Your kitchen should not just look stylish but be functional as well to add practical value to your everyday life. When decorating your kitchen, you should bring in different colours, textures, and patterns, and blend them with timeless features to make the heart of your home enchanting. If you are running short on ideas, you can take inspiration from the dominating kitchen trends from the year that’s about to come to a close.
From focusing on sustainability and wood cabinetry to trending paint colours, sleek minimalist look, and wild, bolder designs, kitchens in 2023 have seen them all. Here are the top 12 kitchen trends of 2023, which you can implement as-is, tweak a bit, or take inspiration from to create something unique, thereby giving your kitchen a customised, signature look.
Ready to roll? Let’s go!
High Contrast
Despite the popularity of all-white kitchens, people are steering away from the monochrome look and bringing in colourful contrasts by way of paint applications, kitchen accessories, or furniture.
Be it painting the kitchen cabinet frames or handles black and having black leather chairs to investing in a colourful backsplash or a wooden wine fridge under the kitchen countertop or dining table, you can take an array of ideas to leverage contrast in your kitchen and make it look interesting.
Bye Bye Upper Cabinets
2023 has seen homeowners and designers preferring to have no upper cabinets. In some instances, the number of upper cabinets has been minimised by having the tall upper cabinets confined to a particular section of the kitchen or a specific wall.
The goal behind minimising or doing away with upper cabinets is to have a kitchen that looks clean and offers ample space for natural light to come in, especially if you have a window in the kitchen.
Wood Panelling
Wood has been a preferred choice in 2023 kitchen design trends. But it doesn’t necessarily mean using wood cabinets. You can use wood wall panels to add warmth and style to the space.
You can also play with geometric forms and shapes for your wood wall panels, have wood-panelled ceilings, or combine lighter and deeper wood tones for your panels to create some drama and visual appeal.
Marble Slab Backsplashes
Subway tile backsplashes, which look somewhat dated, have started giving way to marble slab backsplashes. You too can use a marble backsplash, which is easier to clean than tiles. By pairing your backsplash with a marble countertop, you can create a style statement for the space.
When it comes to adding depth and drama to your kitchen, marble slab backsplashes have found many takers in 2023.
Natural Stone
Natural stone was used in more and more kitchens throughout 2023. Though stone is a long-time traditional favourite with many, this year has seen it occupying the central piece in the kitchen.
You can use natural stone as a central element of your kitchen design by integrating it dramatically throughout the space, such as a stone countertop, a stone backsplash, or a stone border along the lower walls or ceiling. You may even create a specific point of interest in your kitchen like a marble waterfall island that highlights the magnificence of the stone.
Wood Cabinetry
In 2023, sustainability has been a significant factor influencing kitchen design decisions across the board. For several homeowners, sustainability is a way of life now, not a trend, which perhaps explains the love for wood cabinetry.
Natural wood cabinetry can add warmth, depth, texture, intrigue, and hospitality to your kitchen while giving the space a timeless appeal. Additionally, wood cabinetry can make your home’s heart look clean and bright. It can even be customised to fit different lifestyles.
Lower Kitchen Drawers
Instead of using cabinets that make you bend down or get on your knees and use a flashlight to find the thing you need, lower drawers have emerged as the preferred choice of many in 2023.
These drawers can easily glide out and are excellent for storage purposes. The extra large cabinet hardware these drawers come with is an added advantage. If you are tired of bending and slouching to use lower cabinets, do them away with and use lower kitchen drawers instead.
Stone Slabs
In 2023, stone slabs made their presence felt in the kitchen. They dominated countertops and backsplashes to the ceilings that cascaded to the floor in waterfall edges to wrap around the kitchen islands, thus enhancing the look of the entire space.
It’s interesting to note that more and more people today prefer colourful stone slabs instead of basic neutral varieties. For instance, those looking for marble slabs are embracing a more colourful marble rather than going for the ever-familiar crisp and clean Calacatta or Carrara veins, which are still perennial favourites though.
Extended Reach
Sculleries concealed behind doors that make them look like cabinetry are yet another kitchen trend that became popular among homeowners in 2023. This additional space connected to the kitchen can be your storage room (where you store your utensils, smaller appliances, etc.), walk-in pantry, or food prep zone.
You could even turn a scullery into a cosy coffee nook, breakfast corner, and a lot more. If you need additional space in your kitchen and have a scullery, you can design it to suit your needs and keep your kitchen clutter-free.
Wallpaper Backsplashes
Custom-designed wallpaper backsplash is an easy-breezy way to add texture and print to your kitchen. If your kitchen feels boring, you can add a bit of interest and life to the space with wallpaper backsplashes.
From floral designs and geometric patterns to personalised 3D wallpaper backsplashes and the ones that mimic tiles, you can take your pick from a wide array of choices. These backsplashes can be used on a barren wall or even with open wall shelves to create a mesmerising impact.
Sustainable Materials
As homes become environmentally conscious, homeowners are more and more inclined to use sustainable materials in their kitchen design. 2023 saw people focusing on how materials are sourced and what materials are environment-friendly to use.
If you too want to pledge your support for sustainability, you can use natural and recyclable materials like wood, stone, steel, glass, etc. Sustainable design trends like blending modern elements with older ones (fusing contemporary finishes with vintage heritage, for instance), reusing reclaimed materials, and choosing eco-paints over plastic paints are other ways to make your kitchen sustainable.
Hidden Electrical Outlets
Though your kitchen can’t do without electrical outlets, having them installed in plain sight (say, in the backsplash) creates a cluttered look with wires and cords. You can hide your outlets by positioning them strategically to give the space a clean, inviting look.
Adding outlets inside cabinets or under the kitchen island or getting them faux painted for a camouflaged look are effective ways to reduce cord clutter and give your kitchen a tidy appearance.
Conclusion
Now that you have got ideas about how to create a perfect blend of visual appeal, functionality, top-notch craftsmanship, and sustainability, what’s stopping you? Go ahead and up the style and functionality quotient of your kitchen by drawing heavily from the popular kitchen design trends of 2023.
