A kitchen is no longer a space to just pass through, only used for a few hours to cook and store food. For many years now, kitchen trends have highlighted how it has become a place where we brim with creativity and design, enjoying some cooking or chatting with friends and family. We recently reported on professional kitchen design where requirements such as resistance, intensive use and temperature control need to be met. We are now turning our attention to home kitchen trends, in collaboration with Montse Moraleda—a professional consultant at Línea 3 Cocinas who has worked in kitchen design and furniture for 30 years.
Darker kitchen hues are gaining ground
Montse explains, ‘white continues to be king, offering a pure image with Calacatta-style worktops’, although darker kitchens have been on the rise for some time now. Our professional designer underlines that we are not talking about black per se, but rather tones such as charcoal or dark nut wood, adding that these tones are always twinned with woods such as oak or walnut. These designs lean into elegant sophistication with their darker hues, with Montse underlining Marquina as a good example of the trend. Moreover, ever more requests are coming in for matching cabinet interiors.
Open kitchens and islands
Without a doubt, islands are a huge trend. ‘Everybody wants an open-plan kitchen leading on to the living area and this gives us the chance to include something we have always liked: an island feature’, the expert explains, pointing out that ‘if the space is narrow, we can play with peninsula features instead’. The trend in layouts is for a backsplash, combining appliances and cabinets, and including a small breakfast bar to house a coffee maker or toaster and free up the island.
The island itself houses the hob and sink. ‘It is especially important for the worktop to be wide and to have a snack bar area to install some stools for socialising—you can cook and not have to face the wall’, explains the designer. Another trend is open cabinets or shelving, which are useful to store kitchen jars that can be tidily on display and add a visual touch. When it comes to surfaces and specifically quartz, Montse highlights ‘matt finishes that no other material can offer’, whilst emphasising its high resistance. On a personal note, she states: ‘I’ve had quartz for 12 years and never had a problem.’
A space for living and decoration
‘After 30 years, I can tell you that when I started in the profession, kitchens were the least important areas of the home, with a door that was always closed to keep in any smells and where people spent very little time. Nowadays, it’s really exciting as customers want open-plan kitchens where they can enjoy their lives. It’s not about filling it with fixtures to store all your kitchenware like before. Now it’s about being cosy. They are spaces where you can put up shelving or plants, and add in special lighting’, she points out.
Goodbye tiles, hello facing
Montse affirms that ‘many years ago, we got customers to stop tiling kitchens’, underscoring how easy it is to install facing in the hob and sink areas. In this way, the trend today is for facing, where worktops have subtle veined surfaces, such as Carrara quartz. Where the design is busier and stands out a lot more, glass makes for a good alternative.
