How do I add interest to my kitchen? 7 design experts reveal their top tips – Homes & Gardens

While a new kitchen is a wonderful thing to behold, with smooth, clean surfaces, gleaming tiles and backsplashes, it can  sometimes feel like something is missing.   As beautiful as it may be, if your new kitchen is lacking character, this can really feel soulless.  

So, how do you add character and attention to your own kitchen when you’ve started from scratch? Here, leading kitchen design specialists bring their own kitchen ideas to the table.

How can i add interest to my kitchen area?

If you are remodeling a kitchen and following the latest cooking area trends , you’ll know that this is no longer a room that’s built solely for functionality with little personality or soul. Instead, it’s much more likely that your aim will be in order to decorate it just like you would your living room. In which case, you’ll need to combine your best kitchen cabinet suggestions with all the kitchen styling suggestions you can muster. Here’s how kitchen professionals answer the question: How can I add curiosity to the kitchen?

1. Choose Shaker-style cabinets for a look that never dates

Annie Tullett, kitchen area designer at Tom Howley (opens in new tab) , is adamant that classic Shaker cooking area ideas are not only still relevant but guaranteed to add personality to the kitchen.

‘Shaker kitchens have a timeless simplicity and elegance, which evolved from the pared-back, practical lifestyle of 18th Century Shaker societies. The Shakers created the blueprint for the family kitchen through social design – this can become seen in their particular large trestle table islands and benches, and they blurred the lines between dining and kitchen space.  

‘Shaker kitchens have longevity to them because they are grounded in the architecture of the particular Georgian era, a style which usually has bled into Victorian, Edwardian and now modern structures. In summary, Shaker isn’t a trend; it is everlasting. ’

2. Add texture and drama with dark, natural materials

The right textures and components in darkish colors can truly transform a kitchen area from dull to divine, whether kitchen area countertop concepts or cabinetry, according to Caesarstone (opens in brand new tab) ’s head of style Mor Krisher. He explains: ‘Contrary to what people often think, black or even dark kitchen areas aren’t always sombre or austere.  

‘Dark colors can end up being bold plus dramatic or even warm and cosseting. They have within them so many different nuances, tones and tactility that give them different character. These people can be basic or sophisticated, daring or elegant, industrial or even classic, traditional or modern.  

‘Starting a kitchen design with a black countertop can lead you down a very exciting route as you start to pair it with different door colors, appliances, plus accessories and if you are already shying away from all white spaces, it’s a great way to go. ‘

3. Brighten along with backsplash tiles

Kitchen wall tile ideas are a great way to add eye-catching texture and color and therefore interest to a kitchen in a way that flat or plain materials in addition to finishes don’t.

‘Using ceramic tiles as a kitchen backsplash is an exquisite way of displaying and even accentuating their pattern, consistency, and glaze. A beautiful method to bring a burst of colour into the room, highly reflective gloss tiles are usually also a great way to create a new sense associated with space together with openness, ‘ says Diane Hyde regarding Craven Dunnill Jackfield (opens in new tab) .

4. Install statement lighting

Imaginative kitchen area lighting ideas that can be both practical and additionally pretty usually are key to adding attention to a kitchen area.  

‘Kitchens obviously need to work hard and so does the lighting. Recessed spotlights or perhaps undercabinet lighting is a common solution, but also consider the space when it’s not being functional.  

‘Family and friends often congregate around an island so consider low level or pendant lighting here. Don’t be afraid to use “living room” lighting in the kitchen: a floor lamp in a corner or a table lamp at the end of a countertop, ’ says Niki Wright, co-founder of illumination design studio lights & lamps (opens within new tab) .

5. Add more than one timber to the scheme

‘Introducing timber to the room, whether through wood kitchen flooring or wooden kitchen cabinet ideas is a great way to add interest to a space, ‘ says Jen Ebert, Deputy Editor (Digital), Homes & Gardens . ‘However, you can dial up the character further by introducing two different timber types rather than one, which can make the room’s finish look a little flat.  

‘In the kitchen above by interior designer Cortney Bishop (opens inside new tab) , you can see how presenting timber is much like creating a color scheme, with one taking precedence, and the others acting as accents. ‘

6. Add interest to some kitchen along with layering

‘ Layering throughout interior design takes many forms, all of which are really useful for adding interest to a kitchen, ‘ says Sarah Spiteri, Editorial Director, Homes & Gardens . ‘This can be with kitchen area flooring , with cooking area rugs layered over a handsome material beneath; with myriad kitchen lights treatments, which usually can create pools of layered light around the room; together with open home shelving on which your most beautiful china plus cookware can be displayed; with house art suggestions ; and with kitchen curtain ideas , which may add pattern, color in addition to coziness, plus tie the particular entire scheme together. ‘

7. Include an unexpected sculptural light design

Suzanne Duin, founder of Maison (opens in new tab) suggests one should ‘opt for a statement light style, something quirky, unexpected and even colorful, that will act as the focal point of typically the room.  

‘If this seems daunting draw upon the existing features associated with your kitchen design and style. For example , around a traditional kitchen an oversized rattan pendant will add a new sense regarding reassuring, warm tactility. A statement light on a your kitchen island or even back countertop is equally impactful. The cozy yet directional diffused glow cast across some sort of kitchen work surface will certainly instantly soften the kitchen making it feel less industrial. ’

How do you add personality to a good white the kitchen area?

White kitchen concepts are enduringly popular but all-white, together with particularly contemporary all-white, could look very one dimensional. You can add character to a white kitchen by choosing really interesting materials for your countertops, backsplashes and/or flooring. Then, add stand-out light fittings and choose furniture, regardless of whether bar stools or perhaps dining chairs, with a patterned fabric. You can tie in the colors of this backsplash and additionally countertops to this, not to mention choose your window treatment that complements all. Layering is important on a white kitchen, as is using several shade involving white if it is going across cabinetry, walls and ceiling.