Majjie's Blog

Everybody uses mixed finishes in their kitchen, of course, unless they’re complete minimalism freaks. I have seen a few pure white kitchens (but mainly in glossy magazines - they’re very impractical for anyone who does any proper cooking). What I’m talking about, though, is using two or more different door colours or finishes and maybe different worktops. Like these different coloured doors in a Crown Imperial kitchen:

Or - very trendy at the moment - a mix of white or pale colours with wood effects, as in this Cucina Colore kitchen:

I’m hoping you said either the second or third one. The first picture is the original - but I don’t like the fact that the plinth is the same colour as one of the blocks of colour. If the units are different colours, I think the plinth needs to - either match the colour of the unit above - or to be a different colour altogether. Have another look at the Crown Imperial and Cucina Colore kitchens - they both have steel or steel effect plinths.

 

It might look as if I’ve broken my own rules, in that the main island is in two different finishes - but those finishes aren’t on adjacent doors. It’s just two of the end/back panels which are different to the doors (wood effect, rather than white) - and they’re there to emphasise the fact that the island is an L-shape (and because those end panels face into the dining and living areas). The units with timber effect doors are all at different heights or depths to the white units (or both). The lowered section of the island and the midi-larder unit also have black worktop - to co-ordinate with the black appliances - and to emphasise the fact that they’re different.

 

I’ve always liked kitchens which incorporate different finishes. It’s a technique which is often used in very traditional kitchens, to make them look less fitted and more like free standing furniture. Here’s a traditional kitchen that I worked on recently:

 

 

The corner units in the background (both base and wall) are recessed to the cream units and painted a different colour. The corner wall units are a different height to the cream wall units which, in contrast, look more like free standing sections. The glazed unit also sits on a stretch of timber worktop, making that area look like a free standing dresser (of course, the black plinth and little “feet” help too!):

 

 

With most mixed finish kitchens the different sections may be different colours but they are usually the same style … plain and modern, as in my first five examples … or more traditional square panelled, inset-framed doors with accessories such as feet and shaped legs, as in the example above.

 

My next example is a bit more daring. I needed to combine a plain, clean-lined walnut shaker style … with a more feminine looking painted style of furniture, an ornate Lacanche Cluny cooker - with chrome and brass fittings - and a chandelier (a sort of his and hers kitchen!):

 

 

 

To give that slightly feminine feel, and to blend with the chandelier and the ornate trim on the existing Lacanche cooker, I added slim turned columns and grooved end panels to the painted furniture - with Volga Blue granite worktops. The walnut units, on the other hand, had plain end panels and plain square posts - with a plain, stone effect, quartz worktop (there’s an all walnut section to the kitchen round the corner with a plasma tv on the wall). The last thing I wanted, though, was for the kitchen to look as if my clients had bought two completely different sets of kitchen units and just fitted them together … so I added modern blue glass splashbacks in the traditional areas … and the two different door styles are actually identical - apart from the colour - with identical plain, square steel handles. I think it works - and so did the clients - it’s being made at the moment.

 

So - do be adventurous with mixed finishes - but it’s not as simple as just having two different door colours and putting them side by side. Try to make the blocks of colour coincide with different sections or unit types in your kitchen, whilst ... at the same time ... tying the whole thing together into one overall design for the room.

 

My last picture is a big Nolte living kitchen. I don't really like all the glazed units, I'd have preferred a few solid grey doors, I think  ... but I love the bold blocks of colour they've used: