This page offers practical tips on creating a kitchen’s decorative scheme, from our experience designing and managing kitchen installations since 2004.
Kitchen decoration
All decorative elements of a kitchen need to work together. You might have fallen in love with a range of kitchen cabinets, but what other colours and finishes will set them off best? What flooring will you choose? How about the worktop and splashback? Will a particular paint colour work best? And do you have an accent colour for your tea-towels, kettle, or jars?
As with any decorative design, you should assemble product samples before making your decision. Paint a large board (or the back of a wallpaper offcut) to represent the wall colour, then overlay samples of your cabinet colour, flooring and splashes of accent. Your suppliers will be able to send samples or lend items to help you experiment with different combinations. If you have an open-plan room, include colours from that space too. One of our clients chose Orla Kiely cake tins as inspiration for the colours in their kitchen-diner.
We use suitable silk or matt emulsion paints on kitchen walls. For our designs, neutral colours work well, allowing accents from the splashback and accessories to punch through. But some clients are brave enough for stronger colours on the walls.
Wood finishes in kitchens
For clients who love wood, there are various options: as cabinets, as a floor, and as a worktop; but not all three! Avoid fitting a wooden worktop in wet areas as it will discolour and split very quickly, even if oiled.
Luxury vinyl tile
Vinyl tiled floors come in an extraordinary range of finishes and colours. Here we fitted wide, wood-effect vinyl planks, bringing warmth to a space otherwise finished in cool colours of the units and splashback. Flooring suppliers send samples for you to compare with the other finishes on your sample board. We’ve written a separate advice column on kitchen floors.
Cabinets
Blue cabinets work well against warm surfaces (blue and orange being complementary colours). Suppliers will lend you a spare door or drawer front to check out your scheme at home. Here you can read more about choosing kitchen cabinets.
Kitchen accent colours
Introduce drama with a colourful splashback. Try out different colours by painting a board with a match pot. Here, you can read more about coloured glass splashbacks.
Kitchen worktops
Kitchen worktops come in a wide range of styles and finishes (and prices!). Here is a close up of a quartz worktop. Suppliers will send samples for you to combine with your other surfaces. For more information, we have a further advice sheet on kitchen worktops.
Here we colour-matched the utility room wall colour to the cabinets. The remaining walls and ceilings were painted white.
Kitchen ceiling
Incidentally, you don’t have to paint a ceiling white. Because of different wall and ceiling configurations, with and without roof lights and glazing, it may be best to paint all surfaces the same colour. This harmonises the scheme and avoids any decisions on where one surface begins and another ends.
Hand painted kitchens
Off-the-shelf cabinets come in a limited range of colours, but you can hand-paint or spray basic timber cabinetry in any colour you like.
Window styling
To start with, you might consider having no kitchen window dressing. It is just another surface to catch grime and keep clean. If you can’t live without covering of some form, easy wipe roller blinds are best. Venetians and vertical blinds also work provided they are away from airborne grease as they will be a devil to clean over time.
A blind is another way to introduce colour, so check that the fabric works with the other finishes. Here, you can read more about window dressing.
Kitchen decoration
We hope you’ve found this article useful. Like any other space, all kitchen finishes need to work together – it’s not about painting the walls…
Style Within has designed and managed kitchen installations since 2004. We manage everything for you, including planning applications, and any building work. If you think we can help with your kitchen refurbishment in Bath or Bristol, please read more on our kitchen design service page.
