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When deciding to buy a piano, there are a million factors to consider, with one of them being which colour should you select for your piano. With so many options in colour out there, choosing the right colour will compliment the colours of other furniture and accentuate your living space.
As a general rule, black is the best colour for a piano since black is a versatile neutral colour that can fit in with different looks and styles of rooms. Black pianos are also more widely available compared to other colours, meaning they cost less compared to other colours.
With that said, there are cases where a white or a wooden coloured piano may be a better fit in your home. In this article, I’ll go through all the pros and cons for each colour available so you can decide for yourself which colour will be the best fit for your home.
I’ll also go through some reasons that may explain why when we think of pianos, the colour we associate with them is black, instead of white or some other colours.
What colours for a piano are out there?
There are 3 main colours out there for pianos, they are black, white and wooden. Within wooden colour, there are different options for different shades of brown like walnut or mahogany.
Choosing the perfect colour for your piano
Most of the time, black is the way to go since it’s a neutral colour that goes well with a lot of colours and can basically fit right into any room it’s placed in.
For rooms with a lighter, white colour theme, rooms with a lot of open space windows, or rooms with plants/bamboo/rattan styles, white pianos can also work and will complement the aesthetic of the room.
A wooden-colour piano can go well with rooms with a lot of wooden or brown furniture, although a black piano can also fit since black goes well with brown and it’ll balance out the abundance of brown from the other furniture pieces.
Usually, because wooden and black colours are similar and often interchangeable, it comes down to either black or white for the piano. Here’s a table that lists out the reasons why for most of the time, black is the better colour than white for a piano:
| White | Black |
| Tacky, excessive, flashy | Sleek, elegant, professional |
| Dust will be more visible | Easier to keep clean |
| Harder to resell due to smaller demand | Easier to resell |
| Harder to get your hand on one | Easy to get one since it’s a popular colour |
| Can cause glare in a well-lit room | Doesn’t have any glare |
| Makes your room looks small since white makes the piano look bigger than it is | Fits right in |
Survey results on the most popular piano colour
I held a survey asking people with a piano what colour are their pianos. Here are the results from 51 participants:
As we can see in the chart, black is the most popular colour pick for a piano with 36 people responding they own one, with the next most popular being a wooden colour, follows by white and lastly, other (cherry colour).
Here’s a picture of the survey:
Up to your preference for what color to choose for your piano
With all the guidelines given above, at the end of the day, you’re the person who makes the call. If you think that a white piano is a better fit for your room, go for it. The colour you choose for your piano should please you first and foremost before pleasing guests and visitors.
It could also be that a white piano is your thing because of celebrities rocking them. A white piano is often associated with Elton John, Lady Gaga, or even John Lennon like the white piano he plays in his “Imagine” music video. There’s something about a white piano in a snow-white room that really captivates the viewers’ attention.
Reasons why most piano are black
There are 2 reasons that can explain why black is the most popular colour for a piano:
History of the piano
Ever since the first piano was invented and constructed in the 1700s, the price of a piano has gone down gradually thanks to more streamlined production, a more lightweight and compact design, the use of cheaper wood and only one colour for all pianos.
Because of this, the piano skyrocketed in popularity. Suddenly, many people that live in tiny apartments in Vienna were able to afford to buy an instrument that can fit into their tiny living spaces.
By painting all pianos to be a single solid colour, piano manufacturers were able to cut costs compared to having professional painters hand paint each of the pianos since you don’t need to be a pro to be able to paint something black only.
Furthermore, black is the cheapest colour to manufacture and has been the colour of the poor – for the people who couldn’t afford more expensive dyed colours.
Thus, most pianos were black because it was cheaper and easier to manufacture that way. Of course, nowadays, with better technology, all colours can be manufactured at the same cheap price. However, since black has been associated with the piano for so long, it’s almost like a tradition that continues to be carried on.
A better fit for piano concerts/competition
Another reason is the “black attire” convention in piano concerts. When watching piano competitions, you see most pianists rock the black tuxedo with a black bow and black shoes look. You never see a pianist that dresses in an all-white outfit.
Thus, a black piano is the best fit for such a convention. Also, a pianist that wears all black while playing a black piano will definitely catch the attention of the audience.
Final thoughts
For most rooms in homes out there, black will be the go-to colour for a piano since it will fit right into any style of room colour you throw at it.
White piano can look bigger than it’s because of the colour so it’s more fitting for larger rooms with a lot of open spaces and a light or white theme and lots of plants since that’s the aesthetic to go for.
Of course, if you really like a white piano and planning to keep it for many years to come since white pianos are harder to resell because of a smaller audience, then go for it!
Finally, the reason why most pianos are black is that black is historically a cheaper colour to choose to cut costs when producing pianos, and black pianos fit better with the dressing attires in piano concerts, competitions.
