Stunning Kitchen Inspiration

Over the years the kitchen has turned into one of the most important rooms of the house, as it is where we socialise and spend a lot of our time. With this is mind, when designing your kitchen there are a few things that I think are important to keep in mind. I have sourced some photos from Pinterest to show you some of my favourite designs and colour palettes.

General layout

The layout of the kitchen is very important for functionality and easy of use. You will be restricted in some areas, like where your plumbing and gas pipes are but these can be moved at an extra cost. The main thing people look for is cupboard space and surface area. The ease of use for the kitchen is essential and will make your kitchen more enjoyable to use. A great way to add in more storage is adding in an island, if you wanted you could incorporate your hob into it too, making a designated area for cooking. At the end of the day you need to design the kitchen so it works for you and incorporates all you needs and some of your wants.

 

Narrow Kitchens

One problem a lot of small houses have are very small kitchens. There are lot of simple tricks you can use to make this space look and feel bigger, whilst getting the most out of your kitchen. The first thing is getting the most out of the space you have, look at having a corner cupboard and include tall units at the end of the kitchen. This will reduce the amount of high cupboards needed, which will also make the kitchen feel bigger. Having your oven and microwave incorporated into a tall unit, will in turn give you more space on your counter top and give you another cupboard under the worktop. There are lot of different configurations of units, the best thing to do is to visit a few kitchen shops and get them to give you some suggestions.

Aesthetically a narrow kitchen looks very tight and crowded so there are a few things you can do to make it more pleasing on the eye. These include natural lighting, colour scheme and choice of units.  Taking a look at natural light, which is key to how a space looks and feels. If you have a really light and airy kitchen it will automatically feel more inviting and make your kitchen look more spacious. A great way to add natural light is through skylights either along the length of the kitchen or a couple dotted around. Another way to get natural light in, is to add a floor to ceiling glass door or window. This will add in a ton of light without cutting into your kitchen space, you can then use this for access to the garden too. When it comes to glass doors my favourite has to be crittal style, it’s a lovely mix of modern and industrial style. The more natural light you can get into the kitchen the better, it will open up the kitchen and make it more enjoyable to cook in.

Choosing your Colour Palette

There are so many colour palettes to choose from, all of which give your kitchen a very different look. With all these variations it can be very daunting and confusing to know what to choose. Your colour palette may be limited depend on what style of kitchen and cupboard your choose, but you can always buy kitchen cupboard and then get them painted in what ever colour you desire. There are two types of colour schemes I personally love, depending on the size of kitchen.

 

Clean & Neutral 

Having a very neutral colour scheme in your kitchen, is what many people would call playing safe and looking a bit more traditional, but I personally think it’s perfect for when you have a space that needs lightening up. If you have your whole kitchen white then it will look very clinical so you need to add in some warm through soft caramels, taupes or natural wood. A key way to make a kitchen feel bigger is by making your top units white, or a very light colour to match the walls and then have a soft taupe or grey on the bottom units. You then need a accent colour, to add a point of interest into the kitchen, which you can bring in through your choice of hardware. My favourite is silver, as it reflects light and makes the kitchen look really sleek and modern. Worktop wise look at keeping it quite neutral, a white granite or even a light washed wood worktop could work really nicely.

Dark Blue with copper accents

For more of a bold look I love a mix of dark navy, white and pops of copper. The mix of colours would be perfect if you have a large kitchen, that can cope with a darker accent colour. I would only use the dark navy on the bottom unit, otherwise it will be too over powering and make your kitchen feel very dark and small unless you are very clever with lighting.  Using a light grey or white will help balance the navy blue allowing the kitchen to still feel spacious and cosy. By having all your hardware in copper it will help warm up the navy and make it feel inviting and cosy. Another media you could play with is white marble, this would look lovely as a worktop or even a splash back.

 

Extensions

One last point I wanted to touch on is extending your kitchen out to the back. Having an extension on your house can be very costly (and planning permission is a pain too) but the impact it has on your house is incredible, you may also find it will add value to your house. If you are able to extend your kitchen you then have the landmine of deciding how you want to extend and what look you want. There are two styles you can go for, either you make it look like it blends into the existing building or make it a statement piece to the house.

I personally love the crittal style extensions, they look so modern and sleek with the grey/black frames and square details. I feel that they also look a lot nicer to the normal PVC white extensions a lot of people have, but its all down to personal taste (there is no right or wrong choice.) If you like the blur between inside and outside then why not look into folding doors, this will allow you to completely open up the kitchen and allow in a ton of light. One thing to keep in mind is if you want a glass roof on your extension, and you have a south facing garden, then it is going to get very hot especially in the summer months. Remember to keep your building location and geography in mind.

As you can tell I already have plans for a house, when we finally get one. Just remember you want your kitchen (and the whole house for that effect) to be a reflection of you and your taste. If you want to follow a trend then maybe add it in through accessories or wall colour you can switch up, incase you want to change it later down the line. Paint colours can be changed easily, you could even repaint kitchen cupboards if you want, but flooring & worktops are costly and difficult to change. It can take a long time working out exactly what you want but it is well worth it when you see it all come together.

If you have any questions or suggestion of other interior design posts you would like then let me know. Have a amazing monday and remember start the week as you mean to go on.

Steph x

*photographs are from Pinterest