Contemporary Style Kitchens
The contemporary kitchen as an idea is all about a feeling of currency, of being ‘in the now’ and ‘up to the minute’. To achieve this effect, we carefully select and juxtapose specific materials that create a particularly contemporary look. Our task is then to design something that can maintain this feeling of being current over the longer term, and at Ligneous Kitchens, we provide the full range of contemporary options.
Modern Kitchens
Modern kitchen design arose as a movement toward the mid 20th century trend of using new building materials that were revolutionising construction and particularly the speed with which houses could be built. Modernity can be considered contemporary style stripped to its essentials, creating striking effects through simplicity, warmth and with a hint of a classic edge. Whereas the modern style tries to create timeless beauty through simple understated elegance, pure contemporary kitchen design tends to be more brash, bold and adventurous.
Minimal Kitchens
A minimal kitchen predominantly tends to use one strong, ‘masculine’ material to create a monolithic and striking effect. It uses some acutely contrasting small details in an alternate material as a counterpoint, with lines that are clean and simple. Colours often work through the darker, moodier end of the spectrum with rich highlights from walnut, ash, tinted oaks, teaks and olive wood. Textures are important in finding a detail surface with a hewn look or offering a tactile section to the kitchen, achieved by carefully selected finger rail finishes, rough-cut granites or deep-grained veneers.
Industrial Kitchens
The industrial kitchen look uses a number of textures and effects to get the cool, edgy and urban feel associated with this design style. Pitted concrete textures on the doors as well as burnished metal finishes and ceramics that work with the style all help to evoke the effect reminiscent of a New York loft or city centre commercial kitchen, along with exposed brickwork, metal ducting and smoked glass as a surface finish. A slash of something slick, bright and sharp can prevent an industrial kitchen from becoming too harsh and add a touch of urban sophistication and warmth, which is also key to the look. To this end some gloss finishes, as well as a small amount of rich detail finished wood can be beneficial..
Scandinavian Kitchens
If the industrial look maintains its contemporary status by evoking man-made materials working together, the Scandinavian style achieves this with the use of natural, organic materials. In a nod to the minimal style, Scandinivian kitchens feature extremely crisp lines, making for a simple and uncluttered kitchen look. Working from basically a white palette, the Scandinavian kitchen style adds oiled woods and dashes of bright colour to create an airy and light effect, incorporating plenty of artificial lighting to counteract the lack of natural light for long stretches of the year in Nordic countries.
