Trends in kitchen design come and go – but the ones you should be most interested in are the ones that are emerging right now. Let’s look at some of the kitchen trends we’re seeing for 2020.
1. Kitchen Design Trend #1: Color
Lately, we’re seeing people a bit more open to color in the kitchen. Even if it’s not necessarily bright and splashy, color is definitely on people’s minds.
If you’re not the kind of person who feels okay with orange, you can get a color fix from navy blue or emerald green. These colors will still lend a neutral feel to the space, especially if you put some other neutral things around them.
In this photograph, the floor is a very neutral shade of wood, so it softens the design and doesn’t feel overwhelming.
Introducing Color in Small Doses
When you’re thinking about introducing a color, but you’re not quite ready for the commitment of an orange island or navy base cabinets, there are a lot of countertops out there that have little hints of color in them. There are lots of options in quartz; you can find patterns with veins or little flecks of color to add a subtle touch.
If even a small punctuation of color is still too much for you, you can add it with fixtures, lights, hardware and accessories. These options offer an easy way to add color without making too much of a commitment.
Kitchen Trend #2: Double Islands
We have done kitchens where the homeowners really wanted a double island, but sometimes, it’s hard enough to get one that fits in there properly, let alone two.
However, if you have enough space and it works for your layout, it’s a great way to add functionality that’s very design-friendly.
I know of one house we looked at that had an island, some space, and then had another island with a butcher block thing in-between.
The second island almost functioned as a room divider, breaking up the space where there would have been a wall between the kitchen and the rest of the great room. That was kind of interesting. You still had clean sightlines, there was nothing tall or high blocking your view into the next space, but it did sort of break it up because there was a physical barrier between the kitchen and the rest of the family room, great room, whatever it was.
Kitchen Trend #3: No Handles on Anything
Handle-less cabinets, appliances, and so on look quite sleek, modern, and flowy. Most of the time, when a client doesn’t want handles, it is because they’re going for a more modern and minimalist look.
One of our cabinet companies offers an option where we can get doors routed for finger pulls. It looks pretty cool.
Basically, you won’t see anything from the front. There is no handle or knob attached to it, but there’s a little space carved into the back of the door so you can stick your hand in there and open it.
In this photo, these are frameless cabinets. What that means is that your door and your door front pretty much cover everything up. With this design, it’s going to be pretty hard to get your fingers in there to grab the doors to open them up.
Even framed cabinets that have a full overlay only have a very small reveal between the doors and door fronts; it’s usually not enough to comfortably get your fingers in there to open it.
Handle-less is a popular option on European-style frameless cabinets. Most of the examples we see typically aren’t wood; usually, it is some sort of laminate, acrylic, or lacquered composite.
If you had a real wood cabinet door—like most traditional framed cabinets—you’d be cleaning them a lot. People would be touching them all the time with their fingers, and it will eventually discolor them. Usually, for that style of cabinet door, we recommend installing hardware. That’s what’s going to keep the dirt and the oils from your skin away from the wood.
Natural wood doors are always going to change color. Wood naturally mellows and can do so more or less, depending on what type of wood you choose.
Kitchen Design Trends for St. Louis Homes
Of course, these aren’t the only trends in 2020 kitchen design – we’ll have to run a series just to cover the ones we like! And while you’re waiting patiently for the next round, give us a call about your next kitchen remodel. We’d love to show you how we can help.
