How to Add Character to Your Contemporary Kitchen
Slick storage and state-of-the-art appliances are only part of the story when it comes to designing a sleek new kitchen
Because kitchens are such functional rooms, it’s important to ensure their ‘liveability’ doesn’t get left behind, so talk to your kitchen designer at the planning stage about character and warmth.
What will make your kitchen (your style of) homely? It might just be about displaying your favourite bits and pieces, in which case, it’s worth having open storage designed in. Perhaps it’s about colour, or texture, or window positioning.
Take a look at these very different examples of how designers have warmed up kitchens (and save your favourites to an ideabook) to get the discussion started.
What will make your kitchen (your style of) homely? It might just be about displaying your favourite bits and pieces, in which case, it’s worth having open storage designed in. Perhaps it’s about colour, or texture, or window positioning.
Take a look at these very different examples of how designers have warmed up kitchens (and save your favourites to an ideabook) to get the discussion started.
Be consistent
Good news for minimalists: this beautifully designed, clean, crisp kitchen by ARCHEA demonstrates how little you need to have out on display to give a space a homely, lived-in feel.
To achieve a similarly uncluttered yet welcoming effect, go big on consistency: matching storage containers lined up on a worktop; a trio of objets on a windowsill or shelf; a couple of well-framed prints, and books housed in a neat, dedicated book space. Simple matching chair cushions are also unfussy additions.
Find kitchen designers in your area, see photos of their work and read reviews from previous clients.
Good news for minimalists: this beautifully designed, clean, crisp kitchen by ARCHEA demonstrates how little you need to have out on display to give a space a homely, lived-in feel.
To achieve a similarly uncluttered yet welcoming effect, go big on consistency: matching storage containers lined up on a worktop; a trio of objets on a windowsill or shelf; a couple of well-framed prints, and books housed in a neat, dedicated book space. Simple matching chair cushions are also unfussy additions.
Find kitchen designers in your area, see photos of their work and read reviews from previous clients.
Add a vintage feel
Mixing some old in with your new is a tried-and-tested warming tactic – and this kitchen design by Roundhouse does it beautifully. The clear glass pendant lights tone down the slick look nicely. Meanwhile, a vintage-look food processor in glossy red, along with classic salt and pepper grinders, give the island worktop suitable character.
On the wall shelves, an old-fashioned-style set of scales, vintage tins and the café signage are good touches. All this, along with the brick wall and nearby open fireplace with its mini gallery above, have combined to create a kitchen you’d be very happy to linger in.
Mixing some old in with your new is a tried-and-tested warming tactic – and this kitchen design by Roundhouse does it beautifully. The clear glass pendant lights tone down the slick look nicely. Meanwhile, a vintage-look food processor in glossy red, along with classic salt and pepper grinders, give the island worktop suitable character.
On the wall shelves, an old-fashioned-style set of scales, vintage tins and the café signage are good touches. All this, along with the brick wall and nearby open fireplace with its mini gallery above, have combined to create a kitchen you’d be very happy to linger in.
Let the garden in
There’s a lot going on in this contemporary kitchen that helps to warm it up – and greenery and natural textures are major factors. Houseplants stretch the garden into the interior, and having them at different heights softens the clean lines of the design. Wood-look cabinet fronts also echo the timber in the garden, and wood is nearly always an instantly cosy texture.
Pendants with warm bulbs are a key softening feature, and the colour of the light connects with the antique-style frame over the oven.
More: 23 Stylish Ways to Include Plants in Your Kitchen
There’s a lot going on in this contemporary kitchen that helps to warm it up – and greenery and natural textures are major factors. Houseplants stretch the garden into the interior, and having them at different heights softens the clean lines of the design. Wood-look cabinet fronts also echo the timber in the garden, and wood is nearly always an instantly cosy texture.
Pendants with warm bulbs are a key softening feature, and the colour of the light connects with the antique-style frame over the oven.
More: 23 Stylish Ways to Include Plants in Your Kitchen
Having wall-to-wall glazing isn’t the only way to connect your kitchen with the outdoors, of course. Not every kitchen will lend itself to the sort of modernisation in the previous photo, so take a moment to enjoy this kitchen’s prominent leafy view.
The design of this space by MTA Architecture & Design is unashamedly sleek and modern, and yet the use of interestingly grained wood for the cabinet fronts and the picture frame effect of that black window are a powerful combination for letting nature soften the edges of this functional space.
The design of this space by MTA Architecture & Design is unashamedly sleek and modern, and yet the use of interestingly grained wood for the cabinet fronts and the picture frame effect of that black window are a powerful combination for letting nature soften the edges of this functional space.
Incorporate open shelving
If you don’t need, or want, traditional wall cabinets, you may well find you have the space for some kind of visible storage zone, as in this kitchen by Uncommon Projects. This is a fantastic opportunity to add character and warmth to a sleek kitchen.
Talk to your designer about how and where you could include some open shelving in your kitchen. They’ll probably ask about how tidy you are before going too far down this road… It’s important to be honest with them. If you’re not very tidy, then a smaller open storage section with perhaps a permanent display of things you rarely use might work best for you.
More: How to Curate Ideas for Your Kitchen Project
If you don’t need, or want, traditional wall cabinets, you may well find you have the space for some kind of visible storage zone, as in this kitchen by Uncommon Projects. This is a fantastic opportunity to add character and warmth to a sleek kitchen.
Talk to your designer about how and where you could include some open shelving in your kitchen. They’ll probably ask about how tidy you are before going too far down this road… It’s important to be honest with them. If you’re not very tidy, then a smaller open storage section with perhaps a permanent display of things you rarely use might work best for you.
More: How to Curate Ideas for Your Kitchen Project
Highlight period features
Really classy design is often about knowing where not to fill up the space, and this wonderful old room shows the approach beautifully.
Rather than try to fit storage between the windows or beneath them, or crowd the space at all, the designer at Giles Reid Architects has allowed these original features to ‘breathe’ by keeping the wall of storage opposite completely unobtrusive. The traditional radiators, too, are free of visual clutter and allowed to shine. Old, or old-looking, stuff is very useful in the business of taking the edge off gleaming new, angular spaces.
The beautiful wooden floor and glowing under-cabinet lighting are other softening counterpoints to the brilliant whiteness of the rest of the room.
Really classy design is often about knowing where not to fill up the space, and this wonderful old room shows the approach beautifully.
Rather than try to fit storage between the windows or beneath them, or crowd the space at all, the designer at Giles Reid Architects has allowed these original features to ‘breathe’ by keeping the wall of storage opposite completely unobtrusive. The traditional radiators, too, are free of visual clutter and allowed to shine. Old, or old-looking, stuff is very useful in the business of taking the edge off gleaming new, angular spaces.
The beautiful wooden floor and glowing under-cabinet lighting are other softening counterpoints to the brilliant whiteness of the rest of the room.
Choose soft neutrals
Greeny-greys are great for echoing the great outdoors, especially if your kitchen overlooks the garden. But that’s not the whole story here in terms of what’s giving this kitchen by Jones Associates Architects a gentle feel.
The matt colour is chalky, almost tactile. It’s the opposite of a ‘glaring’ shade or cold finish, which can be harsh and, in turn, create a chilly effect.
Greeny-greys are great for echoing the great outdoors, especially if your kitchen overlooks the garden. But that’s not the whole story here in terms of what’s giving this kitchen by Jones Associates Architects a gentle feel.
The matt colour is chalky, almost tactile. It’s the opposite of a ‘glaring’ shade or cold finish, which can be harsh and, in turn, create a chilly effect.
Work in feature tiles
A strong injection of pattern or colour can often provide personality in a contemporary kitchen. Tiles, like the ones in this scheme by Onefour Interiors, can be a practical way to do this; you get to create a resilient surface as well as a striking feature in one go.
That said, tiling is a skilled trade and unusual tiles can be quite the investment, so call on your architect or designer to advise you on what might work and why. They’ll be able to suggest just the right – and not always obvious – colours to tie the area into the rest of your kitchen and allow your tiles to be a beautiful standout detail.
Tell us…
Which of these approaches most appeals to your style? Share your thoughts and any other tips in the Comments.
A strong injection of pattern or colour can often provide personality in a contemporary kitchen. Tiles, like the ones in this scheme by Onefour Interiors, can be a practical way to do this; you get to create a resilient surface as well as a striking feature in one go.
That said, tiling is a skilled trade and unusual tiles can be quite the investment, so call on your architect or designer to advise you on what might work and why. They’ll be able to suggest just the right – and not always obvious – colours to tie the area into the rest of your kitchen and allow your tiles to be a beautiful standout detail.
Tell us…
Which of these approaches most appeals to your style? Share your thoughts and any other tips in the Comments.
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The materials you choose will be almost as significant in terms of shaping your new kitchen as the layout, especially if you opt to hide everything behind cabinetry, as in this Scandi-style kitchen by Pac Studio.
Be clear with your designer if you want as little as possible on show, and discuss materials with them very early on. They may well suggest incorporating wood into the scheme as just one way of giving the expanse of doors and drawers the right impact.
Here, natural timber has been used to dramatic effect to cover an entire wall, creating a self-contained block for storage and appliances.