Farmhouse Kitchen Redecorating Ideas

Farmhouse kitchens are making something of a come back. The minimalist look may create a clear, clean, almost professional working space in a kitchen, but the lack of atmosphere associated with that kind of kitchen is prompting scores of people to take a look back in time at a more traditional, cosy kitchen. The farmhouse kitchen.

Farmhouse kitchens usually incorporate big, solid pine tables and rounded chairs, sometimes with a bench a bit like a picnic table, but there’s no reason why smaller kitchens can’t enjoy this rustic style either.

Pine is the mainstay in a farmhouse kitchen, and pine fronted cupboards with simple wooden knobs or brass knockers would fit right in. A Belfast sink with its large, white, square porcelain bowl and long arching taps gives an old feel and can become a focus point. Walls should be tiled or papered with cosy designs such as teapots, vegetables and even farm animals. Splash back tiles especially should be kept to neutral colors, like beige and cream.

Traditionally, farmhouse kitchens would have hung pretty curtains with large draping tie-backs. Lighting too, needs to be considered carefully and be in keeping with the feel of the kitchen. Large, flagstone tiles in natural materials like slate or quarry tiles would look and feel perfect in this kind of kitchen, maintaining the rustic feel while delivering on practicality.

Many farmhouse kitchens have an agar instead of contemporary ovens. Agars are good and plenty of people wouldn’t be without one, but a regular oven is undoubtedly easier to use, and there’s no reason why a normal oven can’t sill look the part. Instead of the modern stainless steel variety, some ovens are still available with cream or beige frontage. The soft coloring on an oven like that adds to the warm atmosphere of a farmhouse kitchen.

For a larger kitchen the possibilities are endless. A Welsh dresser is stylish and useful, the open shelved upper area can display decorated plates and china, while the handy lower drawers are useful for storing documents and maybe shopping lists. A large table is also perfect if the size of the kitchen can take it. Farmhouse kitchens would have been equipped to seat the family for meals and the table would also have been where any baking and mixing was done.

Lastly, accessories can transform a kitchen and if the transformation is being done on a budget these little touches can be the things that make the kitchen feel the way you want it to. A large teapot with pottery mugs can be kept on view to give the impression of a cosy, lived in kitchen. Salt and pepper shakers in the shape of farm animals, place mats decorated with farmhouse recipes or farming anecdotes, traditional cookery books and cooking utensils left on show, all make a kitchen look like the centre of the house, a well used and lived in space. Large pans hung, either from the ceiling if possible or on walls, also create a busy, family feel to a kitchen.

Going for a more traditional looking kitchen doesn’t mean you can’t still have the benefit of modern appliances. Either well hidden or discretely placed, these labour saving devices can still fit right in and even add to the kitchen perfectly, bringing it up to date slightly while still treasuring the central theme and ideal of a rustic kitchen.

It isn’t that difficult to achieve the farmhouse kitchen. Think practical and family orientated, traditional, warm and cosy. A farmhouse kitchen can become the kind of kitchen people want to spend time in, the heart and soul of the house.