If you’re living in an older house; either in the countryside, the suburbs or even in the city, there can be a clamour for a country kitchen style that fits in with the aesthetic of your house. By going for a more traditional style it will be more in-keeping with the aesthetics of ‘the olden days’, but would that also mean that your kitchen wouldn’t be able to function any better than a kitchen from the style it’s based on? Can your country kitchen still be modern, despite looking rustic? The answer is yes, and this is what you can do.
Include Hidden Storage
Whilst you can have a country kitchen that has ‘above the line’ features, such as decorative kitchen cupboard doors, a ceramic sink and flagstone flooring, what can make a country kitchen function just as well as a modern one is the ‘below the line’ features. This includes the range of storage solutions you can find behind the cupboard doors and drawers.
Internal drawer dividers can help to sort and organise your items like cutlery and kitchen utensils, whilst clever corner-storage solutions can allow you to maximise space in the corners of your kitchen by having shelving that pulls out and makes things easily accessible.
Pull-down storage is also another option if you want to maximise your kitchen’s vertical space and are worried you won’t be able to reach things on high shelves.
Use Retro Kitchen Appliances
One of the things you risk missing out on with a traditional kitchen is the function of modern 21st century kitchen appliances. This is especially apparent when it comes to cooking, where modern cooking appliances such as ovens and cookers allow you to cook food much easier than before, with different oven settings, easy cleaning modes and induction/ceramic hobs. And even fridge freezers now feature things like frost-free freezing and temperature zone control.
However, there is one way to ensure that you can benefit from the latest technology whilst also having appliances that look suited to your space, and that’s retro appliances. You can find a range of retro appliances from all the top retailers, which are appliances with all the modern technology, but made to look like they’re older than they are.
A great example of this is the retro fridge freezer, which can come in a range of different colours. Range cookers are also another example, which offer the full cooking power of a 21st century appliance, whilst not looking out of place in the 20th century.
Explore Integrated Appliances
An alternative to retro appliances is integrated appliances. So instead of having appliances on show that fit the rustic aesthetic of your kitchen, you can hide modern integrated appliances behind cupboard doors instead. This works well for appliances like dishwashers and dishwashers that don’t have a retro styling, but also for larger appliances such as tall fridge freezers that allow you to benefit from the larger size of modern appliances.
Blend Old With New
If you have a country kitchen, you don’t always have to adhere to the style of the times. You can gradually evolve the style of your home – including your kitchen – to give it a rustic feel whilst also having a modern touch.
Take, for example, Shaker kitchens. They’re a classic and traditional style, but they are just as popular in modern kitchens as they are in traditional ones. Because they’ve evolved with the times and blended old with the new (such as using different colours and mixing up work surface materials), they’ve continued to be popular in older homes whilst not shirking modern style influences.
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