Trends incoming for 2024, what's going to be hot in the kitchen?
The Butlers Pantry
Probably the biggest design trend for this year harks back to by-gone times.
Storage is the key, space for all the crockery and not so frequently used utensils, keeping these away from the central kitchen work zone. Ideally the pantry should be an annex, a small side room or even an area created by partitioning the kitchen. It doesn't need to be big, a well planned small space is always practical, and where space is limited in the kitchen a pantry area may be worth consideration. Most commonly characterised by open shelving and easy access to items, the pantry also provides storage for packaged and dried ingredients, and can look great with shelves filled with storage jars and interesting packets.
The Kitchen Island
Islands continue to be desirable and on trend. An island including casual seating/dining space along with a cooking area can become a central hub for any kitchen, offering a great spot for socialising while preparing a meal.
The focus here is on the kitchen as a social and living area, creating this family space is more and more popular, making a large enough area either by extension or by knocking two or more rooms together is the starting point for many designs this year. Where limited space simply does not allow for an island design, a similar feeling and look can be achieved by careful planning of a "breakfast bar" arrangement, or even a traditional kitchen table!
Colours
Bold colours are hot.
Colour blocks, use of a bold solid colour extensively in a chosen area, will emphasise a feature and create character and personality. This can work particularly well in an open plan kitchen/living area, drawing the eye in the direction of a particular feature or area.
Materials
For flooring wood is showing signs of increasing popularity. Wood always brings warmth and comfort to a room and although tiles are practical and have certainly been the mainstay of kitchen floors for some time, they can be cold and hard, the feel of wood looks set to return.
With worktops laminates will always be popular although the recent trend towards the thinner 25mm style and square edge profile looks set to continue. Upmarket trends still center around various stones and quartz ( composite stone) but porcelain is now showing as a serious contender for a tough, practical worktop material.
