If you’re anything like me, your favorite room in the house is the kitchen. Here’s is the place where the magic happens. All the ingredients come together to make delicious meals.
But the kitchen itself often isn’t the most useful space. Most people make do with doing things the way they’ve always been done. They don’t take advantage of all the little innovations that have emerged over the last couple of decades to make their life easier.
Perhaps it’s time that prevents them. Perhaps it’s money. Whatever it is, it’s getting in the way of a kitchen making your kitchen really work for you which, in the long run, will save on both.
Bring The Dishes Out Into The Open
Some people might prefer to keep all their crockery hidden away inside a kitchen cabinet. But I don’t think this makes the house feel alive. A kitchen is a place of organized chaos and mess. And it’s a place where access to our items should be a cinch.
The best kitchens, in my view, have a special little place to keep a plate rack. Often it’s a wonderful addition that breaks up the monotony of blank storage cabinets. Plus, it gives you a chance to show off your beautiful tableware.
Use Commercial-Grade Appliances
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Using commercial-grade appliances might sound like a crazy idea. After all, they aren’t often the most attractive objects. But you can actually install and use them as a design feature in their own right.
Commercial appliances are usually constructed from sheet metal. As a result, you’ll have to think carefully about the composition of the rest of your kitchen. If you get it right, you’ll be onto a winner. Think light airy tones to contrast the industrial appearance of the appliances. And perhaps use a checkered tile floor to break up the blank appearance a little.
If you can pull it off, you can actually end up with a more striking kitchen than if you’d stuck with regular old domestic appliances. The kitchen just has a very robust appearance. Plus you get to benefit from appliances that are more reliable and durable.
Get A Splash Tile
Having a very modern stainless steel backsplash tile can really work wonders for the appearance of your oven area. Instead of going for just normal tiles behind the stove, why not opt for a modern mixture of metal and glass?
This will give the feeling that your stove is encapsulated; safely partitioned from the rest of the kitchen.
Use Natural Wood Effects
I personally like soft but clean lines in the kitchen and light, pastel colors. But that doesn’t mean I want my kitchen to be totally safe from a design perspective.
Sometimes it’s a good idea to throw a feature in there that really contrasts with the rest of the room. One feature that makes an impact is natural exposed wood. If possible, I would use natural exposed wood as a support for a kitchen counter. Or I might, if I am lucky, expose an old wooden beam on the ceiling.
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A splash of natural, rustic wood will complement modern design choices, like granite counter tops.
Experiment With Open Shelving
If you’re somebody that prefers a less chaotic feel when you enter the kitchen, then open shelving probably isn’t the right option for you. But if you like that sense of managed chaos and access then it can be a powerful design choice.
Open shelving gives your kitchen the sense that it is a room to be lived in.
Plus you can have fun with the shelving itself. White-painted shelving can light up a kitchen with a dark color theme and break up a foreboding wall. It works particularly well if you have a blackboard theme in your kitchen.
Wood effect shelving would work better where you have any exposed bricks. Or in any places where your theme is lighter and brighter. Don’t forget, you don’t just have to put crockery on the shelves. A spot of greenery can complement a wood finish.
Have A Mix Of Furniture
One temptation that many people have is to make sure that a room is perfectly themed. But there is often a great degree of hidden beauty in rooms that aren’t perfectly themed.
Sometimes, furniture that isn’t part of the same theme can complement a room in ways you wouldn’t imagine. You want to go for something like an 80/20 split of themed to complementary items. The complementary items will add a touch of flair and unpredictability to your room.
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