Are you thinking of making 2015 the year you finally renovate your kitchen and bring it up to date. If so, you’ll need to bring your imagination up to date first. While kitchens remain as functional as ever, our definition of what a kitchen is has been changing. Once a room reserved for cooking only, it is now an integral part of the house. The hottest kitchen trends reflect this new definition of the kitchen. Here’s what top kitchen designers are telling us to look for in 2015 and beyond.
1.Wallpaper
We wrote about the Wallpaper Renaissance awhile ago. It hadn’t quite made it into the kitchen then, but it was just a matter of time. Wallpaper makes the kitchen feel more like part of the house. If you have an open plan kitchen, it becomes a striking part of your home decor. Expect to see a lot more wallpaper in kitchens in 2015.
2. Furniture
We’ll always have a need for standard kitchen cabinets, but when your kitchen does double-duty as a cooking and living area, it’s only natural that more furniture would come into the kitchen. The trend started with bar stools, but more recently, interior designers have been joining the dining room and kitchen together in a single space. The only thing that separates them is a kitchen island, which also doubles as a table with the addition of barstools.
3. Indoor-Outdoor Living
The indoor-outdoor lifestyle has taken Australia by storm. While outdoor kitchens are popular, it’s not always practical or possible to install one. Thanks to advancements in technology, it’s now possible to open up your kitchen to the outdoors or keep it insect-free and protected from the weather when you need it to be. Bifold windows and doors can open as wide as you wish them to. Combine them with retractable flyscreens, and you’ve removed the barrier that used to stand between your kitchen and patio.
4. Distinctive Ceilings
In the past, ceilings were all-but-forgotten in the kitchen. If any thought was given them at all, it was just for lighting. Now that kitchens have become part of a home’s total design concept, designers are looking up and coming up with innovative ceiling designs that define the kitchen space without separating it from the rest of the house.
5. Warm Metallics
Stainless steel isn’t going away any time soon, but we’ll be seeing warm metallics in more kitchens in the future. Gold, copper and bronze soften the appearance of the kitchen. We’ll find them on metallic splashback tiles, tapsets, canopy rangehoods and anywhere else a metallic finish fits.
6. Open Shelving
Kitchens are becoming lighter and breezier. Open shelving fits this trend to a tee, especially when combined with lighting to highlight the objects on the shelves. Also note how this kitchen opens out on to the patio. This is another example of how bifold doors and retractable flyscreens are perfect for the modern kitchen renovation.
7. Splashes of Colour
The minimalist look is still in style, but it’s now being paired with splashes of colour. The colour adds excitement to the kitchen without detracting from its sophisticated style. This kitchen features a metallic splashback, but you might find splashes of colour on the ceiling or furnishings, too.
credit: hipages.com.au
