Most people treat an apron as the thing you grab when you're about to ruin a shirt, which means it ends up a flimsy square of fabric shoved in a drawer until the one time you need it, and by then the tie strings have gone see through and it does nothing. An apron you actually reach for is a different animal entirely, and most kitchens have the wrong one or none at all.
A good apron sits well against plain things, a worn wood counter, open shelving with plain white dishes, a linen towel hanging off the oven handle. It is not trying to coordinate with anything, which is exactly why it works in a kitchen that already has too many patterns going on. For color, go duller than you think you want. A flour sack white or a faded denim blue hides sauce splatter and years of use far better than anything bright or printed, and a dark olive or rust will actually look better after a hundred washes, not worse. White looks clean in the store and then you cook one pan of bolognese and it tells on you forever.
If you own zero aprons right now, start with a plain full coverage one with a neck strap and a waist tie, in a mid weight cotton or linen blend, not a see through cotton that might as well be a dish towel with ambitions. Skip the cute half apron with the tiny front pocket until you know what you actually need pockets for. You want something that covers your actual torso when you lean over a stockpot, not something decorative that protects your belt buckle and nothing else.
The difference between a cheap apron and a good one shows up fast. Cheap ones have a thin single layer of fabric, ties that are basically shoelaces, and a neck strap that saws into your neck after twenty minutes of standing at the stove. A well made one has double stitched seams, a wider neck strap, often adjustable, and ties long enough to cross in back and knot in front without a struggle. The fabric should have some weight to it, enough that it doesn't flap around or soak through the second you touch anything wet. Mike bought a two dollar one once that disintegrated at the hem after one wash with jeans. I will never let him forget it.
Wash it the way you'd wash a good towel, cold water, no bleach, and let it air dry so the ties don't lose their shape in the dryer.
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