Kitchen Design & Kitchen Ideas Guide

Kitchen Design & Kitchen Ideas Guide

Are you struggling to choose a kitchen style that reflects your personality and family dynamic? With so many options to choose from, it can be overwhelming to find the perfect balance and harmony for your space. But designing a kitchen is an intimate process that requires careful consideration and attention to detail. In this article, get ready to be hit with new ideas that will inspire and excite you. However, always filter these ideas through your unique lifestyle preferences to ensure practicality and functionality. Whether renovating or building a new kitchen, the same principles apply. So let’s roll up our sleeves and start creating your dream kitchen!

 Kitchen Ideas – How to Choose the Best Kitchen Design?

When you stop to observe examples of designer kitchens, a striking similarity appears across the board. Above anything else, they all aim for consistency. A spacious or small kitchen, modern or rustic… the premise is simple- pick your style and stick with it. Translated further, this means finding a balance between the kitchen floor, the cabinets, the material and the colour palate. First of all – and this goes without saying – you should consider the limitations of your space. We all want a modern kitchen with various garden units included, but not everything can fit comfortably according to plan.

And though counterintuitive, this can be a good thing. Instead of choosing between hundreds of items, rule out some and pick one or two to highlight.

Don’t have enough room to install a kitchen island? Great- you can settle for a kitchen bar and still design a kitchen that commands attention. Start by drawing your layout, and then think of a dominant colour. This will serve as your backbone – the proper framework – on top of which you will choose the style and add ornamentation. The style choice will roughly dictate the type of floor you are about to install. Tile or wood depends on what you are aiming to achieve. A modern, minimalistic, more welcoming, warm kitchen should mainly reflect your personality.

When not entirely sure what to go with, choose neutral colours. They will give you a clean and monochromatic effect while still radiating a degree of warmth. Even if you choose to work with a kitchen designer, he will ask you these same questions. So be pragmatic first, know what you need, and select your colour, style, and everything else that falls into place.

Best Kitchen Cabinet Ideas

One looks over an Ikea catalogue, and you start to understand what makes excellent kitchen décor. Regardless of the space and style, it’s all about those cabinets. Carefully combined with a matching countertop, they give your kitchen its distinctive look. And here is where you should pay attention.

The cabinets usually occupy most of your kitchen space and dictate the dominating colour. Yours is the choice to match them with the colour of the countertop or aim for a touch of contrast. The space between the cabinets and countertop, when appropriately coloured, can make a dramatic visual change as well.

Naked bricks or mosaic tile… it’s all about your style choice. Go with a slightly different colour palate if you want more openness and bold contrast to highlight the space and draw attention. Some people prefer to add contrast between the kitchen cabinets and the floor, which can highlight them even more.

Two additional ideas to consider:

• Built-in appliances
• Window cabinets

You can combine these by placing all your appliances below the counter and going with window cabinets on the wall. They look rich and ornamental, adding a more vibrant look to your layout.

I recommend choosing a darker, more concentrated colour palate with window cabinets. When fewer material shows, you’d want to highlight every inch.

If you are a wine lover and fancy having a bottle collection, why not showcase some of it too? Wine cabinets can perfectly fit with small kitchen designs. Even a smaller six-barrier cabinet can add depth to your kitchen design and spice up the layout of your kitchen cupboards. Also, consider manipulating natural light. Add a window above the sink and between your cabinets in the latest kitchen designs. Natural daylight can create warmth and is perfect for larger families who spend much of their time around the kitchen. It affects mood in many ways as well.

If you are lucky enough to have your kitchen layout allowing for a window opening, consider using the curtain as a specific design element to highlight this small space. Window cabinets can also be covered with small and chic curtains, which usually gives you the decorative advantage of adding a window cabinet without necessarily decorating the inside.

Stunning Kitchen Island Ideas

Nothing spells luxury better than a well-designed and centrally placed kitchen island. Larger ones can include a stove or a longer countertop; smaller ones provide only a few square feet of working surface. But regardless of size, a kitchen island dwarfs every other detail in significance.

Here you have a few ideas on kitchen island designs:

First, you will want to ensure your kitchen island is not just unceremoniously dumped in the middle of your space. Measure carefully and aim for symmetry between surrounding countertops. The height should equal the surrounding countertops, and the colour should usually match the cabinets below the counter.

Plan the ventilation upfront if you want to install the stove and oven within your kitchen island.

Otherwise, I’d recommend installing hanging lights to ornament the space and highlight the kitchen island even more. People routinely underestimate the importance of lighting, but when placed carefully, it can completely change the look of your kitchen design.

You’d also want to add extra bar stools to the kitchen island. They will add functionality by transforming your kitchen island into a breakfast table. Coupled with ambient lights hanging from above, this will give your kitchen an intense highlight during the second half of the day.

You can also consider installing a bookshelf, giving your kitchen some personality and additional vibrant touch. Don’t have enough room for the island? Worry not. Just think about remodelling the space by adding a kitchen bar instead. You can still use those hanging ambient lights and chic bar stools to create the same effect. Besides, placing the kitchen bar on the side where your living room is can give you an unobstructed view of the living space, providing a friendly family atmosphere.

Modern Kitchen Design Ideas

Observing trends from recent years, minimalist and Scandinavian décor saturate the list of best kitchen designs.

Much the same is increasingly accurate when discussing small kitchen ideas since these often require novelty to capture attention. And while traditional kitchen design follows a recurring set of rules, modern ideas require bold colour statements and marked ornamentation. To simplify pretentious vocabulary, you’d want to aim for a compact design or interrupt patterns completely.

The goal is to make a visual impact with both colours and materials. Think about custom-made cabinets as well as even decorative art. Paintings on the wall showcasing china, modern decorative items…

As for colour statements, you’d want to choose a strikingly dark palate or excessively bright colours. Darker colours, predominantly grey, can mix perfectly well with marked yellow or green. Making a compromise between the two weakens the visual statement. You can still use colour differences to highlight certain elements and units but stay within the same colour pattern regarding potency.

Granite floors and different tile patterns can help create a visual statement, and you should think within the lines of something unique and expressions. Then there is the transitional kitchen which combines traditional charm with contemporary chic. If new kitchen designs seem overly modern, this is an excellent way to divorce from the classic while not entirely embracing the contemporary. Reverse engineering from the principles mentioned above; you can add a dash of modernity and achieve a balance between styles.

A contemporary ambient can also be easily paired with rustic features. It sounds counterintuitive initially, but Scandinavian kitchen design always uses this. Consider adding a wood-fueled furnace or combining naked brick with contemporary materials for your cabinets. This can be refreshing in many ways, especially when you showcase the modern using bright colours and the old using a rustic set of colours and materials.

Want to achieve a modern look? Don’t use kitchen cabinets at all.

Paint the wall with crisp and clean colour, supplementing your below-the-counter cabinets. This can make your kitchen layout seem relatively spacious and serve as a refreshment from repetitive kitchen design ideas.

What to pay attention to when doing kitchen remodelling?

Combining everything, you probably have some ideas on style and layout. But consider these questions as well…

How are you going to solve the heating?

Open floor plans might have different requirements from small kitchen layouts. If you rely on central heating, consult someone when designing your project. Radiators, conversely, may supplement your design efforts, so see that you include the heating source in your design sketches as well.

If you live in the south or somewhere warm, consider air conditioning too. Opening a window early can be brilliant, especially when starting construction and remodelling. Many people focus on the design side of things without considering functionality first. Good design – and this goes by definition – should solve logistic problems first and foremost.

While custom carpentry may cost you more, it’s the only solution for a fitted kitchen. You can save money, however, by choosing the layout by yourself and specifying a particular design pattern.

Ensure you have carefully researched every unit that will fit into your kitchen. See whether all your desired items are in stock before starting the remodelling. It’s pretty frustrating to complete the order for the carpentry only to find out that your specific sink size is out of stock and sells for twice the price somewhere else. Plan upfront and save yourself the headache.

Think about your habits and family requirements. Sometimes it’s tempting to put decorative elements before practical use of space, but running out of cupboards to fit your pots and dishes is a ticket for another kitchen remodelling shortly.

What is the perfect kitchen design for you?

All things being considered, you should compromise budget, use of space, and style preferences.

The more you plan upfront, the easier your kitchen remodelling becomes. Think carefully about the colour palate, the kitchen floor, and the cabinets. Choosing one or two highlighted items will help you save on price while still creating a specific artistic and aesthetic detail. I hope these pictures of dashing kitchen design ideas opened your mind to all of the possibilities, and you can reverse engineer your way to a new and spectacular kitchen layout. Staying consistent with a specific style, though, and plan from the bottom upward.

Plan the lighting, the heating source, and the appliances’ number and positioning. Finally, make sure that whatever kitchen design you end up with perfectly reflects your style and speaks loudly about how you prefer to function around the home.

The kitchen can be the most critical area in the home, so consider your design with the future in mind.  Browse Furniture UK Online for more exciting and meaningful articles!