Kitchen Renovation Design Ideas
06/01/2021
7 min read
7 min read
Looking for kitchen ideas for your upcoming renovation? You’ve come to the right place. A kitchen renovation is a huge undertaking, with countless factors to consider. In this post, we’ll give you a few kitchen ideas to help you get your creative juices flowing. We’ll discuss cabinet styles, color schemes, popular materials, and more.Kitchen Ideas: 10+ To Consider.
Modern Kitchen Design
Modern kitchen design (not to be confused with contemporary design, although there are some similarities) calls on themes from the mid-20th century to the present. There are many sub-genres of modern design, including mid-century modernism (the 1940s to 1960s) and post-modernism (late 20th century).
All this is to say that you have a great deal of flexibility when it comes to designing a “modern” kitchen.
One constant among modern kitchen design is using the most advanced materials available. That means using quartz countertops as opposed to inferior materials like wood, granite, or laminate. Quartz is very versatile, complementing the full range of modern design cues.
Other modern kitchen design ideas include the following.
Keep Things Sleek
Modern design is sleek and tends to lack the ornateness found in more traditional spaces. Avoid over-the-top carvings in your cabinets and fixtures (particularly your lights).
Use Organic (But Refined) Materials When Possible
Most natural materials never go out of style. Wood is perhaps the best example of this. Sure, there’s wood that looks dated and traditional (the opposite of modern) but it all comes down to how the wood is treated and processed. Sleek wood cabinets made from lighter woods such as white oak and birch are very popular in modern kitchens.
You can also add a pop of color to your kitchen through the use of plants. Don’t forget to keep the pots sleek and simple.
Choose Suitable Kitchen Decor
Kitchen decor (that is, the impermanent components of your kitchen) plays a key role in helping you evoke a particular style or era. The advantage with decor is that you can easily swap it out if you get tired of your kitchen’s current look.
Here are a few tips for selecting the right decor.
Make It Personal
As great as decor from your local home improvement store might look, be sure to add some personalized touches as well. Photos and decorative items from your travels are classic choices.
Use Decor To Add Color
Another great kitchen renovation idea as far as decor goes involves using the less permanent elements of your kitchen to add pops of color.
You want to avoid bold, trendy colors on most of your kitchen’s surfaces because they will almost certainly make your kitchen look dated in short order. If you want to incorporate hues like Pantone’s yearly recommendations, it’s best to do so via clocks, fabrics, and more that you can easily swap out at a later date.
Use One Piece Of Decor As A Focal Point
Homeowners often make the mistake of lacking a concrete plan for their kitchen decor. Don’t simply buy a bunch of items that look nice and then plop them all over your kitchen. Choose one piece (such as a painting or piece of furniture) that serves as your kitchen’s focal point. Then, add complementary (not competing) decor around it.
Use Open Shelving To Hold Your Decor
Open shelving is a sleek and modern kitchen design idea in itself. It offers the added benefit of allowing you to display your decor such as china or even cookbooks. To create a floating look, use shelves that are the same color as your kitchen walls.
Another idea for open shelving is to add color-adjustable strip lighting. This lighting is yet another way to incorporate bold and trendy colors into your kitchen without doing permanent damage.
Kitchen Cabinet Ideas
Your kitchen cabinets represent a very impactful surface. Whether your overall kitchen theme works or fails depends on how you incorporate your cabinets into it.
Know Your Styles
There are several different styles of kitchen cabinets on the market. They include the following.
Shaker Cabinets
Shaker cabinets are named in reference to The Shakers, a Christian organization known for producing minimalist furniture. These cabinets are typically flat-paneled and have neutral colors with simple hardware.
Contemporary
Contemporary cabinets are typically very sleek and simple. They have little to no carving, with hardware often being just a simple pull bar.
Traditional
Traditional cabinets are the exact opposite of contemporary ones. Instead of being ultra-simple and sleek, they have ornate carvings. Traditional cabinets are also often made from darker woods like red oak or mahogany. Because of their inherent luxuriousness, traditional cabinets also often come in more exotic (and more expensive) woods.
Try To Repurpose Old Cabinets
Unless you’re switching kitchen styles, you can usually get away with repurposing your old cabinets. You might be surprised at how effectively some filler and a fresh coat of paint can revitalize your old and worn-out cabinets.
Kitchen Styles
As we’ve hinted at a few times throughout this article, there are many different kitchen styles to choose from. Let’s briefly explore some of the styles we haven’t touched on yet.
Urban Kitchen
An urban kitchen incorporates features and design cues that accommodate a metropolitan lifestyle. An urban kitchen tends to be quite similar to a contemporary space only more suited towards the condominiums that are popular in cities. As such, many of the small kitchen design ideas we’ll discuss shortly apply here.
Farmhouse Country
For those who like rustic colors, a farmhouse country kitchen is the way to go. This style lends itself well to chic touches like off-white quartz countertops and a light color palette. The farmhouse country kitchen style also tends to be slightly more ornate than modern or contemporary kitchens, only with lighter surfaces than you’d find in a traditional kitchen.
Contemporary
While modern design refers to cues harkening from the mid-20th century to the present, contemporary design consists purely of what’s trendy at the moment. There’s definitely some overlap between contemporary and modern styles but contemporary spaces tend to use more adventurous color schemes and decor.
The danger, of course, is that your kitchen will likely go out of style and need to be reconfigured sooner rather than later.
Small Kitchen Design Ideas
Small kitchens are becoming more and more common as condo living swiftly becomes the norm.
Keep It Light
Dark colors make your kitchen look smaller. Use a primarily white color scheme and you’ll make the room feel much fresher and more spacious.
Use Optical Illusions
One of the best small kitchen design ideas involves using mirrors to create the illusion of more space. This works especially well if you have lots of natural light. Place the mirror opposite to your window or door and it will reflect natural light around your kitchen, making it feel bigger.
Another optical illusion for making your small kitchen feel larger involves creative use of tile. Use patterns involving diagonal lines (such as herringbone tiles) for maximum effect.
Choose Your Layout Wisely
Layout is especially important in a small kitchen. A u-shaped design is among the most popular for small kitchens because it spreads your kitchen items and cabinetry over a larger space than would happen in a galley layout.
Caesarstone Surfaces: Perfect For Any Kitchen Idea
No matter which of these ideas you ultimately use, you’ll need reliable countertops. That’s our specialty here at Caesarstone. We produce the highest-quality quartz countertops on the market. Learn more about the advantages of our countertops here.
We also invite you to experiment with our surfaces via our quartz visualizer and with ordering samples.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best layout for a kitchen?
There’s no one ‘best layout’ for a kitchen. Check out our article about kitchen layouts to learn more about the various options and what situations they’re best suited for.
How can I make my kitchen beautiful?
One of the best ways to make your kitchen beautiful is to pick a style and stick to it. Learn the ins and outs of the style, including its history and you’ll be much more adept at recreating it.
How do I plan a small kitchen?
Your color choice and layout will play a massive role in making your small kitchen more functional. Do your best to reduce visual clutter, even if that means storing infrequently-used items in another part of your house.
