Elevate Your All White Kitchen
White kitchens have been a trend for every sort of home for years, and they will surely continue to be a trend for years to come. Whether you use white-painted flooring and furniture to create a traditional cottage look, or opt for glossy white marble countertops and tiles for a contemporary white motif, white kitchens can be an incredibly stylish addition to your home.
However, there are some risks to choosing an all white kitchen — you don’t want it to end up looking stark and sterile, like a hospital room. Read on for our best tips to inject warmth and personality into a white kitchen to make it as cosy as it is fashionable.
Let your white kitchen be perfectly imperfect
While there’s nothing more satisfying than a spotlessly clean kitchen, one of the best things you can do in an all-white room is keep it from looking too pristine. Now, of course we don’t mean that you should let the kiddos have a food fight or track mud all over the floor.
But incorporating elements like distressed finishes and industrial-style details can give your white kitchen a ‘perfectly imperfect’ look that’s elegant but still inviting.
Colourful accents like these Buckingham dining chairs keep a white room from feeling too sterile
White doesn’t have to mean all white
Another important thing to remember about a white kitchen is that it doesn’t have to be an all white kitchen. Or at least, it doesn’t have to be an ‘all the same shade of white’ kitchen. Incorporate different tones of off white and ivory to add depth and dimension to your kitchen while still maintaining that crisp white effect.
You can even create a colour palette of other light, natural and neutral shades like pale grey, taupe, and light oak to add a bit more pigment while still keeping the focus on white.
For more contrast, consider a tonal look: for example, add a black or charcoal backsplash or flooring. Your white furniture and cabinets will stand out even more, and the darker details will create an appealing complementary aesthetic.
And of course, you can add a pop of colour to your space to really brighten things up. Colourful dining chairs are a great option to stand out against white walls and a white dining table, making it easy to incorporate a rainbow of hues into your kitchen while still maintaining an overall white motif.
Warm up your white kitchen
One of the negatives of white is that the shades used for kitchens tend to be cool-toned, so your kitchen can feel cold without warm-toned elements to provide balance. A sleek and stylish option is to have a brass sink and taps instead of the traditional chrome. Not only will the brass add contrast to your white kitchen, but it will also create a lovely vintage-inspired industrial look.
Wood is another great option for warming up a predominantly white kitchen. An engineered wood floor is a cost-effective, durable option that’s low-maintenance and great for kitchens, and it can bring the warm and welcoming look of wood to your otherwise cool-toned space.
Warm up your kitchen sink with Francis Pegler luxury tapware, now available at our Bathroom, Tile, & Stove centre.
Contrast with texture in your white kitchen
If you really want that crisp all-white kitchen look, without too many accent colour details, you can also bring contrast into your space with different textures and materials. If the main elements of your kitchen have a matte finish, choose a high-gloss dining table to catch the light and catch the eye. If your countertops are marble, add a plush area rug or a soft linen tablecloth to your dining area for a playful mix of soft and hard textures.
Roller blinds like these from our Lulaflex collection can help you maximize the natural light in your kitchen
Keep it light in white
White is often used to make a room look larger, and so it’s a great option for a kitchen that’s short on space. However, smaller rooms often suffer from a lack of natural light, so if you have a small kitchen you’ll want to consider your light fixtures carefully to really brighten up your space.
The whole idea of a white kitchen is to have a light and airy feel, so you definitely want to light up every corner of the room. Take advantage of natural light as much as you can. Choose window treatments that can be pulled out of the way completely, such as roller blinds, to let in as much light as possible during the day.
If your kitchen doesn’t have many windows or isn’t facing the sun, your light fixtures should be a focus. As with warm metallic fixtures and wooden floors, using ‘warm white’ lightbulbs can balance out the cool tones of a white kitchen. Similarly, choosing pendant lighting with striking shades is a great way to add visual interest and a pop of colour and texture, whether fabric or metal, to your space.
White kitchens your way
Even with a core design as basic as the colour white, there is so much room for variation and personalisation in a white kitchen. Choose the right elements to ensure your white kitchen is warm, welcoming, and a pleasant space to spend cooking and mealtimes, and you can be sure that your white kitchen will never go out of style!
If you’re feeling inspired to kit out your white kitchen, get in touch! Our Corcoran’s team can help you with everything from choosing the perfect new floor tiles to picking your favourite new sink fixtures to choosing the best new dining chairs.