Which colour kitchen?

What is it you are gravitating towards? Have a look at Pinterest, Instagram or subscribe to a new magazine. Sometimes social media can become a become saturated by the things we click on, you might surprise yourself looking at a magazine and find something completely different! Go somewhere new you haven’t been before, somewhere that people are really raving about the aesthetics, see what they have done. Go to a few more places on your way, why not! Be curious. Go to your friends house, who have just purchased that new kitchen they won’t stop talking about, they are probably desperate to show you anyway. Inspect the colours and materials, think about whether you like it! Take pictures of everything you like, start building your own mini gallery.

The importance of this is paramount, whether you’re going for a painted finish, laminate or oak, always always always request samples from your designer. If they’re not willing to provide samples, walk away. The kitchen is one of the largest spends you will make on your home and is somewhere you also spend the most time, it needs to be perfect.

Once you have your samples of your work top, kitchen cupboards, continue to review this with your moodboard. Review it as a whole, does it all work together? Are you happy with how it looks? If you’re not, continue reviewing the samples, go and meet new designers who make you feel more at ease.

Now you’re feeling inspired. Start printing stuff off, rip up magazines, stick them on something, pin them up, do something that shows your ideas coming together. Leave it a while, come back to it, keep adding. Let it happen naturally. The last thing you want to do is introduce an accent colour that was forced and you’ve made a mistake! If you leave it a while, it stays the same in a few weeks, even months, (if you can wait that long!) that’s a good sign, you know you’re not going to hate the colour once it’s installed.

So you have an idea of what you like, you’ve created your own moodboard, now consider the space where it is actually going to be. For example;

• What else is in the room?
• Are there any existing finishes you need to work with like the flooring?
• What worktop are you considering? Will they suit your lifestyle?
• What bar stools are you introducing?
• Which paint colour are you considering? How does this sit with the work tops and floor finish?

Make sure you have samples of everything to hand. If you really can’t get your hands on samples, take a picture of the finish or furniture item and print it as a last resort.

Now you have all of the existing and proposed pieces all in one space, bring the samples/images to the moodboard you had created earlier. Are they working together? If they aren’t think about ways of making sure they might work better together. Maybe the the worktop you’re considering doesn’t look anything like any of the pictures you originally liked, change it to something that works and looks easy on the eye with your mood board.

Is there a any natural light? Will the colour seem darker or lighter when its the space is actually going to be situated in? If you’re considering a dark colour and your room has very little natural light, this might be something you want to reconsider, depending on the overall look you are going for of course.