COMPILED BY Julia Freemantle PHOTOS Elsa Young/Frank Feature (Studio19); Supplied (Atelier); 82MM Photography (Blakes London); Supplied (Cesar); Greg Cox (ARRCC); Supplied (Bluline); Simon Brown (Beata Heuman); Darren Chung (Martin Moore); MCA Estudio/Denilson Machado (Melina Romano); Supplied (Bedow, Cesar); Karl Rogers (Hendre Bloem, STIL); Supplied (Caesarstone); Karl Rogers (One Design + Development); Supplied (Arclinea, Cesar)
High-impact kitchens remain on the menu – whether that’s through bold use of colour, or dramatic finishes and striking silhouettes. Here are our top kitchen design trends for 2022.
Lucky Number Three
Wood, marble and metallics continue to be a winning combination in kitchens. This magic trio introduces just the right amount of warmth, luxury and practicality to make a space work well and look lush. Atelier (top) has opted for a dramatic solid-marble island for max impact, while in the double-volume space (above), Studio 19 has gone lighter on the island but added another stone variety for extra dimension. Both are complemented by timber and metallic accents.
Blakes London (above) has used the triple threat (marble, wood and metallics) very cleverly by also varying light and dark tones, and linear and round shapes. The result is a pleasing balance that’s timeless but interesting.
High Shine
A touch of gloss in a kitchen ups the ante in terms of glamour. The Cesar kitchen above masterfully combines matte and shine via timber cabinetry with tinted-glass insets, for a change of pace and texture. It’s surprising – and incredibly polished.
Nothing says luxe quite like metallics – whether classic gold or contemporary chrome, they offer an instant upgrade. In the ARRCC kitchen (left), clever use of warm lighting and blonde timber cabinetry amplifies the metallic cladding. BluLine (right) has layered different kinds of glossy surfaces for high-octane glamour, combining metallics with smooth stone and glass.
Nature’s Palette
Colour is no longer considered outrageous in a kitchen, and designers are venturing outside the safe confines of neutrals or navy towards a spectrum of fruit- and foliage-inspired tones. Beata Heuman’s (left) apple-green cabinets combine with marble and wood for a fresh, feminine feel. Martin Moore (right) has gone all out with citrus shades, and the effect is uplifting and energising.
Using a spectrum of soft pastels, Melina Romano created a cocooning space (left), while designer Perniclas Bedow drew on the autumnal tones of maple leaves when designing this colour-blocked Stockholm kitchen (right).
READ MORE: How to Design Your Kitchen
Inside Out
Thanks to mobile units and amazing advances in tech, you can create a cordon bleu setup pretty much anywhere – and Cesar’s Maxima design (above) looks suitably earthy in an outdoor pavilion.
Go With The Grain
Warm, textural, and available in myriad shades and grains, timber is a classic choice in a kitchen – and thanks to new engineered surfaces and contemporary finishes, it’s no longer synonymous with rustic. To break up the expanse of a wall of wooden units, Hendre Bloem (above) introduced linear details to give it a geometric effect.
The Caesarstone design (above) balances cool and warm with stone and timber.
Round About
A return to rounded edges – a nod to the continued popularity of Midcentury silhouettes – is seen in this space by Hendre Bloem at STIL (above), and offers a pleasing alternative to crisp, sharp corners in a kitchen.
Dark Side
Almost counterintuitively, dark kitchens can feel more welcoming and warmer than stark white ones.
It does all come down to using the right textures, and making sure there’s a balance. One Design and Development (above) made the bold choice to use almost blanket black in the space – which, due to its uniformity, actually makes it feel bigger. To ensure it wasn’t too flat, they added one small strip of light timber cabinetry – a clever focal point that lifts it.
In the two kitchens above, by Arclinea (left) and Cesar (right), the key to depth was warmth and texture. In the former, glass-fronted cabinets lit from the inside, an antique rug and light timber floors add layers, while in the latter, allowing the grain of the wood used in contrasting directions to form a feature, gives it natural appeal.
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