If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation.
When you’re designing a space, the color palette usually comes first. It’s also the most important call you’ll make, since it sets the tone right away: bohemian with a vintage twist, modern with a hint of glamour, whatever you’re after. Big rooms like living rooms and bedrooms can carry a whole range of hues, but in smaller spaces like the bathroom, less color can actually work in your favor. Ahead, 20 black and white bathrooms so good you won’t miss a stitch of pastel or a hint of jewel tone.
01 Subway Tile with Black Grout
In a dream bathroom, the tiniest details count. Here it’s the black grout in the subway tile, which quietly feeds the whole color palette.
02 Less is More
Prefer bright and airy? Go all-white and work in small doses of black. In this bathroom, the black frame on the mirror is all it takes to make the vanity pop.
03 Throw in Wood Details
Black and white look incredible with light-wash wood woven through. The ceiling here is a showpiece, but it doesn’t pull attention from the rest of the room. It just complements it.
04 Use Black Fixtures
You don’t need floor-to-ceiling black and white to make a statement. Swap the fixtures in a white bathroom for black hardware and you’ve got an easy, striking update.
05 Play with Contrasting Tiles
This bathroom commits to white tile with black grout but refuses to settle on one style. The contrast between subway tile on the walls and hexagon tile on the floor adds plenty of visual interest without tipping into busy.
06 Use Shiny Surfaces
White as a base can fall flat. Shiny surfaces bring it back to life: marble countertops, glossy subway tile, glass shower doors. Suddenly there’s dimension everywhere.
07 Let the Light In
Most bathrooms make do with one small window. Replace it with a large one and the whole room changes. With that much light pouring in, even the smallest bathroom reads bigger. Extra credit if the window frame happens to match your palette.
08 Play With Patterns
Put black and white to work in a fun patterned wallpaper. This eye-catching take on the pairing is an instant showstopper.
09 Go Luxe with Black-and-White Marble
The marble of the moment is white with pale gray veining, but white marble shot through with black veins makes a much bigger impact. Wrapping an entire shower in it is a bold move that won’t disappoint.
10 Swap Your Drawer Pulls
Easily the simplest update in any room, and still worth doing. Trading standard white pulls and knobs for contrasting black looks chic and custom. Feeling like a DIY? A coat of spray paint on your existing hardware gets you there even cheaper.
11 Create a Focal Point
We’re longtime fans of the freestanding tub, but we’d always pictured it in bright white porcelain. This bathroom proves a black tub draws the eye every single time.
12 Create a High Contrast
Black and white are opposites, so use that. Paint the walls black, or install black wood or shiplap for extra texture, and keep everything else bright white. Classic beauty, turned all the way up.
13 Incorporate Vintage Pieces
Hunt flea markets and thrift stores for pieces with a past. The vintage sink here lifts this bathroom in a way no modern design could.
14 Create Beautiful Vignettes
This might be the most creative tile display we’ve seen. White subway tile on the walls set against black patterned tile on the floor. That’s the whole trick, and it’s perfection.
15 Add a Skylight in Dark Spaces
A gorgeous black tile covers one wall here, which could easily feel heavy in an enclosed room. A hidden skylight brightens everything and throws the kind of light no electric fixture can fake.
16 Try Silver Hardware
Gold is the usual third wheel in black and white bathrooms, but this space makes the case for silver. Gold skews glam; silver feels modern.
17 Think Outside the Box
How often do you see a sink or toilet in anything but white porcelain? This modern space has both in black, and honestly, we’ve never wanted a black toilet more.
18 Create Depth
Black and white do more than contrast. This bathroom runs black tile across the floor and back wall with white on the side walls, and the effect stretches the room so it reads much longer than it actually is.
19 Try Black Tile with White Grout
White tile with black grout is everywhere. This is the reverse, and it’s the first time we’ve seen it done. Black tile laid in a chevron pattern with white grout feels far more modern.
20 Make Everything an Accent Piece
With a palette this strong, anything can play the accent. The moulding is painted a shiny black throughout, and it turns even the toilet cover and radiator into accessories.