A major kitchen remodel is more than an update or a facelift, it’s a chance to completely reinvent your kitchen, to start from scratch in a new style.
Your kitchen can be a bold expression of your aesthetic tastes and culinary interests, or a timeless, traditional space, or anything in between.
Maybe the most dressed up option, the traditional kitchen features elaborate trim and lots of decorative touches. This design works well in a large space and is right at home with other traditional features like a separate dining room or a china cabinet.
A modern, multi-purpose island and sustainable wood and smart appliances can bring this design into the 21st century while maintaining its old fashioned charm.
In the design world, “modern” refers to a style movement that began in the 1950s. Modern kitchens have a simple, even minimalist, design featuring straight lines and right angles.
The Modern kitchen’s efficient use of space works at any size. A small modern kitchen is uncluttered and fuss-free. A large modern kitchen feels open and uses negative space in a way that can elevate a home to the level of art.
With a transitional kitchen, you can throw out the style rule book and truly make a kitchen your own. This style combines elements of traditional and modern kitchens in a way that allows you to have the best of both styles. You can have the simplicity of a modern kitchen with the warmth of a traditional one.
Transitional kitchens typically use a neutral color palette in various textures to unite different styles without clashing.
The one that gets the job done, the one where you used to eat pb&j sandwiches… A classic kitchen has neutral colors, white tiles and white or cream cabinets. It’s safe. It’s timeless. It’s a totally non-offensive option that holds its value since getting fancy with kitchen remodeling doesn’t translate to the best ROI.
The colors and feel of a coastal kitchen are inspired by the look and feel of the beach. You’ll see lots of blues, whites, and seafoam greens. The overall look is soft and relaxed with plenty of natural light. LED lights allow you to choose a color temperature that can mimic natural lighting to light your coastal kitchen consistently at all hours.
Unfinished wood looks fantastic in a coastal kitchen. You might think about incorporating the reclaimed wood trend in yours.
The only rule of the eclectic kitchen is that there are no rules. While a transitional design borrows from specific eras in history, an eclectic design is a hodgepodge of randomness. Done right, this approach can be quirky and refreshing. But there’s a fine line between quirky and messy. When designing eclectically, it helps to know why you’re borrowing certain design elements and colors and to keep asking yourself “does this work?”
The old world answer to a coastal kitchen, a Mediterranean design takes its inspiration from the earthy and bright homes of coastal Europe. This style is defined by natural materials like wood, clay, and tiles and hand-crafted touch. The lines in a Mediterranean kitchen are soft and curved. The room evokes the feeling of a place where people take their time in the kitchen as in life, where they take siestas and come home for lunch.
Another old-world design, the Tuscan kitchen harkens back to the region where Italy’s olives and wine grapes are grown. Tuscany is as rich in architectural heritage as it is in cooking, and the Tuscan villa has inspired kitchens the world over.
Earth tones and natural colors are key. Fixtures and appliances have a robust yet warm look. Terracotta or marble tiles (or tiles that look like terracotta or marble) are a defining feature of the Tuscan kitchen.
Like the mid-century modern kitchen, the mission-style kitchen has roots right here in Southern California. The word “mission” in its name refers to the settlements built by the Spanish in Mexico, California, and the Southwest. It’s where “Mission Valley” gets its name. To see a mission in San Diego, just got to Linda Vista, and check out the University of San Diego.
The Mission style-Kitchen features custom wood cabinetry and wood flooring. Wall tiles add a Southwestern accent. As for fixtures, you’re looking at copper and bronze. There should be a slight patina to everything as if the kitchen has its own history and secrets.
The craftsman kitchen is similar, but it has more of an Americana, prairie feel. This article explains the subtle difference.
Nothing earthy here. As the name suggests, the industrial kitchen is a place work gets done. The materials are rugged: zinc, stainless steel, and wood–the kind you chop things on. The tools are on display and sometimes so are the ducts, pipes, and brickwork. Form follows function in this design.
Edison light bulbs are a popular choice in an industrial kitchen. New LEDs in that style are a cost-saving and green option.
If an industrial kitchen sounds like your thing, it’s an excellent choice in a kitchen with brick walls, beams, or other structural features that might have to be covered up if you were going with a different style.
A rustic kitchen takes its inspiration from the countryside. It can be anything from a vaguely distressed farmhouse look with lots of wood and wrought iron to a full-on log cabin vibe with reclaimed lumber or even a wood burning stove.
To pull this one off, you need to keep it simple and aim for a weathered, old fashioned look.
Every kitchen design was “contemporary” at one point. Contemporary is simply the kitchen of today. In the second decade of the 21st century, that means smart appliances, state of the art lighting, and a blend of shapes, colors, and textures.
It may seem weird that modern really refers to an era that began over 60 years ago, but it’s true. In modern kitchens, you’ll find simple hardware, lots of horizontal lines, flat panel cabinet doors, consistent accents (as opposed to the all over the place-ness of an eclectic kitchen), and a touch of industrial elements.
This is the rustic kitchen’s cozy cousin. It’s where you’ll find bright tiles, custom cabinets, and decorative plates hanging on the walls. The color palette ranges from white to pastel. Above all, it’s warm and inviting.
A country kitchen is the all-American option, with the family dinner table right in the kitchen or close by. While the rustic kitchen might give the real feeling of a farmhouse, a country kitchen is more like the idea of a farmhouse.
