The kitchen is the engine room of a home – it’s the vital hub where a family’s daily lives play out – so it needs to be as versatile as it is functional and inviting. The best kitchens reflect an owner’s personality, and right now some of the newest design trends and techniques offer owners the very best in contemporary interior touches to help you express your individual (and culinary) flare.
Tap into easy updates
Looking for a quick and easy way to refresh the look of your kitchen? Update your hardware. Brass, copper as well as black finished taps are still hot ticket items, acting as statement pieces. Although feature tapware and even statement sinks are becoming increasingly popular, you can also create striking focal points with mixed metal cabinet handles and appliances.
Real Steel
Stainless steel kitchens aren’t for everyone; it’s a minimalist, commercial look with sleek glistening surfaces. Timeless and functional, a new generation is discovering stainless steel is both low cost and low maintenance. Worktops and island benches – even splashbacks – lend the impression you’re a pro in kitchen and it’s so easy to clean you can make more mess than Gordon Ramsay in a fit of pique.
To achieve a more individual style, look at incorporating specialised treated metals with exciting patinas. The metal is treated with a combination of oxidation, chemicals, and heat- all of which give dramatic and different finishes which echo industrial decay with an edge.
Industrial Chic
The stripped back, industrial trend of pairing metal with concrete finishes is surprising in that it looks and feels less like a construction site and much more like the must-eat-at contemporary eateries in cities like New York, Hong Kong, and LA. Concrete is the perfect material for frequent traffic and activity areas in the home, including kitchens. New techniques include concrete sprayed doors or concrete effect doors, concrete benchtops, and polished concrete flooring. Combined metal and concrete with matt black taps, and it is an easy way to create a stunning kitchen, particularly if you have a minimalist aesthetic.
Island Life
Kitchen layouts are dictated as much by their functionality as the space available; island benches are the perfect, multi-function addition to any kitchen, especially those in an open plan setting. It’s important to make sure you get the island’s proportions correct, a common mistake is to make them too small or narrow which risks the surrounding space overwhelming the surface (remember: they become a focal point for activity) and more importantly limiting how functional the unit can be as a cooking surface, breakfast bar, or a place to relax over a glass of wine after a full day’s work.
A clever and functional feature is to amp up the breakfast bar or banqueting seating option so that an informal dining area is incorporated into the kitchen.
