An old farmhouse, a rustic log home or the quaint waterfront cabin, kitchen designs for these homes will often fall into the casual kitchen style. This is especially true if the residence is the family’s vacation home. The casual kitchen will always have a relaxed atmosphere and sometimes an antiquated look about it that throws back to the past.
In spite of these common features, just like the contemporary style kitchen, casual style kitchens can still have a broad range of variety and design elements. We will look at a few different variations of the casual kitchen and the types of homes that they may fit in best.
Country Charm
This kitchen may be a large, eat-in kitchen for your old farmhouse or two-story New England saltbox home. However, it could also be a smaller kitchen in a quaint Tudor or cape cod style home. It may be your main residence or it may be your beach house. Country style kitchens work well for both small and large homes. A ‘vintage’ feel will be the overall style, one that fits with an earlier time and humble living.
With the country style kitchen, you generally can expect painted cabinets, often times in a matt or distressed finish. Flat panel, Mission style cabinet doors are a common choice for the country kitchen. Glass door uppers and open display shelves are both common elements in the country kitchen. Hardware will have a durable, antique look and a skirted farm style sink would not be the least bit out of place.
Café style curtains are likely to dress the windows and primitives picked up during shopping trips to the antique store will be the preferred décor items to round out the vintage feel. Table style islands are also popular for the country kitchen and often provide a contrast in color and style to the rest of the kitchen cabinetry. Light fixtures will often have a more industrial look to them.
If you’re a little bit country, but also like the traditional style, these two can mix well, particularly using a painted white finish for your cabinets. Another combination of traditional and country would be the French provincial look, which will have more natural wood finishes and perhaps some wrought iron and stone accents to provide an old world feel.
Rustic & Natural
Even within the rustic kitchen style there is room for plenty of variation. Knotty pine raised panel cabinets with black wrought iron hardware can fit within this definition, but so could a distressed oak finish or the wild natural grain of hickory. Granite or concrete countertops both offer great options for the rustic kitchen and leather is a natural choice for your barstool seats. Wrought iron isn’t the only choice for metal accents; copper is another popular choice for sinks, pot racks and other kitchen details in a rustic kitchen which has red tones in the stain. Wooden cabinet pulls and knobs are also frequent choices for the rustic look.
Stone and brick are almost a given for use in a rustic style kitchen. The more natural stone used in a kitchen, the more rustic the feel. Stone and brick are great accents for the backsplash behind the range or for creating archways. Rustic doesn’t mean leaving out the glass. Glass front doors are great features in a rustic kitchen to add a little lighter feel to what can be a heavy wood, stone and metal theme.
Moderate, But Modern
For the individual who doesn’t want the minimalist contemporary look, but still wants a modern looking kitchen, there are plenty of options that will provide a comfortable casual kitchen for their home. All it takes to achieve this look in your kitchen is to avoid extremes in style. Your countertop may be granite, quartz or a durable solid surface material. Wood cabinets will not be overly ornate, but neither will they be flat surface doors. The wood stain will be a neutral or natural tone on oak or maple. The kitchen will be designed for functionality with plenty of countertop space for food preparation and a good traffic flow for easy access. This kitchen will easily fit with most any décor and is a great choice when updating for resale rather than personal taste.
The casual kitchen that leans toward the rustic or country styles will be quite distinctive. It will be important that these kitchens are characteristic of the overall theme and décor of the home. For someone looking for a casual, everyday living kitchen in a more modern setting, your options are wide open. Shopping for plumbing fixtures and every other finish item for this kitchen will be extremely easy, since your preferred choices will be readily available from most any vendor. The choice, again, remains with the homeowner to select what fits with their home
