When redesigning or redecorating a kitchen, you face a peculiar challenge: how can you make your kitchen stand out, but in a way that won’t feel too full-on for people who use it? One answer to this conundrum could be adding pastel colors around the room.
Pastel hues are so restrained that, in terms of their versatility, they easily bear comparison to neutrals. Here are just a few ways you could apply pastels in order to make your kitchen visually distinctive for the right reasons.
Ways How Pastels Kitchen Increase Home Personality
Alternate pastels throughout the cabinetry
Doing this can imbue your kitchen with subtle contrast and interest without leaving it looking overpowered by the darker colors.
Through mixing and matching pastels for your kitchen’s cabinets, you can give them a retro style that might bring to mind the image of cakes, jelly beans or other sweet treats. Yes, your kitchen could potentially get you salivating even when you aren’t preparing or eating food in it…
Introduce a range of green shades to your kitchen
Green has found particularly strong popularity recently with kitchen designers. “Associated with nature and rejuvenation, it is the perfect choice for achieving a calm, relaxing kitchen space with an inviting, fresh feel,” colorist Francesca Wezel enthused to Real Homes.
Cabinets, cupboards and appliances can all get the green treatment in a kitchen, while it’s also possible to source hairpin legs in pastel green for attaching to an existing dining table.
Contrast chalky pastels with Scandi-style fittings
This would be a visually pleasing way for you to offset the restrained look of these pastels. ‘Scandi-style’ fixtures and fittings are noted for prioritizing streamlined simplicity and structure, allowing quirkier touches — like, yes, pastels — nearby to come to the fore.
“Using pastels in the home doesn’t always have to be sweet and pretty. Shades of the palest pink, sherbet lemon or watery mint green can look new and modern if combined with tones of grey and hard materials like concrete and metal,” colorist Justyna Korczynska has explained to Real Homes.
Go for the ‘shabby-chic’ look
The propertypriceadvice.co.uk website describes this look as “rustic with a touch of femininity, mixing antique furniture with pops of pastel colors such as sky blue or pale pink.”
The shabby-chic approach to kitchen design is also associated with vintage pieces. You could find many of those at flea markets, charity shops and car boot sales — and perhaps in enchanting pastel colors, too. Look out for the likes of bowls, cups and dishes.
Make your kitchen island an aesthetic centerpiece of the room
“If you want to make your kitchen a standout feature, opt for a contrasting color to the rest of your cabinetry,” kitchen design guru Ben Burbidge tells Homes & Gardens, adding: “It will help to create a focal point and add a touch of contemporary luxury to the kitchen design.”
One option would be using navy for the island and then pastel pink for the cabinets — and you could be pleasantly surprised by how well this particular color combination actually works.
