The bespoke kitchen is the ultimate luxury when it comes to renovating your home. With the average person spending upwards of £20,000 on a new kitchen, it’s well worth breaking down your budget and investing in quality where it really counts.
When you’re spending that little bit more on a bespoke kitchen (which will last far longer than an off the shelf option), it’s worth thinking about how you can improve your design even further. Here are 10 styling tips to enhance your bespoke kitchen…
Your bespoke kitchen should take centre stage in your home. The main reason why many people choose to go bespoke is that they want that wow factor as soon as you walk in the door. Making the largest feature in the room the focal point is key to this, rather than distracting with lots of clutter and additional bold features. Let the quality and style of your bespoke kitchen take centre stage by taking a less is more approach to styling. Choose just a few key pieces that will enhance your bespoke kitchen, rather than fight against it.
It’s pretty tricky to get away from having a couple of small appliances on your worktops unless you include a large pantry within your design to tidy away kettles and toasters etc. Appliances can, however, be stylish as well as practical, so invest in a few luxury pieces and make them become part of your design. Choose styles that tie in with your decor. For example, if you’ve gone for a chrome tap and handles, choose appliances with chrome details.
When you first created your kitchen design, a solid theme should have been set in place or emerged through the choices you made. Themes can follow colours, materials and style such as traditional or modern. Any additional decor within your kitchen should follow this theme, so that it works with your kitchen design, rather than against it.
Lighting is a really important aspect in the kitchen, and can really make your bespoke units sing. Ideally, this is considered at the design stage, but it’s not too tricky to update light fittings later down the line and can make a huge difference. If you have an open plan kitchen diner, zone the spaces using lighting. Hang a pendant light above the dining table and/or island, add wall lights to the kitchen, and spots for task lights. Ensure all lights can be turned on independently so that you can have low-level lighting and bright light depending on the occasion.
The good kitchen design should include plenty of storage space to tidy away clutter. Lots of items on worktops and shelves full to the brim will only distract from your bespoke kitchen and may even overpower it. Where possible, keep only beautiful and complimentary items on show, and keep everything else tidied away, but with easy access.
A few pieces of complementary artwork will really add to the luxury look and feel of your kitchen. Work within your colour scheme and use art to enhance the colour of your units. Go for a couple of large pieces to add wow factor, rather than multiple pieces dotted around. Try a large piece of artwork above your dining table, or island, and another on a large empty expanse of wall above your units. The frames you choose can enhance the look further - gold, for example, would increase the luxury feel, whereas a wood frame will add warmth.
Where possible, keep window dressing to a minimum to let as much natural light in as possible and allow the view from the window to be more impactful. Window dressings can look overly fussy in the kitchen, and may distract from other elements. If you do feel like you need something here, consider a simple white blind for windows, and thin white curtains for garden doors.
Bold and bright wall colour is a great way to add additional character and personality to your kitchen but will become the focal point over the units. If you want to add drama with colour, choose a bold shade for your kitchen units, such as deep blue or green, and keep wall colours simple. White always works well in the kitchen and will bounce light around allowing your units to take centre stage.
If you like to have easy access to coffee, tea etc, try using stylish storage jars and grouping together to keep tidy. A countertop tray is a great way to keep a few loose items neat and is always a stylish way of presenting things. Try a brass tray to tie in with brass handles, or a white terrazzo tray to introduce a raw and unique material that’s still subtle.
Tying everything in together to fit in your scheme is essential to enhancing your bespoke kitchen. Everything should work together beautifully, with nothing looking out of place distracting from the overall kitchen design. Through accessories and decor, focus on just a few colours and materials. Plants, beautiful crockery, glassware and storage jars are all lovely things to display in the kitchen, and when they work with the scheme rather than against it, they won’t distract from your bespoke kitchen, instead of enhancing it.
Now that you know how to style your bespoke kitchen, you can ensure that your investment is the focal point, communicating quality, beautiful design and luxury as soon as you walk through the door.