A streamlined, contemporary kitchen design is the perfect way to transform the heart of your home into a modern space for all the family to enjoy. Combine integrated appliance, thoughtful lighting and a mix of levels to help keep your room clutter free whilst leaving you more space to relax and entertain. It might sound like a dream – but it can be a reality to bring your kitchen back to life!

Appliances

When your favourite place in the home is your kitchen, and you love creating new culinary delights, you might have your heart set on a range cooker.  So choose one of the more modern steel models from Mercury, Smeg or Rangemaster. Integrate as many appliances as you can, as clean lines must continue across appliances too. If possible, place items such as washing machines and tumble dryers in utility rooms. Keep sightlines clear by installing simple below cabinet, in-ceiling or pop-up extractors rather than fancy hanging pendants.  Keep fridges and freezers behind closed doors and invest in good-looking, hardworking built-in cooking appliances and a sleek glass zoned induction hob. Finish off with a few modern-day luxuries, such as a boiling water tap, pop-up power points and cool lighting.

Clean lines

Modern design is all about clean lines and the fabulous in-frame construction of handleless cabinets gives your kitchen an edge on some flat fronted designs and makes it extremely durable. In smaller kitchen spaces, the absence of handles helps to make a room feel bigger.  While in a kitchen with lots of cabinetry, it prevents an overload of steel handles. If you don’t want to commit to all handleless doors, then you can give a run of classic cabinets a modern edge by dressing them with sleek bar handles, adding modern built-in appliances and topping with cool composite worktops. For added contemporary chic, mix and match styles incorporating flat-fronted wall cabinets

Stay neat

It’s easy to collect and overindulge on kitchen paraphernalia.  But sometimes not as easy to keep it stored correctly and keep your kitchen clutter free.  The key to maintaining the clean lines in your kitchen is keeping it uncluttered. Hiding kitchen clutter, particularly in open-plan kitchens is essential.  Plan in plenty of storage with deep pan drawers, tambour units to keep small appliances, crockery and china out of site. Floor to ceiling handleless cupboards can hide a multitude of sins so if you have space, they’re a good investment. Remember, though, for your kitchen to work efficiently, you’ll want easy access to all these things when you do need them.  So we recommend siting pan drawers by ovens, larders close to prep areas and china close to the dishwasher.

Worktops

When it comes to your worktops, as you may know, kitchens have evolved and as their colour and any pattern are consistent.  The choice has grown over the past few years to include everything from pure brilliant white to zingy orange work spaces. Plain white worktops compliment modern cabinetry beautifully, and can be perfect for contemporary kitchens.  But can look a little clinical. Instead, opt for manufacturers such as Silestone and Ceasarstone who are now producing man-made composites that look like natural materials. Of course, while they can look just like marble or concrete, the real benefit of these surfaces is that they are much easier to look after than natural stones.  Particularly very porous ones such as marble. They’re also fabulous for creating feature splash backs.  For instance book matching a faux marble – with less of a financial outlay than, say, Carrara.

Modern design tips

Pick simple surfaces

Keep your design sleek by choosing glass or composite for a splashback and large-format floor tiles with a matching grout.

Play with levels

Breakfast bars and islands are fabulous for a kitchen that you want to entertain in. Think about adding a high breakfast bar to an island for relaxed eating or create several levels on a peninsula with a raised area to hide the washing-up from dinner guests.

Go fine

Ultra-thin worktops are great for creating the illusion that your units are more like pieces of furniture. Or try wrapping a composite work surface in a contrasting shade or material around cabinetry on islands and at the end of runs.

Trip the light fantastic

For creative lighting, consider using plinth lights to make base units look like they are floating or adding LED strips to the interior of wall cabinets or shelves to highlight favourite accessories. They can create the perfect mood in the kitchen whatever the occasion.

These ideas might help you save on the cost of bringing your kitchen back to life.

Other articles you might find useful to bring your kitchen back to life include create the most perfect eat-in kitchen and the perfect finish for your kitchen.