We often hear people saying, “Home is where the heart is”. And that is truly the case for our kitchens as it is a space where we spent the most time apart from our bedrooms. As a space to prepare meals and have hearty conversations with your loved ones, your kitchen is also a place for storing daily food and essential medicines. 

However, when it comes to designing a kitchen, some may argue that it could be a tricky task. After all, it is important for your kitchen to have a balance of practicality in terms of furniture and storage; and design aesthetics to reflect your personality. Looks aside, you’ll also want to take into consideration the functionality of your kitchen and cooking equipment if you tend to cook often.

That said, you’re still able to achieve a functional yet aesthetic-looking kitchen at the same time. With these top 5 kitchen designs, tap into them and build your dream kitchen today.

1. Minimalism is the Name of the Game

If you’ve heard of the phrase, “Less is more”, you can definitely apply the concept of minimalism to your kitchen. A minimalist kitchen is often described as a clean and monochromatic space. With a clutter-free kitchen, your tools are easily allocated in the right spaces and your kitchen will immediately look functional. Thus, minimalism and functionality go hand in hand.

For starters, you can keep your walls and cabinets white for that clean look. Some beautiful materials to choose from include marble or white granite. On your countertop, keep all equipment out of sight by opting for “invisible hardware” — that is, built-in ovens, low-profile cooktops, and even hidden trash bins. With invisible hardware, it creates a more streamlined aesthetic for your kitchen and removes any distracting items on your countertops. 

To add a pop of colour to your white kitchen, consider adding some houseplants. Mini potted plants or knife display cases are a great addition to add life to your kitchen. But, be sure to only add items with purpose and ensure that everything is necessary for the space. For your windows, you can choose big collapsible windows which give you the flexibility of turning your closed kitchen into an open one during heavy cooking, or vice versa for light cooking. With big windows, you’re also able to invite as much natural light as possible and give your kitchen an airy and open feel.

If you prefer a darker shade of minimalism, why not opt for a black minimalist kitchen? Like this 4-room HDB, the minimalist kitchen is combined with a mixture of wood tones against a clean black palette. With a darker kitchen, choosing the right lighting to complement the sleek aesthetic is crucial. For instance, by using under-cabinet LED lighting, you can accentuate the beauty of your black cabinets and even showcase the intricacy of the wood wall.

But if you’re not a fan of an all-black kitchen, add in grey hexagonal tiles to spruce up your kitchen a little. Cool in design, hexagonal helps to break the muteness of minimalism and flaunt a timeless style to your floor design.

2. Contemporary and Happening

Next up on our list is contemporary kitchens. As the word contemporary suggests, it stands for a combination of neutral colours, a blend of different textures, materials and characteristics. However, it should not be mistaken for a modern design. Unlike a modern kitchen, you’ll want to incorporate the latest and current trends, even future trends, into your kitchen. 

For a functional kitchen, the design approach is to integrate white airy colours with shades of grey, as well as textures into the design. In this example, we’d recommend opting for marble for your walls to elude luxury, glamour and elegance. To break the monotony of an all-white environment, you can also have pockets of green such as vine plants and potted plants along the top of your fridge and corners of your countertops. 

Go for multifunctional furniture with hidden compartments so that your countertops are clutter-free and you have sufficient storage space. However, keep the colours in the same range as your overall theme for that flawless kitchen design.

Don’t be afraid to go slightly wild when opting for a contemporary kitchen design. Add unique accessories such as a cool vintage toaster, brick walls and even geometric prints on your floor tiles to reflect that artistic flair of yours. You may even want to add bold patterns on kitchen mats to express your creativity.

Metal finishes are an excellent choice to give your kitchen a clean and polished look. With a variety of finishes such as nickel, chrome, brass and the common stainless steel, pick the metal that best provides your kitchen with a sleek finish.

For that extra touch of luxury and elegance in your kitchen, add gold accents to the knobs and handles of your cabinets. You even add a black and gold track lighting fixture to your ceiling, along with warm lights to accentuate the contemporary look. On the whole, the black and gold kitchen gives off a timeless classic look that is absolutely exquisite to the eye.

3. Scandi Kitchen-Cum-Pantry Area

Perhaps you’ve been to IKEA and you’re impressed by their kitchen design. After all, Scandinavia is at the heart of IKEA’s designs and it focuses on simplicity, minimalism, and functionality. If you’re envisioning a kitchen with this concept and added warmth, you can easily mimic a Scandi kitchen through a simple and cosy design. But let’s take it up a notch and incorporate a pantry area.

First, you’ll want to adopt a wood-on-wood Scandinavian look — from your walls to your floors and stools, use wood material for extra cosiness and a homely feel. If you’d like to balance out the wood in your kitchen, you can choose to leave your walls white for a clean look, while opting for wood only for your furniture. For some pop and vibrancy, add flower vases or potted plants around the kitchen. 

Instead of having a conventional kitchen with your stovetop and hood, transform your kitchen into a pantry space. Also, add a sink and equipment such as a microwave and a coffee machine to get you ready for cooking. Complete your pantry space with contrasting bar seats to add flair to your kitchen.

For your lighting, consider pendant lights for your pantry and track lights for the rest of your kitchen. Your kitchen is complete with a simple countertop drink for you to enjoy meals or drinks. 

4. Kitchen in Shades Of Blue

While minimalist, contemporary and Scandinavian kitchens are among the popular designs, they feature neutral and simple colours. To switch things up in your kitchen, forgo the usual earthy tones of brown and white or black in your kitchen and go bold. Choose brighter colours such as shades of blue — an uncommon sight and a colour that is sure to get guests talking.

Like this 5-room resale HDB in Anchorvale Drive, the blue in the kitchen immediately catches your attention. Although bolder than your neutral shades of white and brown, this shade of blue is still easy on the eyes as it is still slightly muted.

But don’t stop at just one type of blue. Vary the shades in different areas of your kitchen to differentiate the functions of storage spaces or cabinets. For instance, opt for cerulean blue for the top-level cabinets to store your plates and cups. Then, select a darker shade such as navy blue to store your pots and pans in lower cabinets. 

For a touch of creativity, you might want to use hexagonal tessellations on your wall to inject a bit of fun and playfulness into the overall kitchen design.

For the perfect match with your floor, use a dusty blue grey that pairs nicely with natural wood elements and earthy colours. Wood countertops are also a great mix for your cabinets in blues. And while your blue cabinetry is an opportunity to bring some colour into the kitchen, you can go one step further with your door knobs and handle. With gold, they help to bring out the cool essence of blue and give a refreshing change to your kitchen. 

5. It’s a Restaurant, Not a Kitchen

Lastly, how about doing something completely different for a change? We’ve done popular designs and colours — perhaps it’s time for a change in layout. Say hello to your newfound “Restaurant” right in the middle of your home.

Transform your everyday kitchen into a “Restaurant” for heartwarming conversations and lavish meals. First, wood-panelled floorings are a great choice to combine with textured surfaces, along with brown and grey-themed furniture to create a vintage look. 

Light up the dining area with an adequate amount of light using track lights over the table, and under cabinet lights lining the kitchen area. Bathed in warm light, you can easily create a very warm and comforting mood, and definitely an inviting space for food and conversations.

To create a bolder look, you can also add splashes of colours here and there to elevate your space. Opt for teal green cushions chairs for colour, and even display retro art pieces on your wall. Hang ornaments such as photo frames and place expensive candles, even placing cooking equipment such as coffee machines to define your space. Be sure to keep the lighting cosy for that warm romantic mood.

 Top 5 Kitchen Designs by Swiss Interior

Here are our picks on the top 5 kitchen designs by renowned interior design company Swiss Interior

If we were to hazard a guess, we’d say that one of the more difficult spaces in a home to design has to be the kitchen.

After all, you can’t just design based on aesthetics alone, as you would also have to account for the functionality of the space, especially if the homeowners cook fairly often. You wouldn’t want a kitchen that looks nice but is a hassle to cook in! In a high-use environment, factors that come into play include the many splashes and spills of food or condensation as a result of steam, which are just some of the many things to consider when deciding on a kitchen design.

Of course, that certainly doesn’t mean that your kitchen has to be dreary or flat. This brings us to our list of the Top 5 Kitchen Designs by local interior design firm Swiss Interior, which shows us how, with the proper expertise, kitchens can be both aesthetically pleasing and yet functional and practical at the same time.

The first home in our line-up is a 4-room HDB designed in the ever-popular Minimalist style, with a mixture of wood tones against a clean white palette. This design concept is extended to the kitchen, where the colour scheme is replicated on both the wall and fittings in a semi-open concept layout. What also caught our eye is how the top-level cabinets are accentuated by simple lights which shine down and showcase the intricacy of the wood grain surface.

In terms of functionality, there are also some nifty hidden features that help to facilitate a whole range of cooking requirements. According to Swiss Interior, one such feature involves the incorporation of collapsible windows, which enables the flexibility of converting the semi-open kitchen into a closed kitchen, when heavy cooking is involved.

Overall, we like how clean and simple the kitchen is, and the light colour palettes of grey, brown and white make it a very visually appealing space to exercise some culinary finesse.

For those who envision not cooking a whole lot, or are constrained for space in a small unit, there are ways to go about customising a small corner to accommodate light cooking. This brings us to a quaint little 2-bedder condominium in Grandeur Park Residences, located in the Bedok – Upper East Coast area.

Instead of being a conventional kitchen with your stovetop and hood, the kitchen space has been converted to be more of pantry space, to facilitate a sink and some simple functions like a microwave and a coffee machine. The look is completed with a simple countertop with bar seats for the homeowners to enjoy meals or drinks. For the design style, the space adopts a wood-on-wood Scandinavian look, with contrasting orangey-red bar stools to add some pop and vibrancy. Overall, it exudes a very classic vibe that you might find in some older bars or cafes, and perfect for a small 2-bedder home.

Next up on our list is a contemporary and almost ethereal-looking kitchen, within a 4-bedder condominium also located in the Upper East Coast area.

According to Swiss Interior, the design approach for this home involved incorporating a seamless palette of airy whites and dignified grays, across a wide variety of textures which include marble, which you can see here on the walls of the kitchen. As you may know, marble is associated with luxury, glamour and elegance, and it’s this same spirit that is echoed throughout the home, including the kitchen space. As you can see, there is ample room for a variety of functions, and having pockets of green in the form of plants helps to break the monotony of an all-white environment. It looks almost like what you’d expect in a Michelin-starred restaurant kitchen!

Another thing we like about the kitchen is that may not be as easily noticeable. To further enhance the luxury and elegance of the space, Swiss Interior included gold accents in the knobs and handles of the fittings, along with a track lighting fixture to accentuate the layers. On the whole, the kitchen gives off a timeless classic look that is absolutely exquisite, and would make cooking an enjoyable affair!

Switching up the usual earthy tones of brown and white is a kitchen in a slightly uncommon colour – blue. This brings us to a very spacious 5-room resale HDB in Anchorvale Drive.

Right off the bat, what immediately catches your attention is the blue, which is slightly muted so that it doesn’t come off as jarring, but also prominent enough to distinguish itself against the usual white and brown commonly found in a number of design styles. For functionality, there are also a variety of storage solutions hidden in the various cupboards and cabinets, which help in ensuring a clutter-free zone.

You might also notice the hexagonal tessellations on the wall, which we have to say work very well in injecting a bit of fun and playfulness into the overall design.

Rounding up our list of the Top 5 Kitchen Designs by Swiss Interior is a kitchen/dining area that can easily pass off for a top-rated restaurant.

First off, the design theme involves integrating textured surfaces with wood-panelled flooring. In terms of furnishings, the kitchen and dining area use dark brown and black-themed furniture, which creates a somewhat bold and vintage look. The space is also adequately lit with trace lights lining the kitchen area, and orb drop lights over the dining area. Bathed in warm light, the space creates a very warm and comforting mood, and definitely an inviting space for food and fellowship.

As seen from the photo above, adding splashes of red here and there elevate the space even further, and can create a warm romantic mood. Having red ornaments or flowers and placing them as centrepieces highlights the beauty of the space, and certainly makes this space worthy of a top 5.

Conclusion

While designing your kitchen may seem like a daunting task, embrace the process with a sense of creativity and adventure. Go through different designs and pick the style that best suits your aesthetic and cooking needs. Interested to find out more about Swiss Interior? Check out their portfolio of works on their website. To help you make your decision even easier, here are more design tips for you:

• 3 Unique Design Styles For HDBs
• Top 4 Living Room Designs By Swiss Interior
• Twin Vew: A Glimpse Through A Bohemian-Styled Home
• Gate Door Window – Your One-Stop Renovation Accessories Supplier
• Debunk the ‘Luxury Hotel Mattress Myth’ and get the best sleep you’ve ever had!

Check out stories of other homeowners and their home renovation challenges:

• Ask and You Shall Receive: Homeowners build Noah’s Ark as a centrepiece of their home
• Traditional Homemakers vs. Small Condo Kitchen 
• Young Couple that likes to host VS undesirable BTO layout
• Living with her clothes on the floor for almost 2 months!
• Fatherly Interior Designer Buys Into Young Realtor’s First-Home Investment Dreams