Open Up Your Kitchen with These Design Ideas

The open concept kitchen is a popular way to create a functional space that doesn’t feel shut off or separate from the rest of your home. When you open your kitchen space, you’re inviting family and friends to socialize while preparing delicious meals, tasting wine, and a few snacks.

An open concept kitchen offers some great benefits to your home, including a friendlier space, more options for décor, and making the most of your home’s layout. The following design ideas are great options if you’re considering renovating your kitchen to embrace a more open style.

Bright, Decorative Lighting

Once you remove barriers and walls to your kitchen, you’ll want to brighten the space to create an inviting, engaging area. Modern, decorative lighting shines a spotlight on your newly remodeled home, and you can find great lighting options without setting aside most of your budget. You can add a row of recessed ceiling lights, vintage bulbs, and other unique designs to add personality to your kitchen space.

If you have specific fixtures in mind for your kitchen space, you’ll want to ensure they offer adequate brightness to further “open” your kitchen and create an inviting space. You’ll find excellent ideas at local home improvement stores, online designers, and specialized light fixture manufacturers, where you can find the perfect style for your room.

Create a Theme in Your Open Kitchen

If you’re a fan of the industrial style, French décor, or contemporary design, you’ll find many beautiful themes and unique ideas to incorporate into your kitchen. If you’re considering a minimalist design, you can arrange your kitchen to accommodate the color, lighting, countertop, and island centerpiece to coordinate your style.

Floor-to-ceiling Cabinet Storage

Make a Bold Statement with a Backsplash

A backsplash is a beautiful way to make a bold statement and boost the appearance of your kitchen. You can choose from unique textures, colors, and patterns, including incredible mosaic tiles, specific designs, or a more traditional set of porcelain tiles in a pearl white or cream color. While some kitchens look great with a solid-color backsplash, you can review samples of many textures, patterns, and themes to liven your space.

There are unlimited backsplash ideas to choose from for your kitchen, including vinyl wallpaper designs, faux wood finishes, marble, porcelain tiles, mirrors, and more. If your kitchen is a high-traffic area, you’ll ideally want a backsplash material that will wipe clean easily and doesn’t require too much maintenance to look great.

Installing an Island to Your Open Kitchen

Kitchen islands may seem like a luxury addition to a spacious area, though they are a great way to extend your counter space. Many islands offer drawers and storage space for food prep utensils, mixing bowls, and similar equipment you can quickly access to create a meal. Some kitchen islands are ideal for keeping culinary items handy such as knife sets, mixing spoons, or you can add a few decorative items for appearance. 

If you’re working with a larger space, and your goal is to maximize countertop space, you can extend to an L-shape or a U-shape, in addition to installing an island. This option is ideal if you accommodate several people in the kitchen at once, so there’s plenty of working space.

Two-tone Kitchen Color Theme

A smaller open kitchen stands out with a stunning two-tone color theme, which is a great way to create an eye-catching space. If you choose this style, two contrasting colors often work best: emerald green and pearl white, black and white, deep blue and grayish-white. You can incorporate real or faux wood cabinets with a solid-color countertop or pair marble or granite with bright yellow or red cabinets.

Summary

Open concept kitchens are a great way to create the illusion of more space in your home by uniting the living room, dining space, outdoor terrace, or patio with your kitchen. When you work with a professional interior decorator, you’ll find many great options for your current kitchen space and how you can open this space to many new possibilities.