Kitchen

Decor Style: Rustic Kitchen Ideas

When it comes to rustic kitchen ideas, you are going to want to use and infuse as much raw materials as possible. Make heavy use of stone and wood, and raw metals like copper and brass. For a more modern and industrial look, there is concrete.

Different Rustic Styles

In the pictures in the mood board above, you can see there is variety and degree of rustic styles.

A touch of rustic. You’ve got kitchens that only add subtle and minor rustic pieces that make a big impact – just like the kitchens in pictures (1) and (2). Using white as a base color is popular, and then infusing touches of rustic style around the kitchen through:

wooden counter tops
exposed beams
exposed brick walls (3) Industrial and Rustic Charm: Home Brick Wall Designs
hard wood flooring

Fusion. In picture (4) you can see how modern meets rustic. The raw and rustic table and chairs contrast the modern and sleek kitchen cabinets.

Rustic Cabinet Design

Because cabinets take up so much space, physically and visually, the look and style of them will really set the tone and style for the whole room. Some design ideas for rustic kitchen cabinets include:

White cabinets with wooden countertops
Using brass handles
Go with open shelving and have everything out on display – use rustic style storage containers (more about that below)

Storage as Decor and More

Because so much needs to stored around the kitchen, the storage containers and items you use can act as decor pieces. Get good quality, and good looking storage contains. Things like:

Wicker baskets
Enamel containers
Wire baskets
Wooden trays and bowls
Galvanised buckets
Vintage glass bottles
Copper containers

For a mood board and more ideas, have a look here: Rustic Storage Ideas and Organziation Tips.

If you use rustic cooking pots and pans, like cast iron or copper, these can be hung on the wall and double as decor pieces. A copper cooker hood is grand statement piece to have in a rustic kitchen.

Other rustic kitchen decor ideas include:

Wrought iron wall hangings/clock
Plants in rustic style pots
Lace or ruffled curtains, or wooden blinds

Rustic Dining

If you have a dining area in your kitchen, then the tables and chairs will take up a lot of space. Just like the cabinets, you’ll want to really create the rustic look with the furniture, to set the style for the whole room. Go with a country style long wooden farm table, just like the one in picture (5), with wooden chairs or a bench.

The Sink and Backsplash

A popular sink for a rustic style kitchen is a porcelain tub, just like the one in picture (6). Another option would be a copper sink (7). These would usually go with rustic brass metal faucets.

When it comes to the backsplash, subway tiles will add a nice contrast to all of the rough materials around. Reclaimed wood can also be turned into a backsplash – have a look at my pallet wall post to see designs. Other ideas for backsplashes include using exposed brick, or rough stone tile.

A Wooden Kitchen Island

A common rustic kitchen island would have a rustic wooden countertop, with a painted wooden base. Check out the live edge wooden kitchen island in picture (8). A wrought iron pot rack can hang above.

Iron Lighting

Wrought iron lighting fixtures go well with a rustic style. These can be matched with wrought iron decor pieces, like candle holders, pot racks, bowls, and wall decor. Some lighting ideas include having a wrought iron chandelier. For a mood board on kitchen lighting ideas, have a look at my post here. Or check out my rustic lighting ideas post.

image credits: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8

More rustic and kitchen mood board posts:

June 10, 2014 in Design Styles, Kitchen

Home Barista: Kitchen Coffee Station Ideas and Designs

Group all of your essential coffee making materials, tools, and ingredients to one space, and create your own home kitchen coffee station. You can use side tables, carts, the kitchen counter, a cabinet, or go the built in route.

Side Tables and Carts

A side table is a great way to create a coffee station in the kitchen just like in picture (1), because it is a contained unit. Plus you save cluttering up valuable kitchen countertop space . For added storage space, hang up shelves above your new coffee station. A cart is another way to create a coffee bar in your kitchen. This can be great if you host parties and want to roll out all the fixings to make a great cup of coffee (2).

How about using a corner in the kitchen or dining room? What a great space saving way of adding a coffee station. Picture (3) shows a corner shelving unit being used as a well organized coffee station. For more ideas on how to add storage to the corners of your room, have a look at my post here: Corner Shelving Ideas: Creative Ways of Adding Corner Shelves.

On the Counter

You can create a coffee station on the kitchen counter, but it might not be the best place because the countertop is usually a busy space when preparing and cooking food and should be kept clutter free. Some ways to help with this is to use a tray to group items together to create a more clutter free and clean looking space – just like in picture (4). Another way to free up a counter is to fit a railing, rack or shelf above your coffee brew station – like the shelf in picture (5)

Built in Designs

There are a few ways to create a built in coffee station. The first way is to use a cabinet and place the coffee machine, roaster, materials, and ingredients in there. The good thing about this idea, is that you can close it when it is not in use, creating a more minimalist kitchen. You’ll want to put a pull out counter in the cabinet, just like the one in picture (6). This will make it easier to see what you are doing, and easier to prepare the coffee. Or you could use a coffee station cabinet that opens up onto a countertop.

Another built in idea is to have a little nook carved out of your built in kitchen cabinets – just like in picture (7). You’ll want to have lights fitted to the top of this nook, or use a lamp.

And the mother of all coffee stations is a built in coffee machine – seen in picture (8). The pull out draw is great for putting down cups while preparing the coffee.

Rustic Living

Storage and Other Fixings

Some things you might want to include in your home coffee bar include:

A tray to carry the drinks to another room
A cookie jar
Napkins
A sugar bowl
A plant to decorate the space
Coffee shop inspired or rustic art piece
A lamp if you need extra lighting
How about creating a coffee station and command centre combo. A command centre is a place in the house where you keep all your to do lists, mail, and calendars. Have a look at my mood board post here for ideas: Ideas for Setting up a Family Command Center in the Kitchen.

Some efficient and space saving storage ideas include:

A wall railing to hang up mugs with hooks
Shelves above the coffee station to save counter space for storing items, and to save the need for a large table/counter
As mentioned above, use a tray to group together items for your coffee station. This helps create a clutter free space
An organiser rack to keep items grouped
Look for well designed, good looking storage pieces. Such as glass jars or porcelain canisters. If these are left out on display they will add to the decor of your kitchen.

1 Home Coffee Machine: $118 (#1 Best Seller on Amazon)

2 Vintage Mug: $12 ModCloth | 3 Monogram Mug: $8 Anthropologie

4 Napkins: $32 Anthropologie | 5 Canisters: $39 Amazon

6 Jars: $46 Amazon | 7 Dutch Copper Canisters: $78 Amazon

Kitchen Storage and Organization Part 2: Pot and Pan Storage Ideas (and Lids)

This post is part of a 2 part series on kitchen storage. Part 1, which you can see here, went over general kitchen storage solutions, everything from clever draw hacks, over the door storage ideas and styled storage pieces. In part 2, I go over ideas on how to store your pots and lids.

Pots are probably the hardest items to store in the kitchen because of the different sizes and you’ve got the pairing lids to deal with. Some ideas on how to deal with them include:

You can get chandeliers that hang over the kitchen island, making it easier to see what you are doing. But these chandeliers can also have a rack and hooks on them so you can hang your pots up. Or there are just hanging racks without the chandelier – seen in picture (1).
Ladders with hooks – seen in picture (2)
Wall railings (3)
Peg boards with hooks will also work (4)
A pull out draw hanger – seen in picture (5)

But my favorite kitchen storage ideas for pots are the ones that keep the lids close by:

Picture (6) shows a large draw that has been modified to keep pots and lids organized and stored on their sides. You can use tension rods to do this in your kitchen draws.
Cheap adhesive hooks have been stuck to the inside of the cabinet door in picture (7) to hang up the pot lids.
A railing fitted to the wall hangs up the pot lids under the pots in picture (8).

image credits: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8

Kitchen Storage Ideas and Organization Tips | Part 1

There is so much that needs to be stored and organized in the kitchen. No wonder this is a long post. This post on smart kitchen storage ideas and organization tips has been split into two parts. Part 1 goes over general storage ideas for the kitchen. Part 2, which you can find here, goes over creative ideas on how to store your pots and pot lids (which can be tricky).

Clever and Creative Storage Ideas For Your Kitchen

A very useful furniture piece to have in the kitchen is a rolling cart, especially if you have a small kitchen that doesn’t have a kitchen island. It can help create the ideal kitchen layout. This cart can be rolled around, put next to you when you are preparing food or cooking, then it can be rolled and stored out of the way when it is not in use – just like in picture (1).
Extendable tables are useful as kitchen tables. They can also be used as kitchen islands.
The inside of cabinet and pantry doors can be modified to store items. Hooks can be fitted to hang up towels. Towel bars can be fitted to store rolls of trash bags, aluminium foil, or paper towels (2). A bracket can be fitted to store cutting boards.
All those rolls of aluminium foil, cling film, paper towels and trash bags can be hung up and organized on towel hangers.
Some knife storage ideas include using a magnet strip on the wall to hang them up, a floating shelf slat (3), they can be stored on the inside of a cabinet door (4), or stored in a knife block or a DIY knife block seen in picture (5).
Most cabinets under the sink are a bit wonky since you’ve got all the plumbing work there. Try and make the most of it by fitting hooks, shelves or a tension rod to create your own customised storage space.
If you don’t mind having more informal seating around the eating table, then you can get a kitchen bench that opens up to storage space underneath.
Ideas for how you can modify your draws is endless. Check out the food storage baskets and closed containers in the draws in picture (6). Or how about putting utensil containers in the draws to keep the countertops clean and clutter free (7). You can even have your spice rack fitted into a draw (8) (Creative Kitchen Spice Storage Ideas and Solutions). You can also have pull out chopping board draws.

To keep the area around the sink clutter free, see if you can fit a floating shelf above the sink to store items.

Peg boards are great for personalized storing and organizing. Hang things up with hooks and pegs, or put a plank of wood between pegs to create shelves. The peg boards can be hung on the inside of cabinet doors, or on a wall. You can also paint them to suit your kitchen style.

Decorative tin cans can have magnets attached to them. Now they can stick to the fridge and store small items like pens, receipts, shopping lists, or coupons (9).

How about creating a command centre in your kitchen to group together to do lists, recipes, schedules, and mail (10). There are a few ways to create a command center, have a look at my mood board here for ideas: Ideas for Setting up a Family Command Center in the Kitchen.

Look up. Take advantage of the height in the kitchen. Built in kitchen storage cabinets can make the most of height space. So can an overhead beam. You might need a stick with a hook to hang things up. Or you can have the beam on a pulley so it can be lowered. Another way to take advantage of the height in a kitchen is to use the walls as much as possible. Floating wall shelves is one way to go, or simply hang up rails.

Look down. There is storage potential at the base of your kitchen cabinets. Toe kick draws can be fitted here to store some non essential items (11). It can also be used a pet feeding station that can be hidden away when not in use.

Adding lighting to your storage units will help make it easier and quicker to find things. You can get door jambs, so when you open the cabinet doors the lights automatically come on. Under cabinet lighting is helpful for lighting up kitchen counters when preparing food.

1 Canisters: $30 Amazon | 2 Jar: $7.50 Amazon | 3 Stackable: $26 Amazon

4 Organizer: $11 Amazon | 5 Mount: $25 Amazon | 6 Rack: $14 Amazon

7 Dispenser: $9.99 Amazon | 8 Baskets: $10 Amazon | 9 Mason: $16 Amazon

10 Pots: $16 Amazon

The Kitchen Island

A kitchen island creates an ideal layout for cooking, as you don’t have to move around the kitchen so much. If you don’t have space for a kitchen island, then a rolling cart would be a great alternative. A kitchen island can be built to have draws or shelves built into it. You can even have a small fridge if you wanted to. Having plug sockets built into the island can be handy.

Styled Ideas

Stylish and good looking storage containers will help decorate and style your kitchen. Here are some ideas for kitchen storage solutions and pieces that look good.

Wicker baskets and trays
Wire baskets and wire wall racks
Enamel containers
Glass jars (much better looking than plastic ones) (12)
Vintage bottles. You could pour any liquids you have around the sink, hand soap/dish liquid, into vintage style bottles or just glass bottles. Now you’ve gotten rid of those branded plastic bottles, creating a more elegant space around your sink.
Wooden ladders can be used to hang up pots, towels, and magazines.

Have a look at these mood boards here for more stylized storage ideas:

Kitchen Layout

The overall layout of your kitchen makes a big impact on how you store your kitchen ware and how easy it is to move around and prepare food. You want to have everything as close to you as possible when you need it – like pots and pans near the cooker. Have a look at these mood boards for ideas on different kitchen layouts:

Mood Board Images: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12