Timeless Kitchen Design: 7 Trends to AVOID

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A kitchen renovation is a big investment that should last you a very decent amount of time and as such, you will want to make sure to get it right by spending a bit of time researching timeless kitchen design ideas and stearing well clear from the following:

Obnoxious Colour Choices

Everyone thought mustard was the sh*t in the 70’s – Need I say more?

Enough said. Image: DIY Kids Houses .com

Fancy Coloured Appliances

I actually quite like fancy coloured appliances but even I found myself sticking to black and stainless steel when buying for my home. I love, and I mean love Smeg’s Retro Appliance Range – I have their toaster and kettle.

In BLACK.

Coloured appliances are fun to admire but there will come a time when you start to grow sick of them or at the very least, tire of trying to match everything else in your kitchen to that pastel toaster.

The powder blue appliances do seem to work in this design – But is it something you can see working in the long run? Ultimately, colour and pattern choices are very personal so if you just love the look, go for it! If however, you find yourself changing your mind quite often, this may not be your best option. **Image Source**

Built-in Desks

A few years ago, we all rushed to build a desk in our new kitchens only to find that we never actually used them… We bought funky stationery and file holders that matched the colour scheme of our kitchens; we insisted on those shallow pen drawers under the bench and sweated over where we would store all the bloody files, and then?

These desks became glorified junk stations.

The day’s mail gets thrown on them, followed by the car keys and phone. That super shallow pen drawer is now a junk drawer, forever cluttered, cleaned out then mysteriously cluttered again.

A kitchen desk or study nook will unfortunately, not always end up being used as it was intended to be; The Working Mum has some clever tips on creating a Kitchen Organisation Center instead which is a *much* better use of the space! **Read more here.**

See, we all just want to be where the action is: who really wants to work from a little corner of the kitchen where there are smells and sounds and garbage bins? Our laptops will simply always find a way to sneak back into the living area or dining room table.

Hanging Pot Racks

Why would you want pots and pans hanging in the air so close to your head? Not only that, but this look just makes the whole room appear cluttered and busy – not what you want in your brand new, sleek kitchen. To be honest, I’d be constantly glancing upwards to make sure nothing falls on my head.

Whoah there…! Ana Hitzel has written an interesting discussion about the Pot Rack, ‘Art of Eyesore?’ **Check it out here.**

Farmhouse Sinks

Farmhouse sinks are great. For the farmhouse. From 50 years ago.

Apron front farmhouse sinks are just space hogs – they seem to just suck out the space in the entire kitchen; all the focus is drawn straight towards the sink – not ideal for a modern kitchen!

timeless kitchen design - farmhouse sink — An attention-seeking sink; Lovely colour scheme though! These sinks do look fabulous in very specific kitchen designs schemes, perfectly suited to this example by Studio McGee. The issue is that farmhouse sinks are often slotted into designs that simply do not lend themselves well to this classic, country style look, creating a strange mish-mash of a kitchen where all of your attention is immediately drawn to the sink.

Paper-Thin Benchtops

The super-thin benchtop trend thankfully did not last very long, but it still rears its ugly head every now and then. A benchtop as thin as a sheet of paper is not the most durable thing in the world; usually a thin sheet of porcelain, these waif-like benchtops are much too thin for horizontal use, especially in a kitchen.

Any porcelain sheet manufacturer will recommend a minimum thickness of 12mm to avoid chips and breaks in the surface. Those super thin porcelain sheets were designed for use on the walls and not on your benchtop!

There is just so much to love about this kitchen and checkout that splashback: That’s where the super thin porcelain sheets *should* be! **Image Source**

Glass & Mirrored Splashbacks

They may look fabulous but glass and mirrored splashbacks are not our friends. No, not anymore… The streaking, the fingerprinting, the scratching, the cracking and the breaking – NO.

Kitchen designs are going ‘back to basics’ in a sense, and swapping out these tired and messy looking splashbacks for a more traditional approach: porcelain. Whether you opt for tiles or large format sheets, the versatility and extreme durability of porcelain is undisputed. And the best part is: There are SO MANY OPTIONS!