The kitchen is one of the longest-lasting and most expensive purchases in your home. It's worth planning and designing your kitchen carefully, thinking about what you want it to do and who will be using it. For a family with children, cleanliness and safety are important, while a single person's kitchen is more important.
Nature's own shades are also reflected in the kitchen interior
Choosing high-quality and timeless natural materials for your kitchen is an eco-activity, as they are durable and easy on the eye. Wood is a renewable natural material that is easy to maintain over the years. Wood adds warmth and cosiness to kitchen interiors alongside tiles and painted surfaces.
You can use wood in kitchen design as both a wall and ceiling material. On walls, wood works well as an accent wall, for example, next to the dining area. You can also boldly decorate the entire kitchen with wood. A feature wall in the kitchen adds warmth and coziness to the space and is a great design element in its own right. A current trend is also to let the wood look like wood—not like mass-produced paneling.
In the kitchen, wood can also be used between cabinets, as long as you remember to protect the wooden surfaces from water and grease splashes, for example with a glass plate. This makes it easier to keep surfaces clean and ensures the durability of the materials.
You can bring nature into your kitchen by choosing the right colors and materials for your cabinets. Shades of muted green and brown, which evoke a sense of nature, transport your thoughts to the forest. You can continue the theme of natural materials in your kitchen cabinets by choosing, for example, birch cabinet doors.
If you're worried about using strong colours in the kitchen, remember that textiles are an easy way to update the colour scheme. Curtains, rugs and kitchen towels can be used to easily change the mood of your kitchen with the seasons.
Creating contrasts in kitchen interior design
Alongside nature's own shades, you can use black to help you decorate your kitchen. Black kitchen cabinets and ashtrays create a sharp contrast to the kitchen interior and provide a contrast to the soft and warm wood. You can also combine black lower cabinets with oak or birch veneered upper cabinets to lighten the dark kitchen interior.
You can make the kitchen a real eye-catcher by choosing black for all the surfaces in the kitchen. This will make the kitchen an interesting focal point in your home interior. For a more streamlined look, hide your appliances behind the cabinet doors and choose integrated kitchen units. If black is a colour that appeals but also intimidates you, remember that you can always add a touch of greenery and nature to your kitchen with herbs and green plants.
You can also make your kitchen beautiful by adding just a touch of black, for example with chairs or a table. Black, natural wood and white surfaces are a combination that stands the test of time and changes in interior design trends.
Decorating your kitchen in crisp white
If a natural-coloured wood feels alien, white is always a safe choice for the surface materials. White reflects light and gives a sense of space - check out the Hanki shade of our AAVA interior panel, for example. This is always worth remembering when decorating small and cramped spaces. White is beautiful on its own and there are dozens of beautiful shades to soften your home interior and prevent a cold, clinical feel.
Black and white, a familiar colour pair from years gone by, still works brilliantly in a beautiful kitchen. The black island and ceiling surface define the space well, creating a clear overview of the different functions in the home. The island conceals a direct line of sight to the kitchen and provides excellent storage space for household items. The island can also be used to create a wonderful atmosphere by choosing glass panels and adding lights inside the cabinets. Indirect lighting adds a soft ambience to dark evenings.
White surfaces in the kitchen provide a modern and minimalist touch. For a modern and industrial look, you can choose sleek, steel appliances for the kitchen, bringing a touch of professional cooking flair. The white-painted panel surfaces add a softness to the kitchen interior.
Tips for decorating a practical kitchen
The kitchen is the heart of the home and should be functional and cosy. It makes cooking easy and keeps things tidy. When decorating a kitchen, you need to consider the size and shape of the space, what functions you want in the kitchen and, of course, a style that fits in with the rest of your home.
1. One big space or a separate entity?
When decorating your kitchen, it's important to look at your home as a whole. Where the kitchen is placed in the home and whether you want to keep it as a common space with the living room, for example, or to separate it into its own entity, for example with an island. With an island, it is possible to divide a large space and at the same time conceal a direct line of sight from other rooms in the home to the kitchen. You can also enjoy breakfast around the island or use the island to create more storage space for your crockery. The island is also a great work surface for bakers and keen cooks.
2. Materials in kitchen decoration
When choosing materials for your kitchen, start by looking at the other interior materials in your home. Do you want the kitchen to blend in beautifully with the rest of the interior, or do you want it to be a clear eye-catcher in the home? In addition to colour, you should consider the durability, cleanability and maintainability of the material.
A stylish home is always a whole. When decorating your home, you should aim for continuity of materials over large surfaces. Ceiling and wall materials should be chosen so that they can be used in almost all areas of the home. Do not mix tile and parquet in small spaces, but choose one material to cover the floor surfaces of your home.
3. Details of kitchen interior design
Making a kitchen beautiful requires clarity in the big lines and imaginative details. A white kitchen is a safe option, but can be moody and cold. The choice of materials for kitchen worktops can bring warmth and softness or cold contrast, depending on the situation.
Also base / coverboard offer a great option for creating details in your kitchen interior. Interior lists can be used to stylishly delineate windows and doors, as well as wall-to-floor and ceiling-to-ceiling interfaces. For example, in a white kitchen, combining the shade of the worktops with the shade of the mouldings creates an elegant effect and a warm feeling. In contrast, a wide black window border adds an edge to the interior.
You can also add a bold accent wall to your kitchen, one that ties in with the home’s flooring, cabinet handles, and kitchen accessories.
4. Kitchen decoration and storage space
In a well-functioning kitchen, dishes and appliances have their own places, making it easier to keep the kitchen clean and keeping the overall look tidy. When choosing kitchen cabinets, it's worth taking a look at your current cupboard and checking what type of utensils you use for your own cooking. Do you want to leave your dishes visible in glass cabinets or hide them in cupboards? You can also combine old and new in your kitchen. It's worth giving old cupboards a new life in a modern kitchen.
Decorating your kitchen with practical cupboards will provide plenty of storage space. The height of upper cupboards should be carefully considered to ensure that you can easily reach them and that it is also easy to access items from the upper cupboards. Upper cabinets can be chosen to match the lower cabinets, or to brighten up the look of the kitchen by changing the shade of the cabinets or adding airiness with smoked glass cabinets.
5. Lights and shadows in kitchen design
Lights play a surprisingly large role in kitchen design. The kitchen needs bright task lights and cosy lighting for the dining area. Bright LED strips can be discreetly installed underneath the cabinets to illuminate the worktops.
The use of an island in kitchen decoration offers many possibilities for decorating with lights. Design lights placed on top of the island add a wonderful decorative detail and allow for a soft atmospheric light in the kitchen.
