A Stylist’s Secrets to Giving Your Kitchen the Wow Factor
There’s more to having an awe-inspiring kitchen than simply designing and fitting it – it’s the little details that will elevate its look
Helen Winter
27 October 2015
Regular Houzz UK Contributor and owner of Coral Interiors, a full service interior design company based in Bournemouth Dorset.
Regular Houzz UK Contributor and owner of Coral Interiors, a full service interior... More
With more of us choosing open-plan living and adding extensions to our houses, the kitchen has increasingly become central to the look and feel of our homes.
No longer a space to shut the door and forget about, your kitchen is a showpiece as well as a practical space to prepare meals and dine. So how can you play to your kitchen’s strengths and boost its designer appeal? Borrow these interior styling tips to create a practical and beautiful space.
No longer a space to shut the door and forget about, your kitchen is a showpiece as well as a practical space to prepare meals and dine. So how can you play to your kitchen’s strengths and boost its designer appeal? Borrow these interior styling tips to create a practical and beautiful space.
Add a feature wall
This mostly white, open-plan space has become something really special with the addition of the striking marble feature wall behind the hob. Marble is very much back in fashion and this high-contrast look is practical, contemporary and luxurious.
Check out the interiors trends we’re predicting for 2016
This mostly white, open-plan space has become something really special with the addition of the striking marble feature wall behind the hob. Marble is very much back in fashion and this high-contrast look is practical, contemporary and luxurious.
Check out the interiors trends we’re predicting for 2016
Accessorise with bright accents
With a simple monochrome scheme, such as the one in this retro converted railway carriage, the colour and interest comes from the accessories. The result is a very cool bohemian vibe. Try something similar yourself by sticking to a palette of three or four accent colours of a similar intensity and you’ve got this look nailed.
If you like this look, browse more midcentury kitchen photos in our photo section.
With a simple monochrome scheme, such as the one in this retro converted railway carriage, the colour and interest comes from the accessories. The result is a very cool bohemian vibe. Try something similar yourself by sticking to a palette of three or four accent colours of a similar intensity and you’ve got this look nailed.
If you like this look, browse more midcentury kitchen photos in our photo section.
Mix up materials
You don’t have to have the same finish or style for your base and wall units. In this kitchen, the rough-hewn wood effect of the base cupboards ties in beautifully with the classic and dramatic cabinets on the wall. The softness and warmth of the wood is the perfect pairing with the stark, high contrast of dark grey and white.
You don’t have to have the same finish or style for your base and wall units. In this kitchen, the rough-hewn wood effect of the base cupboards ties in beautifully with the classic and dramatic cabinets on the wall. The softness and warmth of the wood is the perfect pairing with the stark, high contrast of dark grey and white.
Take it to the top
For a sleek and modern look, optimise your storage and display shelves by taking wall cabinets and built-in towers right up to the ceiling. Full-height cabinets create a more streamlined look and offer a place for those less-frequently used items to live. Add interest with glazed doors, as the owners of this Shaker-style kitchen have done.
For a sleek and modern look, optimise your storage and display shelves by taking wall cabinets and built-in towers right up to the ceiling. Full-height cabinets create a more streamlined look and offer a place for those less-frequently used items to live. Add interest with glazed doors, as the owners of this Shaker-style kitchen have done.
Light the way
Make a focal point of your task lighting. These pendants combine practicality with visual impact by adding zesty primary colour to this streamlined monochrome scheme. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication!
Make a focal point of your task lighting. These pendants combine practicality with visual impact by adding zesty primary colour to this streamlined monochrome scheme. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication!
Create a gallery
With plenty of white, reflective surfaces and masses of natural light, a kitchen can be the perfect space to display art. Showcase your taste and personality, whether that’s quirky and kitsch or classic and refined. Why not create a gallery wall, being careful not to position it too close to the sink or hob?
With plenty of white, reflective surfaces and masses of natural light, a kitchen can be the perfect space to display art. Showcase your taste and personality, whether that’s quirky and kitsch or classic and refined. Why not create a gallery wall, being careful not to position it too close to the sink or hob?
Be extra bold
Go for high impact with a strong colour that’s rather unexpected in a kitchen. This deep purple is rich and striking against the exposed brick and dark grey units and sets this kitchen apart. Glass and acrylic splashbacks come in infinite colours and designs to complement your colour scheme.
Like the idea of a purple kitchen? Find more here.
Go for high impact with a strong colour that’s rather unexpected in a kitchen. This deep purple is rich and striking against the exposed brick and dark grey units and sets this kitchen apart. Glass and acrylic splashbacks come in infinite colours and designs to complement your colour scheme.
Like the idea of a purple kitchen? Find more here.
Clear the clutter
Think of your worktop and dining table as a space for display, rather than for storage or as a dumping ground for bills, bunches of keys or laptops and chargers. Remove anything not needed every day, such as a food mixer or slow cooker, from your worktop, add your favourite fresh flowers or a healthy green plant, and channel a minimalist vibe.
Browse 10 lessons that minimalists can teach the untidy among us
Think of your worktop and dining table as a space for display, rather than for storage or as a dumping ground for bills, bunches of keys or laptops and chargers. Remove anything not needed every day, such as a food mixer or slow cooker, from your worktop, add your favourite fresh flowers or a healthy green plant, and channel a minimalist vibe.
Browse 10 lessons that minimalists can teach the untidy among us
Switch on style
Against this minimalist white cabinetry, coloured LED lighting along the floor and under wall units adds ambience, interest and depth. The best bit? You can change the hue of your multi-coloured system to suit your mood or the occasion. Programmable LED lighting lets you re-style your kitchen at the touch of a button.
Against this minimalist white cabinetry, coloured LED lighting along the floor and under wall units adds ambience, interest and depth. The best bit? You can change the hue of your multi-coloured system to suit your mood or the occasion. Programmable LED lighting lets you re-style your kitchen at the touch of a button.
Employ the rule of three
For accessories such as vases or storage canisters, display them in odd numbers, and in particular three, for maximum style and impact. This simple design trick can elevate your kitchen from ho-hum to hello…
Achieve a neat look in the way the owner of this kitchen has done with a trio of silver canisters above the range cooker. Or you could create a mini collection of harmonising accessories, such as three blue vases in different shapes or heights. Simpler still, steal another trick from this kitchen by buying attractively packaged drinks bottles in threes and putting them on display.
TELL US…
What styling tricks do you use in your kitchen? Share your ideas in the Comments below.
For accessories such as vases or storage canisters, display them in odd numbers, and in particular three, for maximum style and impact. This simple design trick can elevate your kitchen from ho-hum to hello…
Achieve a neat look in the way the owner of this kitchen has done with a trio of silver canisters above the range cooker. Or you could create a mini collection of harmonising accessories, such as three blue vases in different shapes or heights. Simpler still, steal another trick from this kitchen by buying attractively packaged drinks bottles in threes and putting them on display.
TELL US…
What styling tricks do you use in your kitchen? Share your ideas in the Comments below.
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After trawling through 90 odd comments to find the one which Houzz told me had been ticked with a "like" - I had forgotten my own long-ago comment - I do also definitely like the kitchen accessorised with bright accents"!
Please, is it possible in this computerised Houzz website, to show the person's comment which has been "liked" WITH A SIMPLE ONE-CLICK? It does say "To See Comment" in the box, but to reiterate, you very often have to trawl through often, many many subsequent/past comments - sometimes months back - to find the one about which you were notified. It seems the "click to see comment" doesn't always function. Perhaps there are a finite number of comments before the 'click on comment' system breaks down? It is always good to refresh one's memory - mine perhaps being shorter than most! - of past comments made, but verrry frustrating to have to take that often long, dizzying scroll, to look for it!
Having said that, I suppose that's part of the plan... re-introducing a sometimes long-past post, alerting you quite rightly when "Someone liked your comment on..." , and then, just as just now, gaining yet another new comment on same - this time the result of all that frustrated scrolling :D Comments on Houzz are always so interesting and varied, and very often informative...but please can you fix the 'one-click' button? Thank you, thank you :)
Esp Without a pull handle as shown in picture. The micros houzz recommends
Are not under counter nor handless.
Thanks