Five on-trend kitchen updates (and who you can call for help)

Do you have FOMO (fear of missing out) every time you see a kitchen in your social media feed?

You may be overwhelmed by the choice of styles, or perhaps you don’t know how to apply all those ideas to your own kitchen.

Here, we break it down to the key elements of the season and who you need to help get the job done.

Two-tone

One of the biggest kitchen trends of the year is mix-and-match block colour.

Base cabinets can contrast with or offset upper cabinets with surprisingly effective results.

While the neutral shades of ready-made kitchen cabinets may suit many, others want a point of difference in the colour choices they make.

Enter the joiners and cabinet makers who can create bespoke finishes exactly to your liking.

Most cabinet makers are small businesses and hitherto hard to find, but online resources such as Houzz help you forgo the generic and enter a creative collaboration you never thought you’d have.

Dramatic marble

Marble has been popular for years, but today’s vein in vogue packs a punch across benchtops, island sides or tiles.

High-contrast, bold veining makes a dramatic statement yet marble’s timeless status means it will withstand the fast revolution of trend cycles.

Classics such as Carrara and Calacatta are ever popular. But if you’re after a conversation starter, start leafing through the enormous library of marble varieties from different regions around the world, or find hundreds of marble and marble-look suppliers on Houzz.

Wooden it be nice?

While all-white gloss and featureless minimalism are refusing to budge completely, the Nordic wave has brought with it a craving for more ‘unfinished wood’ kitchen cabinetry – pale or limed wood, finished naturally, without lacquer.

There’s a movement towards warm and homely kitchens, and bare wood cabinets bring to mind a farmhouse or cabin, but without the twee of a dated (highly lacquered) farmhouse kitchen.

Darker, deeper timbers bring plenty of texture that show off the wood’s unique grain.

Carpenters and joiners who specialise in timber work should be your first port of call. But if you’re keen on the Scandi vibe, search Houzz for joinery and cabinet makers whose work is more pared back.

Golden touch

Details can make or break a kitchen, and if you scroll through Houzz’s infinite library of taps you’ll see you have your work cut out when choosing.

The tap finish of the moment is gold; Google Trends shows a surge in searched for all metallic finishes just as Vogue named the gold tap 2018’s biggest interior trend.

High and low

Just as fashionistas mix their prairie dresses with Dr Martens, kitchen stylists are combining rustic with clean contemporary for an interior high-low equivalent.

Rustic pendant lights can hang over a minimal white countertop or natural stone can be perfectly honed then allowed to patina over time.

This trend can be quite hard to pull off, so it’s a good idea to collate plenty of inspirational imagery and hire a kitchen or interior designer to help you get it right.