The kitchen is one of the most important places in an apartment for most people. Even if you practically do not cook, you always want to make this area thoughtful, comfortable, and stylish. However, many are convinced that at the design stage, you will inevitably have to make a choice between a spectacular and expensive kitchen or a simple option that will not hit your wallet.
We hasten to please you: you can equip a kitchen that will look luxurious and not spend too much. We will tell you how to design a kitchen that will look expensive and stylish without going broke and losing quality.
1. Select materials correctly
The kitchen is a room with high humidity and temperature. If you pick up the wrong material that quickly loses its presentation, the space will definitely not look stylish. At the same time, it is not at all necessary to give preference to premium materials: to create a spectacular kitchen, you can choose facades with interesting textures – stone or metal finishes.
The film, plastic, or laminated chipboard with an original imitation also looks advantageous. In addition to textures and materials, the kitchen can become more expensive due to embossed surfaces – perforations or beautiful vertical decorative elements.
When it comes to wood, don’t choose open knotty and striped textures. They greatly reduce the cost of appearance. Pay attention to complex, almost monochromatic dark chocolate shades. From light ones, you can take unsaturated beech or oak textures without yellowness.
Expert tip: All the materials from which kitchens are made, – natural wood, MDF with a film coating, laminated chipboard with plastic – are resistant to high humidity and have passed the appropriate tests. When designing a kitchen, you just have to choose the style and colors that will make the kitchen spectacular: thanks to the quality of the materials, the space will not lose its original appearance and will look expensive even after a long time.
2. Choosing a kitchen style
In order for the design of the kitchen to meet all current trends, it is important to train observation and be inspired by harmonious examples. Give preference to interiors that evoke a response, but do not forget about functionality – the space should not only be beautiful but also practical.
3. Working with color
The main rule when choosing a scale: simple open colors often make the kitchen cheaper. You should be careful with accents: they can be used partially – in decorative elements, in the form of edging or a thin line. But complex shades do not lose their relevance: they add zest to the interior. For the design of the kitchen, you can choose an unsaturated dark blue shade or a complex dark green, emerald, and beige and gray shades that are especially harmoniously combined with the texture of wood.
Expert tip: in 2021, the relevance of eco-things has increased and the desire to be closer to nature has intensified. In trends, a calm palette of natural shades and natural materials has taken the leading position: gray, beige, as well as deep shades of green. For brighter experiments, you can choose a deep blue, gray, green, or red.
With a limited budget, it is worth giving preference to harmonious combinations that will be relevant for many years: white, gray, or beige shades. Remember that a calm basic interior can always be complemented with bright accents, changing them depending on your mood or focusing on the latest trends.
Also, do not forget that white is considered one of the most advantageous shades for decorating a kitchen: it visually expands the space and increases the illumination of the room.
4. Think over the layout
The competent arrangement of furniture and other items in the kitchen is one of the most important points when decorating a space. Mistakes and bloopers not only make the appearance cheaper: above all, they make the kitchen inconvenient to use. If you do not provide for a sufficient number of storage places, create an uncomfortable working triangle or the aisles will be too narrow, the space will turn out to be as impractical as possible – this is unacceptable for the kitchen.
Expert tip: Before starting the design, first of all, you need to measure the room. The initial measurement can be done independently: measure the walls, width and height, door and window openings, mark the location of the power supply (sockets), water supply and drainage, if available, mark gas pipes, air ducts, ventilation.
5. Pay attention to furniture and accessories
The filling of your kitchen directly depends on your habits: how often you cook, eat at home, receive guests. If you cook a lot, then in addition to a convenient set of drawers, you need to pay attention to the sink and mixer: the sink should be deep, of a convenient size, with a wide base, and the mixer should be high with a pull-out spout. We advise you to choose a powerful hood – so that no odors fill the rooms of the apartment.
If we talk about freestanding furniture, your habits are also everything here. Do you like to receive guests? Think about your dining group well. Let the table be sliding (if space permits), and the chairs – comfortable.
Don’t cook or eat at home? Perhaps the bar is enough for you. In this case, pay attention to the height of the rack and chairs. If the area of your apartment is small and you sometimes work at the table in the kitchen, choose a comfortable half-chair for yourself: it is unlikely that you will be comfortable working on a stool or hard chair.
Accessories can make a space unique, or they can negate all attempts to make a kitchen stylish and expensive. Choose handles carefully: in modern interiors, it is fashionable to make round knobs – they go well with facades of complex shades.
It is also important to pay attention to the accessories on the tabletop – stands, dispensers, holders, and rods. The abundance of small things and objects on the kitchen surface will kill the entire design. If the kitchen is rich, with an abundance of details or there is a bright unusual apron, you need to clean everything from the work surface – the kitchen looks much cleaner and more elegant without trifles.
Open storage of ladles, shovels, and cutlery is suitable for loft and Scandinavian interiors. In any other case, we advise you to put all these items in the cupboards of the kitchen set.
Expert tip: Modern fittings will adorn any kitchen. Pay special attention to the handles – they can transform the look of even budget furniture. Also, make a separate emphasis on the use of lifting mechanisms – this solution will allow you to easily open the furniture doors, and when the drawer is open, you will not be restricted in movement.
Of the accessories, hinged railing systems in the most popular colors are in demand – universal chrome and matt black, which always looks expensive.
6. Don’t forget: what’s inside is also important
Many people mistakenly believe that the main element in the kitchen is the facades, and you can save money on what is hidden. It is worth giving up this belief: high-quality filling of the kitchen plays a huge role. For example, if you save on rails or pull-out baskets, your closets may run out of space, and things will start to appear on the surfaces, overloading the space. It is the inner filling of the cabinets that makes the piece of furniture functional.
Waste bins, organizers, and cleaning accessories all need to be thought out carefully. Without proper filling, the stylish design will sooner or later become disharmonious, and the kitchen will not be comfortable to use. Each item should have its own place, and the items themselves should not spoil the interior: if multi-colored cheap plastic containers are hidden behind a beautiful facade, all aesthetics will come to naught.
Expert tip: in any kitchen, in addition to appearance, filling plays an important role. So, each locker has its own purpose and can be filled. Above the sink or next to it, you can arrange a dish drainer. Having a hygienic tray under the sink extends the life of the furniture and protects against moisture – such a solution will be an investment in the quality of your kitchen.
It is convenient when the drawers have a cutlery tray – this simplifies the organization of storage. Pull-out systems (buckets) for sorting garbage and a shredder will help you store and recycle waste correctly: you will forget about the unpleasant smell and save yourself and the environment from harmful toxins.
It is also important to choose high-quality household appliances – hobs, ovens, refrigerators, and microwave ovens. And buying a dishwasher will free up personal time and save resources.
