Every year, we look for new ways to breathe life into our home decor and refresh spaces in need of a little TLC. The kitchen is often one of our favourite interiors to reimagine, offering plenty of opportunities to experiment with style and colour.
There are always new trends to try and some that have overstayed their welcome, with others standing the test of time to become timeless classics. So, what’s the most popular kitchen style that you should be considering for your own designs?
What does Google say?
We recently delved deeper into what people are Googling when it comes to kitchen design and found that most people are considering a modern kitchen, with country kitchens following close behind. This isn’t surprising, as the term ‘modern’ kitchen can quite easily incorporate more than one specific style and presents a rather broad category.
There’s definitely a trend toward more alternative styles, though, with searches for industrial and Scandinavian inspired kitchens on the rise. It makes sense that these types of kitchens aren’t topping the lists, because generally, most people lean towards classicism and convention. Trends will always come and go and when you consider the investment involved in a kitchen, you want something timeless – hence why broad categories like ‘modern’ and ‘traditional’ are most common.
It’s about how you want your kitchen to feel… To help people choose a kitchen style that’s right for them, we’ve been running a style quiz to choose an outcome based on which images they felt they resonated most with, delivering some interesting insights.
When we asked respondents to choose an image that best represented what kind of kitchen style they were after, over a third of respondents chose a style that evoked feelings of cosiness and practicality, an ambience often associated with a ‘country’ style kitchen.
Though your kitchen can often be dictated by the style of house – a mid-century townhouse or a countryside cottage, for example, conjure specific types of kitchen. But often, the style is typified by smaller elements that combine to create an overall look and feel, like worktops, handles, hardware, accessories and colours. Individual elements linked with a ‘Scandinavian’ style kitchen were some of the most popular choices, even though that style of kitchen in itself is one of the least popular outcomes of our style quiz.
The elements combined… When you start to combine the elements, more often than not, the style can become a little blurred. It’s not a bad thing to mix-and-match your favourite aspects of different styles, in order to create a kitchen you truly love.
From our quiz, the most popular worktop chosen was the one that carried the look and feel of classic white marble, most often attributed to a country-style kitchen. Should you pair it with all-white cabinetry, though, it could easily suit a more contemporary design. The sheer versatility of marble is what makes it so popular, with the potential to suit a number of different kitchen styles.
When it comes to kitchen shape and layout... We’ve definitely moved away from having a separate space to dine. We asked how people liked to spend most of their time in their kitchen and the most popular answers were somewhere to host big family meals and social gatherings with friends.
Long gone are the days of working intensively hidden away in the kitchen – now, it’s all about creating a hub of connectivity and showcasing culinary efforts. U-shaped and L-shaped layouts are the most popular largely because of their practicality, allowing for plenty of worktop and storage. Kitchen islands are a great way to productively divide the space, alongside careful positioning of key elements like the fridge, oven and sink.
Source: Caesarstone - 5131 Calacatta Nuvo
The six most popular components of kitchen style:
Most popular style overall: Country
Most popular layout: L-shape with an island
Worktop style: White, marbled stone (Marble or quartz)
Cabinet style: Shaker panels
Hardware: Silver/Steel
Most popular ‘additional’ element: Larder
Images Source: Caesarstone
