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Country Kitchen Designs: What
You Might Want To See About Some Creative Kitchen Designs
Kitchen is, so to speak at the core of any home. Here is where people are fed
and here is also the place where family and friends gather at various times to
have lively discussions on current issues affecting their lives. Indeed, without
a kitchen it is sometimes difficult to imagine the conviviality that is there
between family members.
Outside the kitchen they can think of nothing but their work. It is the kitchen
that reminds them that there is more to life than their work, important as it,
no doubt, is. Kitchens therefore must be designed to foster family feelings.
One of the best ways to do it is to have a contemporary country kitchen designs
that speaks ‘family’. That will also give you an experience of country living,
albeit a small part of it.
A country kitchen is about family and therefore must be warm and inviting to
encourage intimacy. No steely aloofness of the modern kitchen here. The décor
should encourage people to shed their inhibitions and become more open minded.
The colors must be warm and earthy to create the countryside ambience in a
kitchen.
The decorations must give a rustic look to the kitchen as should the furniture,
and the lighting. It should remind all of the vintage days when preparing food
was an elaborate affair and required several hands to run the kitchen. Remember,
having a country kitchen design is about having a particular atmosphere in the
kitchen and not having a country kitchen transplanted in your house. That is
verily impossible.
Country kitchens are becoming quite popular these days. The designers and
decorators are chiefly responsible for having given a strong push to country
kitchen designs through innovative ideas. The designs are such that you would
want to spend the whole day in the kitchen.
Elements Of A Country Kitchen
There are many kinds of country kitchens; the prominent ones being French,
European, English, Victorian and Tuscan. While they differ in details, there are
clearly some features, which are common to all of them. These features will have
to be kept in mind when you are remodeling your old kitchen into a new country
kitchen. These are discussed now.
Colors: Colors play an important role in defining a country kitchen. The
kitchen, particularly the walls and the ceilings must be predominantly painted
in warm, earthy and natural colors that you find in the country side. Yellows,
oranges, reds, greens and blue shades are the commonly used colors. Tans and
browns may also be used. Grey, black and white may be used but moderately. The
other choices before you are patterned wallpapers with country print bordered by
a country based theme.
Furniture: Don’t even think about steel or any metal kitchen furniture. They
just don’t go with the country side look. It must be wood all the way. The
kitchen table is a defining feature of a country kitchen. It is always made of
wood and is oval or round shaped. Put a braided rug under the table. That will
add to the warmth of the kitchen. The chairs should match the table and have
cushions with floral patterns on them. The patterns should match the window
curtains. Having wicker chairs now is a common trend. Old fashioned benches and
rocking chairs in a country kitchen is also a good idea.
The cabinets must also be made from wood that is light toned. Many country
kitchens go for white or creamy finish on cabinets that look equally great. To
lend authenticity go for cedar or oak. As in a true country kitchen, your
counter must also be of wood. To give your kitchen more authenticity, get some
antique furniture like china cabinets. For storage use some novel ideas that
don’t clash with the country kitchen concept. For example, convert an old wagon
into a storage table.
Window decoration: Another important defining feature of a country kitchen is
its indulgence in window dressing and plant life. The typical country kitchen
would have miniature flowered curtains covering them. You could have them in any
of the warm and earthy tones of yellow red or blue. Often you will find white
curtains sitting pretty in a country kitchen.
Placing flowers close to the windows will add to the cheerful atmosphere of a
country kitchen. The flowers should go with the furniture thereby adding a
little spice to your kitchen. Daisies and posies are the best flowers. These can
also be put at the center of the dining table. Baby willows in a pot or long
vines are welcome touches.
Accessories: Accessories it is said make or break a country kitchen. Without
proper accessories your kitchen will never look like a country kitchen. It is
the unique accessories in a country kitchen that give it a character. The
wonderful thing about country kitchen accessories is that you get so much of
them in your home. The key to accessorization lies in spotting old items,
discarded or still in use. You might need to make them look spic and span. If
you can’t get these items at home you will get them cheaply at any garage sales.
Be careful not to buy trinkets and junk.
Examples of items that can be used as accessories are aluminum serving trays,
wooden clocks, car models that hold candles. Even an assortment of mugs would go
very well as accessories in a country kitchen. Use a lot of accessories but make
sure you don’t clutter your kitchen with knick- knacks. You could also feature
the sun in many ways. It could be on the backsplash or on posters stuck on
walls. Remember country kitchen is also about the sun and sunlight streaming
into the kitchen. Do not forget to keep rustic looking baskets at strategic
places allover the kitchen.
Kitchen floor: Do not ignore the kitchen floor. After all, the nature of the
floor determines to a large extent the rustic appearance of the kitchen. The
best rustic look you will get by using hardwood paneling. Flagsstone and tiles
are also good options. A nice area rug would add to the look and feel of a
country kitchen. Laminates that mimic natural wood or stone are also a good
option. To get a country kitchen look you can also cover up the floor with rugs,
if you do not want to change the floor.
Accents: While renovating your kitchen use accents liberally where ever
possible. This is part of country kitchen décor. Accents could be flowers,
plants, fruits and vegetables. You can even make accents out of functional
things like a farm house sink, in the process adding to the country kitchen
look. Even a copper hood over the oven would be a great accent. Never use steel
as accents in a country kitchen.
Collectibles: Country kitchen is also the right place to exhibit all the, big or
small, memorable items you have collected in your life from the country side. In
this instance you will certainly find all items at home and not spend a penny
buying anything. They could be things like old bowls, colorful pottery, old
crocks and old quilts.
One other thing you might want to do would be to get as many of those kitchen
decorating catalogs as you can. Ones with several gorgeous glossy photos of
beautifully decorated kitchens. Just looking at those photos may help you learn
more about other styles and themes like cottage, Italian and more.
You may end up getting a much better perspective about all of this and how
various elements like flooring, cupboards, kichen islands and the rest should
blend together. You might also want to take a look at all the design resources
availabe online and get a very good idea about how you may want to go about the
renovation project.
A country kitchen makeover is an exciting project. At every step you will learn
a lot about interior decoration, developing ideas as you go along. However, it
demands a lot of your creative juices but hardly anything of your money.
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