There’s nothing better than arriving home from work after a long, tiring winter’s day, with fingers numb from the cold and the weather blowing a gale outside, and stepping into a warm and welcoming kitchen. Similarly, there is nothing worse at this time of year than coming home to kitchens that feel clinical, cold, and appear for all the world like rooms in which you prepare food as quickly as possible before heading straight out the door to reside in a more accommodating room.
The kitchen is the hub of the busy family home and this applies no more accurately than in the winter months, with bowls of piping hot soup warming the kids up after school and the smell of a casserole cooking in the oven providing you with a real energy kick in the evenings.
If your kitchen isn’t making you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, maybe it’s time to take a close look at your kitchen color scheme. Deep, warm shades are all the rage at the moment, as homeowners seek to inject some life into their kitchens, with darker tones proving particularly popular.
Now is the time to be brave with injecting a dose of color and you shouldn’t be afraid of opting for deep hues such as purple or dark red. To offset these colors, use a range of neutral shades to provide a stunning contrast. For example, purchasing kitchen cabinets in a deep red shade should encourage you to paint the adjoining walls a lovely warm cream color, or perhaps even a light brown shade.
Get hold of a kitchen planner to help you plan the precise color scheme for the different areas of your room. You may think that the kitchen is an odd place to light a few candles but some carefully arranged candles can introduce effective ambient lighting to the room, especially if you eat there as well as prepare food.
If you introduce additional warm splashes of color throughout the room, something that can be done as quickly and cheaply as hanging up a trio of deep red tea-towels in a prominent position, you’ll find that your room will be transformed into a winter haven before you know it, providing you with the ideal location in which to hibernate during the long winter nights to come!
Wave goodbye to kitchen clutter
We all know how difficult it can be to make the most of space in your kitchen, particularly if your room is on the small side or you’re in possession of one of the cheap kitchens on sale nowadays that don’t take into account the fact that people need space in which to live comfortably!
Unlike other rooms in the house, such as the living room, it’s difficult to keep the kitchen on the minimalist side of the design spectrum, since so many essential items, including food, crockery, and appliances, need to be stored in the confines of the room. However, there are ways to make the most of your space if you find kitchen storage a tricky issue to solve. The following tips describe just a few ways to ease your kitchen storage dilemmas:
1. Alternate open shelving with closed kitchen cabinets: Open shelving can introduce a great look to your kitchen but you don’t want your room to look cluttered and there are some food items that you don’t really want to display in a modern home. By keeping neatly stacked piles of plates or perhaps a few appliances on your open shelves, you can keep space free in your closed cupboards for items that may otherwise look cluttered.
2. Consider a kitchen island: Not only can kitchen islands look great in the modern home, becoming a real focal point of the room, but they also provide additional storage options. Unlike a kitchen table, which offers no storage space underneath, the kitchen island can act as a place upon which to eat and in which to store whatever you want.
3. Rearrange your cupboards: If you store all your food and appliances correctly and sensibly, you’ll probably find your cupboards contain more space than you ever thought previously. Stack cans on top of each other and invest in some storage tins for items such as sugar and tea bags.
4. Invest in some drawer organizers: Inserting a few drawer organizers into your drawers will allow you to visualize how to make the space work for you. You’ll be able to divide your drawers to fit cutlery, plates, and food all in the same space without it looking messy.
Follow these simple steps and you’ll be well on your way to waving goodbye to kitchen clutter for good!
