A coastal kitchen can be one of the most delightful designs. White cabinetry, natural light, wood floors, and the atmosphere of the beach and the sea help bring a relaxing and expansive room feel that is airy and of natural beauty. Soothing natural elements and light white and sky blue colors make the perfect scene for beach house kitchen decorating ideas.
Merge driftwood gray and lots of natural light with rough stone and simple lines for a pleasant cooking experience. It all sounds so simple to achieve when dreaming of your kitchen redo, but in real life, remodeling is tough and expensive.
Here are some thoughts on bringing a modern coastal look to your outdated kitchen. Add your design style into the mix and play with distinct looks.
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Beach House Style
There are two forms of coastal style: casual and classic. Casual style puts you in mind a beach cottage that sits on a warm oceanfront. The classic style reminds you of the homes of the Hamptons, where a more elegant presence floods your senses and feelings. Navy blue and broad white stripes are standard in the classic, sophisticated beach style. Casual beach house decor is what we will concentrate on.
White cupboards rule in coastal homes to open up spaces to a fresh and light feel. White cabinets are a noteworthy starting point if your kitchen is not an open concept with a living area. Kitchen cabinets are expensive to replace. They make most kitchen cabinets last decades, so it is hard to justify discarding them because of a change in a popular coastal trend.
Cabinets
Painting or refacing are a couple of ideas on how to refresh your wood cabinets instead of opting for brand-new ones. Painting the cabinet base, drawers, and doors of the cabinets is the easiest and cheapest way to convert into a stunning beach house look. White upper cabinets mixed with light blue or sea foam bottom cabinets are also very tasteful in coastal decor.
The downside to painting cabinets is if you change your mind later and wish to return the wood finish. It is possible with a lot of work. It takes scraping, sanding, and refinishing with unique products to reproduce the once-natural solid wood look and luster.
Partial upper open shelving is a common feature of a casual accent where beach prints can proudly display your love of the beach. Painting only the cabinet base white and removing the fronts of cabinets and drawers is a great way to begin your beach house design.
With shaker cabinets style in a finished color palette of coastal tones, your beach theme will emerge. Another popular choice is glass doors or paned glass on uppers. This updating method is more costly than painting but less expensive than buying brand-new cabinets.
Never shortchange the hardware in being an essential part of beach style kitchens. Natural, lineal, and made of metal or wood will add a pleasing contrast to your beachy kitchen. Resist the temptation to pick up the knobs that look like starfish or seashells. While attractive in the beginning, you will soon tire of the over-elaborate look of this novelty.
Counters and Backsplash
Themed kitchen designs of coastal charm often have a rustic touch with wooden countertops and wood floors. Manufacturers of wood building products can now provide FSC-certified wood that keeps toxic chemicals to a minimum. This might be a good time to check with Home Depot or other building supply stores and ask to see their low-chemical wood and sealants.
Besides wood, natural materials like stone are a good choice for kitchen countertops and islands. Granite or quartz with tiny pebbles or veins can add texture and color to offset a white kitchen. The backsplash allows you to make a focal point with color and texture.
Iridescent tile in shades of cool blue and crisp whites or light gray and clean whites creates a presence of the sea with tiny sparkles catching the sunlight. Glass mosaic tiles also add a reflective scene of coastal colors. Neutral and glossy small tiles make a small room feel spacious.
Some easy ways to decide on the style and look of your countertops and backsplash is to search online for top-of-the-line suppliers. Next, visit a building supply house and bring samples home to compare. This can be an important project for a stonemason, and you will want to try different shades.
Islands and Breakfast Nook Corners
Plan your island or breakfast nook with the same style and color as your kitchen and adjoining areas. We can use different styles of counter stools with natural wooden frames or dress-up bar stools with natural fibers of bamboo backing. Wicker furniture is the best way to present an adjoined porch or dining room with matching beach decor.
Islands have taken on an almost necessary part of today’s kitchen with different sizes available. Areas with an open concept may use an extended bar to separate rooms. This is the easiest way to make a bit of room for family members to converse but be out of the way for food preparation.
Beach-Inspired Retro Kitchen
Put a playful twist on your beach house interiors and bring your unique look into the kitchen. Aqua appliances will add a masterful chic touch to the room. Against bright white walls, your refrigerator and stove will give you excellent pops of color. Or put your interior design in reverse, paint the walls aqua, and add white appliances.
Shiny counters of gray with pewter cup hardware spell happy in this kitchen. Discover more retro ideas for appliances at big chill appliances. Their website is bigchill.com.
Make a Flashy Impression
Are you torn between having casual beach decor or a more formal Hampton look? I recommend using as much imagination as possible to create your style. Look at magazines or develop a scrape book of ideas to discuss with your family or partner. Get dramatic with a crystal ship hanging above your kitchen island or dining area.
Turn casual into chic with light fixtures and stainless steel appliances. Sprinkle a bit of seashore fun in pendant lights that don’t overwhelm the room. This is one of the fast rules for preventing a tacky atmosphere. Another one is to stay with wooden floors or natural stone.
Creativity with a kitchen island can be fun and deliver a mind-stopping sight to visitors. Handmade plates in a lighted kitchen island are a memorable way to bring on a coastal theme. Choose vegetation and ocean species to create a floating spectacle of tropical beauty. A glass artist would surely like the challenge of this one-of-a-kind project.
A nautical kitchen Sebring island is perfect for a small kitchen without large windows of the morning sun. Have it made to size for your home and living space, and prepare to get amazed by the shape and presentation that it makes. This can be a real showstopper with matching wood countertops and hardwood flooring.
Wall Hangings and Accessories
There are different ways to bring about the best possible experience for beach-style kitchens. Wall decor can take on historical significance, like a French Riviera painting or an arrangement of sea glass in a box frame. This is also where bright colors can capture a sunshiny mood and a little bit of beach time fun or relaxing sunsets at the end of the day.
A big farmhouse sink brings a working distinction to a window view of nature as all living things scuttle about, performing their duties. A lovely ocean breeze is welcome, but not always possible. Posting reminders throughout your room with nautical items, seascape scenes, and coastal wall art can keep the magic of nature flowing while cooking meals. For more color, consider draping a flower-laden print material under your sink and match with window valances.
A favorite area to fall in love with is the stove/oven appliance region. The improvements in heat distribution and the surrounding ventilation system have changed how many homeowners cook. Ventilation is crucial to keeping a kitchen healthy and clean and should be a top priority in remodeling a kitchen.
Hiding the workings of a high-tech vent has caused manufacturers to work with camouflaging the standard exterior look. If a seamless stainless steel design appears to be too commercial-looking for your casual beach-style kitchen, have a vent cover made that joins the theme of your materials.
Rustic shiplap range hoods allow you to uncover the majesty of weathered wood. Alongside floating shelves and nautical items, this area will become the focal point of your kitchen. A popular model with corbels is made of wood and can match your cabinet finish perfectly for an even flow.
We can make custom range hoods to accommodate any cooking area. We can even make them stretch over an entire wall. Range hoods should collect grease, heat, condensation, and cooking smells by transferring to the outdoors, not on your kitchen walls and surfaces. Choose your type carefully.
Select a few wall items that express your favorite coastal effects. You can bring your beach kitchen to life, from framed sea fans to artistic pieces of driftwood or prints of turtles. Fabric is another way of delivering fresh material to the room. Roman blinds or colorful valances can let you enjoy your favorite colors and textures.
These accessories can help you decorate adjoining rooms, like a living room, coffee table, dining table, and surrounding furniture. Plenty of colored glass and fresh flower arrangements only add to the splendor of your coastal creation.
Kitchens should be a place that brings freshness and harmony to the atmosphere. By mixing distressed woods and metals with the beach’s sparkling white and light colors, you cannot help but create a sunshiny mood for everyone visiting.
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Karen Gillan
Karen Gillan, Senior Writer
Experienced Writer with 20+ years. Demonstrated writing experience includes technical writing, magazines, story writing, and journalist projects. Karen has a powerful media and communication background with academic training from LaSalle University (architecture, interior design) and business college courses. She loves editing novels and contributed to a national art journal.