​Tips for creating a classic country kitchen

Homify HK Homify HK
House by the Woods, St Andrews, Fife Architects Fife Architects Country style kitchen
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The rest of your home may well be stripped back to minimalist perfection, but there’s still something about the comforting warmth of a traditional, country-style kitchen that is hard to resist. Perhaps that’s because the kitchen is the heart of the home, and it seems natural that the heart of the home should be cosy and inviting. Or perhaps it’s just because kitchens naturally tend to end up pretty cluttered with the general debris of family life, so it’s better to just accept the inevitable and incorporate it into the design. Whatever the reason, there are few places as calming and pleasant as a truly well-executed country kitchen. It is possible, however, to get things wrong and end up with a kitchen that just looks a little bit dated. These simple tips should give you some ideas for adding a rural feel to your kitchen without stepping back in time.

​Hang things from the ceiling

A welcoming kitchen is likely to have a lot going on. Don’t worry, embrace the business. As well as being a practical way to store and dry them, hanging pots, pans and other cookery implements from the ceiling acts as a form of decoration and creates the feeling that your home is properly lived in. Why hide things away? Hanging dried peppers or other decorative fruits, vegetables of herbs up will also add colour and interest to the room. In this picture, the ceiling rack is also a shelf made of glass, allowing more items – including the very rustic basket – to be stored up top while remaining on display.

​Make liberal use of wicker

Overdo it and it can come off a bit too twee, but there’s no denying that wicker has plenty of associations with countryside cottages. In this room, wicker is used in a number of different places: on the chair in the foreground, in the drawers under the worktop, and in the storage baskets dotted around the room. Nothing is perfectly matched, but it doesn’t have to be; in fact, better if it isn’t. That’s the joy of a country kitchen.

​Show off your crockery

This is another tip in the “hang things from the ceiling” vein, but nonetheless it’s worth saying again: if you have pretty thing, especially cups and saucers, make sure you put them on display. You don’t need to come up with an elaborate means of doing this. As seen here, simply hanging them along the edge of a shelf creates a lovely effect.

​Use wood, wood and more wood

Wooden countertops are a no-brainer when it comes to trying to create a country kitchen atmosphere, but you can go further too. There really is no such thing as too much wood when it comes to this style. As shown in this picture, though, that doesn’t mean your kitchen needs to look like a log cabin. You can get a bit more creative, splash around some paint and end up with a room that manages to do traditional and contemporary simultaneously.

​Choose a worthy stove

The entire feel of this delightful forget-me-not blue kitchen could easily be ruined by the addition of an incongruous stove. Imagine a minimalist electric hob with a flat, wipe-clean glass surface… it just wouldn’t look right. Good thing the designer of this room knew better, and picked out a stove that was just perfect for the space.

​You won’t get far without sunshine

Sunshine is the most important ingredient for your perfect cottage-style cooking spot. Without generous lashings of sunshine, your best efforts to create a cheerful space will all be for nothing. So ensure your kitchen is well spacious, well-lit and airy.

Do you prefer traditional or contemporary design in the kitchen? 

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