1. WARM UP A LARGE SPACE WITH TEXTILES
If you're lucky enough to have a large home where your U-shaped kitchen takes center stage – you may want to think about softening all that cabinetry, tiling, and work surface with textiles. A large kitchen with a lot of storage is a dream but a room full of cabinets might come off feeling too functional so it's essential to introduce textiles and upholstery.
2. SNEAK IN SUBTLE PRACTICALITIES
Including space for your pets in the kitchen is important! Whether it’s a pet bed, a cat flap, or a place for your four-legged friends to eat and drink. Accommodating them without impacting your design aesthetic isn’t always an easy task. This U-shaped kitchen without an island works in a spot right in the heart of the action.
3. BE SPACE SAVVY WITH AWKWARD NOOKS
We often get asked 'how do you design a kitchen that's better to cook in?' Well, this layout is a little offbeat but we love the character it brings to this open plan kitchen. The kitchen has been savvily slotted into an awkward nook but the U-shaped formation allows for some structure with a peninsula that works as a practical part of the U. It also doubles up as a divider to the open plan small kitchen layout and acts as a useful part of the dining area to keep items of food close to hand.
4. SKIP THE WALL CABINETS TO CREATE SPACE
The kitchen is the center of this airy Scandinavian home, with ubiquitous whitewashed floorboards and ceilings, features an eclectic mix of vintage and mid-century furniture all brought together with deVOL's Haberdasher's kitchen cabinets which form a characterful and practical U.
5. OPT FOR A NATURAL COLOR PALETTE
With all that space and storage and cabinetry that can be on offer from this layout a room could end up feeling a little constricting. This airy wooden kitchen by American designer Betsy Brown uses beautiful lime-washed Florida Cypress wood to clad the generous kitchen making the cabinetry feel light and delicate. The U layout offers up plenty of space in its center in this case for a matching generously-sized wooden island topped with white marble.
6. COMBINE TRADITIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL
This tactile space cleverly combines an elegant traditional vibe within an industrial kitchen feel. Dusky blue cabinetry is paired with exposed brick walls and lightly worn wooden floors creating a playful contrast of aesthetics – elevating the classic navy kitchen with the edginess of the warehouse-style space.
7. PLAY WITH DUO TONES
A U-shaped kitchen has the perfect symmetry for the two-tone kitchen trend we're all loving. This modern farmhouse kitchen by American interior studio Jersey Ice Cream Co uses one bold stroke of black to divide the walls in half using a bright white and charcoal palette.
8. STREAMLINE WITH HANDLELESS CABINETS
A handleless kitchen offers up a dynamic style entirely different to a kitchen with cupboard door handles and drawer handles. The look is clean, uncluttered, and streamlined- especially easy on the eye if you have a U-shaped kitchen with a lot of cabinetry. If you have an open plan house like this one with your living room or dining room flowing into the kitchen, handleless kitchen doors in a kitchen with a lot of cabinetry will offer fluid movement throughout the house, giving some excellent feng shui.
9. MIX UP MATERIALS TO KEEP IT INTERESTING
U-shaped kitchens offer plenty of bang for their buck and if you have high ceilings like this space you will find yourself with a lot of cabinetry and storage, so it's essential to mix up materials and draw the eye around the space. This space combines painted units with raw textures and glass cabinetry. The generously sized modern Shaker kitchen features mint blue painted upper cabinets with brass details and beautifully crafted lower cabinets in unpainted rustic wood.
10. OPTIMIZE ON STORAGE
U-shaped kitchens are an optimum layout for providing storage on every possible area. Consider incorporating pantry ideas onto your worktops and making use of awkward niches. When drawing up plans for a new kitchen designers try to place a pantry in the handiest location within steps of the primary kitchen work zones, particularly the areas around the fridge, sink, oven, and cooktop. Similarly in this U-shaped kitchen, the small pantry sits between the cooker and the sink and handily right behind the prep island.