals like gray are up for debate. "Grays are on their way out," Dave Marrs told Realtor.com when discussing paint trends. Co-host and wife Jenny agreed, adding, "That's true. I think [the trend is now] warmer and charming."

This isn't the case for The Property Brothers, however, who stand firmly behind the color. "On a recent episode of 'Buying & Selling,' the kitchen cabinets needed a sleek upgrade," they shared on their website. "Our solution: painting them a uniform, elevated color that blends with the rest of the main floor." That color is Chelsea Gray from Benjamin Moore. The brothers point out that "the popular paint company describes [it] as a 'well-dressed gentleman'—we can't argue with that!" Indicating that, in their eyes, the shade of gray is a forever classic.