We refresh traditional country-style kitchens with eight decorating ideas that relax the space and bring freshness and a contemporary feel to its atmosphere.
By their very nature, traditional country kitchens tend to become busy, grow fuller and fill with countless details. The romantic country-house kitchen you fell in love with can become crowded with pots, pans and thousands of objects within a few months. It is therefore worth clearing away excess regularly, updating the space with stylistic touches and making changes that bring freshness and comfort.Let us bring new life to your country kitchen in eight steps:
It is not the cupboard carcasses but the doors that define and emphasise a kitchen's style most strongly. Manufacturers often use similar modules, or more precisely carcasses, and create different kitchens through doors that express a particular style. Simply replacing the doors can therefore make a major difference. If you cannot buy new doors, paint the existing ones. You can even add character with techniques such as a patinated finish.
Are you tired of the same shelves? Even a country kitchen needs a little creativity and modern thinking as times change. Update old-fashioned shelves and racks with a pegboard from a DIY shop, the kind that works so well in hobby corners or studies, and hang your equipment from hooks in its holes. You will keep your belongings together while adding a contemporary touch to the space.
If you do not have the time or budget for major changes, simple ones can create the same effect. At the heart of the work area, the splashback is exposed to washing-up, heat and food preparation, and can deteriorate over time. Cover it with new tiles or mosaics, or change the paint colour if it is not tiled. A bolder approach is to treat the splashback as a focal point and create an eye-catching tile design there. Three-dimensional tiles, for example, can add depth and an illusionistic effect to the surface.
Çanakkale Seramik's 30x60 cm Natte tiles are a distinctive design with a prismatic texture. Applied in an irregular arrangement to the splashback wall, they can easily create the focal point you want.
Storage often brings to mind stacks of plastic boxes and shelving on wheels. But storage in a country kitchen offers the chance to do something different. How? By drawing on country style's warmth, welcoming character, romance and childlike charm. Create groupings of vintage boxes found at flea markets, biscuit tins, tea tins or colourful sewing boxes, and display them on island shelves, above fitted cupboards or on the table. They can serve as storage too.
One of the most important characteristics of country kitchens is their relationship with daylight. The positive effects of a rural atmosphere—a sense of nature, fresh air and renewal—combine with the vitamins and hormonal balance brought by daylight. If your country kitchen receives plenty of daylight, decorate it in an uplifting, bright palette such as white and light oak. White chairs, an oak table, oak stools with white legs, woven lights and white cupboards with oak worktops can all form part of a fresh decorative scheme.
Nature heals everything, does it not? Bring the greenery outside the window indoors and let yourself and your country kitchen rest in nature's healing embrace. Trailing plants, basil leaves ready to pick for cooking, large-leaved monsteras, ivy around the window and pots of medicinal herbs strengthen the kitchen's habitat and give it a more youthful feel.
You may think we are talking about tiny details, but renewing handles, switches and sockets makes a difference to the overall picture. Old, worn metal handles, for example, can be replaced with ceramic knobs. You might choose vintage-style copper switches or ceramic sockets. If you are planning a colour accent, handles are an excellent opportunity to carry it through the room. New knobs and handles also offer advantages in hygiene and safety.
The kitchen should be a place where you forget everyday worries and find happiness in flavours, aromas and tastes. It should appeal to and indulge every sense. As well as embracing a dance of taste and smell, its appearance deserves attention. Your kitchen should have inspiring corners and be photogenic.If you have a photogenic style such as a country kitchen, create still-life arrangements in different corners with flowers, linen textures, candles and cookies, and turn your kitchen into a popular setting on social media.
