Bold Colors and Sociable Spaces
Written by Amy Bartlett
It’s not news that the kitchen is often everyone’s favorite room – where families gather, parties migrate, and conversations are at their best.
Culinary caretaking is about far more than meal prep. The kitchen is a therapeutic outlet, an artist’s studio, and the most expressive “welcome mat” you can have in your home. To be sure your “mat” is sending the message you want, here’s a recipe for a compelling canteen at the heart of your home, intentionally designed to be inviting:
Color Therapy: Gone with the “greige,” after arguably “agreeable gray” décor and waves of whitewash have dominated years of decor, kitchens are starved for an influx of color, and designers are feeding that need. Color wheels are spinning bold and emotional – from bright, uplifting, and effusively cheery to dark and remarkably dramatic. Natural olive, rose gold tones, and soft, saturated yellow are the shining jewel in the crown of color-washed kitchens. But playful palettes are taking a dark turn with trending colors like Sherwin-Williams Tricorn Black and Benjamin Moore Jet Black, just two of the “black is the new black” dominating the conversation, brightened with bits of bling like brass accents and hanging racks of colorful cookware.
Going Organic: Being perfectly Instagrammable used to mean cute, kitschy, matchy-matchy, and adorned with calligraphy at every corner. Now the kitchen is going back to basics in a full “raw bar” approach to materials, going “paleo” with natural elements and a down-to-earth approach to organic and eco-friendly materials. Design trends are exploring natural and soapstone countertops and single-stone backsplashes and accent walls like full-sized agate wall art. Vintage aluminum aspects, and wood and straw mixes are featured heavily in fixtures and lighting, including driftwood or sweetgrass pendants and half-dowel wraps to round out your island.
Eye Catching Islands: The downside of dowels is the danger becoming the new shiplap – overdone in design shows to the point of parody. But the fact is, we still love shiplap so much, it sells in online DIY kits and the totally-doable dowel-rounded surfaces are unquestionably everywhere. Adaptable to any shape, space, and treatment, they’re a good companion to island trends like waterfall-edge construction (running the stone seamlessly as surface and sides), multi-layering high-low surfaces, open faced racks stacked with pottery and dishware décor, and a seasonal stand-alone color. If you’re going to do one thing and one thing alone to your kitchen, this is the most accessible step to start with and experiment with color, a finessed focal point for rolling out your rosemary focaccia with friends and fam.
Sociable Spaces: Especially post-pandemic, people are setting the table for extra guests creating more sociable and spacious spaces, with an eye for ebb-and-flow, protecting entrances and exits, creating clean and organized environments) that foster feng shui, and encourage connection. This works best with rounding off edges in counters, creating easy-access open-face cabinetry and floating shelving, expanding available seating and comfort zones like benches and built-ins, creating a space to set a spell (some would say, to squat and gobble). Islands are staying low and wide with flat, single-level surfaces more conducive to community cooking and cross-kitchen conversation.
Get organized: You can blow an afternoon (and a budget) Googling enviable Amazon kitchen gadget-storage-organization must-haves that might also blow your mind. Try Bamboo wall boxes to store plastic wrap and foil, and a layered-design utensil organizer to help you win the war with your silverware drawer. Clear bins for accessible storage, sliding two-tier drawers and lid racks are kitchen form and function solutions that keep your pantries peaceful and your kitchen camera-ready in every corner.
These small touches go a long way, by the way, in prepping a home to sell with shoppers snooping every (breakfast) nook and cranny, staging your storage helps you “show well” whether to buyers, partygoers, or VRBO guests in your high-demand Hilton Head Island area rental property.
