Donna Casey, award-winning Interior Designer atthatssocooloffers some expert advice on how to introduce green into a kitchen design.
If you’re thinking of a kitchen overhaul and decide to have a quick scroll through Instagram or spend a few minutes checking out popular kitchens on Pinterest, you will no doubt notice an enormous amount of green kitchens. Green kitchens have become hugely popular and there are a number of reasons for this.
Essentially, green is a reflection of nature. It is one of the most common colours we see on earth and there are endless positive associations with the colour green. It represents growth and renewal, harmony and peace and more currently, sustainability. Our homes are frequently striving to seamlessly connect the outside world with the inside. To bring the natural world into our homes to stimulate a sense of calm and evoke feelings of serenity and balance. And where better to do this than the kitchen? The room that has become much more than just a cooking space. In so many homes it is now the main living area and as a result represents the lives we are choosing to live.
So once you have decided that you want to create your own green kitchen, how best to go about it?
Last year, I won the KBB Review Kitchen Designer of the Year award, kindly sponsored by Franke, with my green kitchen design.
Here are a few of my suggestions for introducing the colour green into your kitchen and what can help to make it work.
The Perfect Green
The most important thing about introducing a strong colour into any room of your house is that you should love it. However, I am also aware as an interior designer that clients are often very reluctant to be brave with colour. You can approach this in a few different ways when looking at creating a green kitchen.
Decide whether you want to apply colour to your cabinets or walls – or both! Coloured kitchen door and drawer fronts are easily accessible so if you can’t find the perfect colour from your kitchen retailer, then go bespoke and ask a specialist to colour match your doors and drawer fronts to your perfect shade.
Alternatively, if you prefer to proceed with a bit more caution establish the base colour of your kitchen units and introduce colour to the walls, backsplash and kitchen accessories.
Gold Accents
To immediately create an elegant space introduce some gold accents into your green kitchen. This can be in the form of taps, handles, lighting, sockets or switches. Gold or brass work equally well and the effect will be dramatic. There is an inevitable sense of glamour and luxury associated with gold, so even if your budget doesn’t quite stretch to a high-end designer kitchen you can incorporate this feeling through details and one or two gold accessories in your room will shine through! The contrasting richness of dark green and gold will result in a stylish and sophisticated design.
I have been asked a number of times what colours go with green. The versatility of green allows you to pair it with most other colours, however, don’t get bogged down with trying to match your hues. Keep it simple and contrast with black and white. Bright white cabinets and green walls for a light, crisp, modern look or green cabinets and off-white walls for a classic, traditional warmer feel.
White or marble worktops look stunning next to green or use a black tap and sink to add a dramatic depth of colour.
I chose to use green walls with green tiles in the winning kitchen design. The two shades of green are a fairly close match and the contrasting textures between the gloss of the tiles and matt of the walls help to create a cohesive look.
Another ideal way to illustrate how well green works with green this is with plants. Growing herbs in the kitchen makes sense for accessibility as they are the perfect cooking companion, but plants and vegetation offer a lot more. They can soften the look of a kitchen, which will often have reflective surfaces and sharp lines. Using plants in a green kitchen creates a richness in the tone of colours as well as improving the air quality and removing toxic vapours.
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