Here’s why your kitchen doesn't look quite right, even after spending time and money on design.
For many years, running my own interior design business in both Perth and Sydney, I experienced so many different design and decorating scenarios, so many different reasons why people were making changes to the interior and exterior of their homes or work places, ranging from the very simple with a few new pieces of furniture and home wares, to a complete reinvention of the space or quite simply, preparation of their property to sell. I have observed so many things over time that have almost become “rule of thumb” and would love to share some of them of them with you, the bits and pieces that have been the basis for the many decisions along the way.
Let’s begin with the kitchen. Have you ever wondered why your new kitchen doesn’t look quite right? Even after all the time and effort working out the right design for the space, colour matching to blend and work with the rest of the interior colours, you are disappointed but not quite sure why.
It often has nothing to do with the design but rather is all about the colour. The colour selection for your kitchen is not just about co-ordinating the colours back to the rest of the interior of your home. There is one very important rule of thumb – the bench top colour must be a good background for raw and cooked food. It must not be the same colour as raw meat, cooked shellfish or rotting flesh (sorry, that does sound unpleasant I know!) These colours include shades of red, pink, peach and yellow. If your bench top is in this range any food you put on it will look less appetising and less appealing. This actually makes perfect sense when you stop to think about it….and so the formula was born!
Some years ago there was a trend towards bench tops in very dominating colours which didn’t work particularly well. Another interior designer friend of mine and I got together to work out exactly what made a good kitchen and why. We arrived at our conclusion with regard to bench tops (after pouring through all our laminate sample books, downing some seriously good red wine, and putting every conceivable scheme you can think of together) a formula I have found absolutely works and takes a lot of guess work out of decision making.
As designers we always want to push that little bit further but in a case like this, it is a restraint worth remembering however tempting to stray. The colours need to be taken from the foundation of the landscape i.e. trees, stone, rocks, earth, driftwood, shells and beach sand. Look to the neutrals in nature for clues in selecting the right colour for your bench top. These wonderfully solid forms are the basis for all our building needs and the perfect backdrop for food. This is why stone, reconstituted stone and timber work so well. See how well food looks on tones of grey, beige, white, off white and shades of green and brown.
Which colour you choose will depend on the rest of your interior and whether you want to achieve a more traditional or modern style for your kitchen. There are so many exciting products available now to create just the look you want. The timber look laminates have improved enormously and can now be convincingly used with confidence to add warmth and style. If you do use these laminates, make sure the colour and figuring relates to the existing interior e.g. light Beech is not going to work well with a rich dynamic decor. You would need something darker and more heavily figured.
We can spend a lot of money on a kitchen so it needs to be good money, not bad money. Good money is a stone or reconstituted stone bench top – it wears and performs well and in a natural tone is an excellent selling point when you move on. Bad money is using bright colours or the aforementioned as permanent fixtures – they won’t give you the best result and will be expensive to change….certainly not a draw card for a home buyer down the track. Enjoy the accent colours in your decorative display pieces on your bench top or shelves. With the huge and delightful variety in home wares available, you will always find just the piece to add the drama or elegance that personalises your kitchen.
P.S You don’t have to have everything white in a kitchen, just to be on the safe side….a little daring is a good thing and our home is a reflection of us.