Cosy Kitchens: Inspiration for Winter
When you hear the word ‘cosy’, we know that the first thing that comes to mind probably won’t be your kitchen. Of all the rooms in your house, achieving a kitchen design that emulates cosy winter vibes is especially challenging. With popular kitchen design elements like splashback tiles, high-gloss cupboard doors, and white worktops giving more cold and clinical vibes rather than cosy and comforting, just how can you tie together a cosy kitchen?
Luckily for you, our Dream Doors experts have some great kitchen design tips, and plenty of cosy kitchen inspiration for winter which they are going to share with you.
Colour is Key
One of the most impactful elements in kitchen design is the use of colour. Often, people will go for white kitchens, or black and white kitchens, because these are striking and modern options. Fair enough – these kitchen colours can help make your space feel larger, they are great for making the most of natural light, and they create an undisputedly contemporary finish, especially when you go for high gloss kitchen cupboard doors.
The thing is, stark white and pure black can make your kitchen design feel cold rather than cosy.
To help your kitchen feel more cosy, welcoming, and homely, there are a few different colour palettes that really do the trick.
Dusky Darks
Introducing the world of dusky dark colours to your kitchen can be a great way to make it feel immediately cosier. Sage green kitchens were one of the biggest 2021 kitchen trends, partly because of the traditional and homely vibe that they create. We’re predicting that dusky pinks will be a big kitchen trend for 2022 for a similar reason; these on-trend kitchen colours create a cosy space that emulates sophistication, comfort, and beauty all in equal measure.
Warm Off-Whites
Take your cold white kitchen surfaces and replace them with warm off-white colours like cream, vanilla, and cashmere, to take your kitchen design from clinical to cosy. These off-white tones bring with them all the benefits that white kitchens have, including making smaller kitchens feel brighter and more spacious. You’ll be amazed at how much difference this simple change can make; these warmer tones will essentially make your kitchen feel more like home, and less like a hospital!
Sultry Greys
Grey kitchens are always popular and on-trend for a good reason. Dark grey hues can create beautiful modern kitchens with heaps of atmosphere. Meanwhile, more blue-toned greys can make a calm and tranquil kitchen space. Stoney natural greys can bring added warmth and a more rustic vibe. These gorgeous greys go a long way towards making a comfortable and cosy kitchen; you can even combine them with dusky neutrals, off-whites, or a pop of statement colour to make a unique, beautiful, and welcoming space.
Natural Materials
It’s no secret that natural materials like wood and stone are the hallmarks of more rustic or traditional interior design. These materials are fantastic for bringing a softer edge to any space, and when used in the right way they can be the perfect thing for making your dream cosy kitchen.
Opengrain Wood
Wood is our kitchen experts go-to material to create a cosy and homely kitchen vibe. Whether you have wood as the main material on all your kitchen cupboard doors, or whether you feature wood in smaller areas like kitchen shelving units or wooden worktops, this material immediately brings that classic and welcoming feel. Going for an opengrain finish, where you can see all the textures and patterns of the natural wood, only amplifies this effect. Painted wood is also an excellent option for your cupboard doors when designing a cosy kitchen, because you can combine the natural material with any of the cosy colour options above!
Statement Stone
Many people think of stone as a cold, hard, and lifeless material, but when it’s used in the right way natural stone can be a fantastic way to bring a cosy atmosphere to your kitchen. Make stone an eye-catching feature in your kitchen by using it for shelving units or kitchen islands. You could also feature natural stone by going for solid granite worktops or quartz worktops. The most important thing when it comes to using stone is to make sure you combine it with a softer colour palette to achieve that warmer look. We recommend natural stones with dusky neutral colours to create a showstopping cosy kitchen.
Kitchen Lighting
Another huge element to making your dream cosy kitchen is the lighting. No matter what the layout, size, or height of your kitchen is, there are plenty of tips and tricks for kitchen lighting that you can use to achieve that sought-after warmth and homeliness.
Bring it down
By bringing the height of your lighting down a notch, you can make your kitchen feel softer and more atmospheric by creating deeper shadows and a lower focal point. If you have high ceilings, bring low-hanging lights into the centre of the room. Kickboard strip lighting works very well in smaller kitchens, as does under cupboard lighting, and focal lighting that brings attention to the lower kitchen cupboards is another great option for large or open plan kitchens. Pushing your kitchen lighting back a layer with interior cupboard lighting and shelving lighting can also be a wonderful way to create a modern yet cosy atmosphere in any kitchen.
Keep it warm
The degree of warmth in your kitchen lighting can have an enormous impact on the overall feel of your kitchen design. Warm lighting comes from those more soft and yellow-toned bulbs, like on-trend Edison bulbs and low-watt LEDs. Any bulbs that come in under 4,000 Kelvin will result in a beautifully soft and warm lighting scheme which will create the perfect cosy kitchen. These bulbs are not the brightest though, so it’s a good idea to also have some brighter white spotlights (such as 40W or 60W bulbs at around 5,000 kelvin) in places like the cooking and prep areas, that you can turn on when you need the extra brightness.
Kitchen Cupboard Door Design
The design of your kitchen cupboard doors are a final key element to creating a perfect cosy kitchen. If you want a more modern or contemporary kitchen, you can still achieve a homely vibe by opting for matt finishes on more minimalist styles. If a traditional kitchen is more your thing, then going for wood panelled detailing or architecturally inspired styling can create anything from a wonderfully warm farmhouse kitchen to a stunningly sophisticated and classically cosy space.