Kitchen ideas and tips: What belongs in modern kitchen?

The modern kitchen usually consists of straight edges and clear lines. Further modern effects can be achieved through different materials, different lighting systems and, last but not least, decoration.

Kitchen design: what does it involve?

The kitchen is one of the most important places in the house and apartment and one that is used most often. Therefore, the furniture and appliances should be of good quality, because while a bookshelf can be replaced quickly, it’s a different matter with a complete kitchenette. We show what a modern kitchen can look like, which materials are suitable and how the lighting is optimally coordinated.

Life hacks: practical gadgets in the kitchen

The most important thing in the modern kitchen is that everything is well stored and yet within easy reach . For this reason, people often think about how to implement this idea. For example, if you have a tile backsplash in the kitchen, there is a great hack.

Hack #1: Vacuum Pads for the Kitchen

The vacuum pads are a great idea . These can be easily applied to smooth surfaces and all the necessary utensils find their place here:

 

Find the right shape

Before you even start planning the details, you should be clear about what shape you want to use in a modern kitchen . Of course, this primarily depends on the room. A narrow room will only accommodate one or two kitchenettes. Larger rooms have more leeway. The modern  kitchen can be an L-shape that goes around the corner or even into the room. An open kitchen offers even more options. A kitchenette? One with an L shape? Additionally a kitchen island? A seating option integrated into the work surface? The options available are as numerous as they are flexible.

What makes a modern kitchen?

The next step goes into more detail. What should the kitchen look like? In modern houses and apartments, the kitchen should of course not appear old-fashioned. The good old country house kitchen with its flourishes, its round shapes and its classic layout doesn’t really fit in, even if there may be interesting combinations.

A modern kitchen is characterized by a clear line with straight edges and shapes. The installed appliances, the materials of the fronts and work surfaces, the floor, the lighting and, last but not least, the furnishings and decoration make a kitchen a modern kitchen.

The fronts

Modern kitchens can be made from a variety of materials. While for a long time there were only wooden kitchens, today there are also veneered kitchen units in almost every color imaginable. Whether bright red shiny fronts or a matt black face. Whatever is at all conceivable is also possible. Just be sure and don’t overdo it with the color so you don’t get tired of it after two years.

But that’s not all. You’re also seeing more and more stainless steel kitchens, which, despite the material, don’t immediately exude the flair of a large kitchen in a canteen or university cafeteria. In general, more and more modern kitchens feature surfaces with a metal look. The metal X2, for example, gives fronts an unusual look. Its surfaces are slightly roughened and create a very special atmosphere.

If that’s still too boring for you, you can combine the different materials with each other. Wood and metal? White high-gloss front and dark sides? Nothing is impossible.

The worktop

The materials for the worktop are no less diverse. From veneered chipboard to real wood worktops to metal worktops to a continuous stone surface, everything is possible. While natural wood looks bring a warm atmosphere to the modern kitchen and are simply never out, dark stone and shiny stainless steel immerse the kitchen in a progressive atmosphere that screams progress and modernity.

The tile mirror

Even the most modern kitchen can hardly do without a tile backsplash so as not to ruin the wall behind the work surface and stove. When cooking inevitably creates mess. It sizzles. It splashes. Something is wrong. Where wood is chopped, splinters must fall.

The classic white tile backsplash doesn’t have to be a thing of the past and can be reinterpreted with modern tiles. But it can also look different: laminate and parquet can no longer only be found on the kitchen floor, but also on the wall. Or how about blackboard paint that can be written on with chalk? The wall there can be used as a calendar, meal plan, recipe overview or similar.

The floor – all tile or what?

As with the tile backsplash, you no longer necessarily find tiles or a PVC floor with a hideous pattern, especially in modern kitchens . Dark tiles with light grouting go wonderfully with light kitchen furniture and create a great contrast.

What was once almost unthinkable can now be found in more and more modern kitchens: parquet or laminate. This creates a much friendlier and more homely atmosphere, especially in open kitchens that flow directly into the living room. An abrupt transition between different floor materials is avoided and both rooms literally merge into one another.

However, only suitable laminate that is resistant to moisture should be used in the kitchen in order to avoid the floor swelling, because dripping water can never be avoided in a kitchen.

As an alternative, there are also vinyl floors, which come in all visual variations conceivable; even wood and stone looks are available. Like PVC floors, they are particularly robust, easy to care for and cheaper to purchase than laminate, parquet or tiles.

Modern kitchen appliances

What use is a modern kitchen if the appliances are from the day before yesterday? Sure, all electrical appliances don’t have to be replaced when a new version is released that requires two watts less power, but you shouldn’t completely ignore energy efficiency.

Induction hobs and gas stoves are particularly energy efficient. While the electric stoves that are still widely used, whether with ceramic or ceramic hobs, take what feels like an eternity until they have heated up to cooking temperature, with gas or induction this happens in an instant. This saves energy and therefore costs less, even if the devices are often more expensive to purchase.

Old refrigerators and dishwashers should also be replaced with more energy-efficient, modern devices with efficiency class A+++ in order to remove unnecessary energy guzzlers from the house.

The right lighting

Nothing works in the modern kitchen without the right light . However, a distinction must be made between several forms of lighting, because not everything really makes sense. A single source of light that floods the entire room rarely helps, because by the time you’re chopping the ingredients you’ll only have shadows on the work surface and the knife will just slash your finger.

So the room light doesn’t have to be that bright. A few warm spotlights in the middle of the room or directly above the dining table are enough. Directly above the work surface, LED spots or LED strips provide light where it is really needed. Indirect light sources provide special accents. Whether that’s a light strip under the worktop, floor spotlights on the wall or LEDs mounted under a second hanging ceiling. The possibilities are immense and each one creates a different atmosphere.

Furnishing and decoration

You can also create a special ambience in the modern kitchen with decorations and other furnishings. Why not replace the round plates with the colorful figurines that you’ve been carrying around since your student days with modern, square ones? And is grandma’s tea service with the golden rim really still up to date? Other shapes, other colors and, last but not least, other materials create variety. This continues with the decoration. Your own photos or prints of famous works of art for the walls. Vases and pots that reflect the clear edges and direct shapes of the kitchen unit and provide space for colorful flowers or culinary herbs that can be used directly while cooking.

Conclusion

A modern kitchen is not only characterized by clear and linear lines. The use of materials can also create a futuristic kitchen image. The icing on the cake is provided by sophisticated lighting and furnishings that reflect the basic shapes of the kitchen.