The kitchen is the heart of a home. Its a place for us to catch up with friends, cook the evening meal, hold parties and enjoy family time. This blog, powered by kitchen experts Magnet, is a forum to discuss designs, trends and anything else that happens in your kitchen.
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Rustic homely kitchen designs are ever popular. Three out of ten kitchens sold by Magnet are traditionally styled with the Shaker Cream topping best selling lists for over 15 years.
There are a number of appliances and accessories that can help give your kitchen an instant warm and traditional feel.
BELFAST SINKS
• An extremely traditional style sink dating back centuries.
• Made of ceramic, this adds a country feel to any kitchen.
• A beautiful material that is also extremely practical.
GRANITE WORKTOPS
• Stunning natural granite is available in over 30 different colours and adds an element of country charm to your kitchen.
• Granite’s natural patterning ensures every worktop is unique.
RANGE OVENS
• With either nostalgic Victorian styling or a sleek, professional image, a range oven will add instant character to your kitchen.
• Most contain a built-in hob, at least five cooking zones and a separate grill giving a flexible choice of cooking methods.
DOOR HANDLES
• Whilst only a small detail, they really do have a large impact on the overall look of your furniture.
• Wooden knobs have distinctly rustic overtones bringing a subtle yet effective country feel to your kitchen.
• These wooden, round handles add that rustic Shaker feel to the Linton design.
Example of kitchen highlighting latest trend in kitchen appliances
There is a popular trend for incorporating multiple single unit appliances horizontally in the kitchen is an increasingly stylish and practical option.
From an ergonomic and safety perspective, having two single ovens running horizontally rather than vertically, means any cooking is easily viewed at eye level and doesn’t require any bending or stretching to reach hot pots and pans.
Appliance manufacturers are moving towards designing all products to run in clean, symmetrical lines to achieve an ever-more European, minimalist look – a total contrast to the stereotypically English country kitchen.
This trend is not only applicable to ovens, it’s now possible to run a whole host of appliances in a horizontal line so that the microwave, oven, grill and even coffee machine are all easily, compactly and stylishly, accessible.
The ever increasing popularity of cookery TV shows has also helped to boost this trend with more people becoming aware of how their appliances are positioned in the kitchen and how this can affect the overall look.
The Madison kitchen is a great example of two ovens positioned next to each other at floor level. Then a coffee machine and matching single oven and grill is next to it.
Has anyone else recently designed a kitchen like this??
Modern vs. Classic, Traditional vs. Contemporary, Gloss vs. Grooves, Stripes vs. Curves
Channel 4’s The Home Show called in Magnet to demonstrate that trying to combine opposing styles, in order to create a dream kitchen, doesn’t always have to be a battle.
A couple were looking to transform their penthouse apartment kitchen, from a relatively rundown and simple bachelor style, to create a more comfortable, traditional, yet modern look.
The Urban Gloss Crème appeared to be a mutual choice between the two. Contemporary design, warm cream shades, a gloss finish and walnut wrap-round units – a kitchen that combines sleek warmth with tradition, and style.
Lighting has moved away from its functional role of general illumination and task lighting, to much more of a striking design feature. It can be used to create a mood, change the feel of a kitchen and act as the perfect finish to the room.
A key trend in the kitchen world, it is a fantastic, stylish, and cost effective way of adding that little extra something to the design.
Whether it’s bright, subtle, atmospheric, dramatic or diffused, the right combination can transform any area into a main feature of the home.
For an uber-contemporary look, the brand new Neve incorporates frosted, glazed doors, high gloss and dramatic internal lighting. The icy blue lights reflect in the edges of the green glass effect laminate worktop. This highlights the already crisp and minimalist design.
