Interior Design

Urban kitchen design

22.02.2020

Your urban kitchen may be spacious and open-plan doubling up as the lounge and sitting room area or it might be compact, acting purely as a space to store supplies, as opposed to stopping to wine and dine or host guests. To find that balance of practicality and metropolitan flair and perfect the stylings of urban kitchen design in your home, take note of the following tips. 

Urban chic

Urban chic is achieved by mixing textures such as tobacco-dark wood, colourful high-gloss lacquer and industrial-chic stainless steel. Meanwhile, handleless units represent the ultimate in minimalist chic. A broad spectrum of finishes and textures merged with your own personal items create a true urban look.

minimalist, open-plan urban kitchen design

Textures

The urban aesthetic is all about experimentation. Bold colours, paired with geometric forms, unusual textures expressed with modern materials, all making unconventional design choices in pursuit of your favourite look. In other words, the urban kitchen is perfect for bringing form and function to your home in exciting ways. If you usually shy away from incorporating those more ‘out-there’ patterns and shapes, now is the time to break out and try new things. This will involve expressing your individuality as a designer. 

bold coloured cabinets and patterned wallpaper in a narrow, urban kitchen

Accessories

The best part of any urban design are the accessories. Express your personality by playing with decor and accessories: use posters, wall hangs, ornaments, books, statues, and plants in your kitchen. Nothing says urban like a brick wall filled with artwork and photography, so consider shopping in local vintage stores and online artist sales. 

Express your unique sense of style through the art you choose to display. If you’re an artist yourself, display your own work in the kitchen for guests to admire over dinner. Those who prefer a more nostalgic aesthetic can incorporate vintage wares and retro decor. Such elements blend in seamlessly with the colours and textures commonly used in urban interiors. Sometimes, even the most contemporary of designs can benefit from a little tinge of the past.

We’ll ensure the internals of your urban kitchen meet your demands. We’ll also make recommendations via our pinterest page on other items that will complement our creation. You can browse our partner Parlane’s fantastic line of kitchen accessories and gifts here.

Glass and metal

All glamour and showbiz…If you’re looking to bring glitz, sparkle and glamour into your kitchen, stylish glass and metallic art and accessories or crystal light fittings could be right up your street. Think shiny surfaces, a gloss finish, and sleek furniture. Whether you go for a quartz or granite worktop, professional kitchen advisors will help you to explore all the options. 

Retro vibes 

If clean lines, perfectly cut granite surfaces and touches of glitz and glamour aren’t your style, you may prefer to adopt a more vintage look. This paves the way for fun and colourful accessories. Appliances can be a great way to bring colour and warmth into your kitchen and Smeg have a very distinctive style. The way that Smeg appliances communicate with their surroundings and enable users to interact with them is key to appliance design for Smeg. Create a funky look with hints of retro style and personal quirks thrown in when you choose a Smeg appliance

smeg and dolce and gabbana collaboration fridge

Custom-designed drawers can house your retro storage containers to complement the design and feel of the kitchen. By maximising the space in your kitchen, you’re paving the way for a beautifully organised room.

Statement pieces

The urban kitchen is a great place for making a striking design statement. For instance, free standing furniture allows you to make a statement by playing with interesting forms and materials. From chairs and stools, to lamps and tables, choosing the right furnishings can truly define a space. Urban kitchens often feature minimalist furnishings: think tables with spindly legs that create a ‘floating’ effect, decluttering your eye line and opening up floor space below.

**pronorm display kitchen with free-hanging geometric shelving from ceiling

Pendants are not only great for achieving an eye catching combination of light and colour above your kitchen worktops. They’re also standalone design statements in their own right, often approaching the status of sculptures as well as lighting fixtures. A beautifully designed pendant can look almost ethereal when made to stand out against the right worktop materials.

How to create calm away from the bustling activity outside

Reconsider minimalism

Minimalism has been a defining trend in kitchen design throughout the past decade. If being incredibly organised is more your style, then sleek and simple urban interiors make for an efficient design choice. But you don’t have to go minimal just for the sake of going minimal. Urban design is about crafting your perfect atmosphere in spite of trends and fashions!

Although minimalist kitchens are perfectly compatible with urban homes, they’re also great spaces to unleash that inner maximalist too. Think open shelving proudly displaying a range of colourful and exciting dinnerware, walls filled to the brim with a range of posters and wallpapers, and couches buried in a mishmash of cushions and throws.

open shelving displaying plants and coloured storage jars and utensils

Keeping the interior of your home simple and minimalist is one way to create the contrast from the busy city outside and many urban kitchens boost this aesthetic. But that’s not to say that all urban kitchens need to be like this. When choosing your kitchen style, personal taste and preference play a large role. It’s one of the joys of designing your own kitchen.

white and wood open-plan kitchen, pendant lighting above kitchen island

Calm and zen 

Biophilia is a recognised innate tendency that humans share to seek connections with the natural world. It’s one of the reasons that house and office plants are recommended for creating a peaceful setting. Finishes such as wood and slate can help to tie in materials and surroundings and bring elements of nature into your city dwelling. Pairing wood and slate finishes with wooden furniture and more rugged textiles as table runners and cushion covers will also put the emphasis on jungle in ‘urban jungle’. 

silver metallic hanging lights over kitchen island, wooden stools and house plant

Celebrate your worktops

Rather than simply having your worktops recede into the overall design scheme of your kitchen, urban kitchens allow you to truly celebrate your worktops. More conventional kitchen designs tend to play it safe when it comes to islands and worktops, opting for materials and colours which help tie the surrounding interior together rather than those which stand out. Urban kitchen designs, however, are often about making bold statements.

The kitchen island helps draw attention to the innate beauty in a raw slab of material by leaving it to speak for itself and positioning it as the centrepiece of the room. Choose a material which you’re drawn to for its inherent qualities: its colouring, its form and texture, its natural finish. 

Modern technology

The urban kitchen is best fitted with the most up-to-date technology. After all, urban design is as much about efficiency as it is about aesthetics, so pair your cosmopolitan designs with equally cosmopolitan appliances. Integrated electronics and smart appliances are all the rage with urban kitchen designs, reflecting the city-dweller’s need for top-level efficiency and on-trend homeware. In the urban kitchen, everything works just as it is supposed to – no more fussing about and swearing at your oven. Read about smart kitchen technology here.

For a helping hand in designing your new kitchen and a friendly chat with a professional designer, contact the award-winning team at Burnhill Kitchens! We’ll be happy to offer you our expertise in all things interior design, whether urban, traditional, rustic, or modern.

Why wait? Request your brochure today…