14 kitchen design trends for 2022
Whether you’re designing your new kitchen from scratch or thinking about renovating your existing space, no doubt you’ll be intrigued by 2022’s kitchen design trends.
We’ve spoken to our design team, as well as some of the talented architects and interior designers we work with, to bring you the ultimate list of kitchen design trends for 2022. But these are not just passing trends, we believe many of these will remain in style for much longer than just the next year.
As conscious kitchen designers, we strongly believe in using timeless design options for the majority of your kitchen, whilst using easy-to-update elements to fit your current style preferences, the preferences that may change more frequently.
Designing your kitchen in this way means you can continue to make simple changes to the overall look and feel while the bones of your kitchen (the bits that are more expensive to replace) stay in place for a longer period of time.
Our clients come to us for kitchens that are modern, beautiful and designed to last. This doesn’t mean we don’t take current trends into consideration, we do, but we also believe in making decisions with our impact on the planet.
We therefore advise our clients to think about the longevity of their kitchen design and whether something is simply a passing trend or whether they’ll really love it for years to come.
To carve out your ideal kitchen space, here is a selection of our favourite emerging kitchen design trends we expect to see more of in 2022 and far beyond.
1. Recycled kitchens
Our planet doesn’t need more new things, we all know this, but how does that apply to kitchen design?
Sustainability has been a growing trend in kitchen design over the past few years and continues to become ever important. With events like COP26 bringing the impact of our actions into full view, we’re all aware that as both businesses and individuals we need to start making better decisions. And when we’re designing kitchens from scratch it is our responsibility to reduce our impact wherever possible.
Recycled kitchens are a great direct response to tackling the waste produced by kitchen production. According to Used Kitchen Exchange (a popular kitchen resale site), for every kitchen they sell, its re-use saves an average of 5,000 Kgs of carbon. That’s around one year of being carbon neutral for a family of four. And it’s actually very easy to do.
If you’ve been thinking about sourcing your own kitchen in this way, the best way to do it is to purchase a second-hand kitchen and work with a kitchen designer to repurpose it for your home. A second-hand kitchen won't necessarily just slot into a new space because no two spaces are the same, so the best way to do it is to have detailed conversations with a good designer around what you’re hoping to achieve, focussing on functionality and flow of the overall space.
At PAD, through our design service, we create a detailed specification list that you can use for reference when used kitchens in the style you like become available. We don’t expect more than a 70% match to give you maximum flexibility, so once we've found the right kitchen, we will adapt the design based on the product you’ve purchased. We also look at the possibility of using leftover cabinetry and stone for bathrooms because they’re materials that we know work for the people involved — it’s yet another easy way to reduce waste.
Here are a few places to look for second-hand kitchens:
2. The dawn of the kitchen home office
The increase in remote working over the last few years has found the UK’s workers looking for a convenient home-working space that’s also easy on the eyes. We have seen a steady increase in clients who are opting to put their workspace in the heart of the home: a kitchen workspace which, when done correctly, can become a light, bright and airy space, visually appealing to impress during important video calls. As always, finding the right kitchen designer is imperative to achieving the purpose you crave for your space. From a dining area with room for a lumbar support chair to kitchen islands with a worktop perfect for laptops and hidden electricity points for device charging, the opportunities are there to make your kitchen the perfect work from home space.
We like this trend because, although it’s been catching on more recently and cannot be seen as ‘timeless’ just yet, we do believe homeworking really is here to stay and therefore a kitchen home office will never go out of style.
3. Kitchen layering and texture
Layering is not just for our clothing choices in cold weather — come 2022, this trend is set to extend to our kitchens via surfaces, walls, doors and soft furnishings. Kitchen layering is all about adding tactile textures, adding depth to your kitchen and making even ultra-modern spaces feel more homely. By breaking up the clean lines, block colours and hard shiny surfaces of contemporary kitchens (like in popular handleless designs), kitchen layering adds character and complexity to an otherwise sleek and streamlined space. It’s perfect for people who like the clean lines of a modern kitchen but don’t want their space to feel sterile.
The textures you use are completely down to personal preference, spanning everything from stone effect surfaces and deep grained wooden doors, to brushed metal features and worn leather finishes. The aim of the style is to achieve a characterful, comforting and relaxed ‘lived-in’ look, so choose textures you know you’ll love for a long time to ensure your house really feels like home.
4. Double islands
Double islands are growing in popularity and are bursting with potential for the kitchens of 2022. We think this is a trend set to last because, provided there is the space in the kitchen for two islands, they come with a set of benefits. As you can imagine, the natural appeal is having double the counter space, but that’s not the only thing to consider. By providing more storage space, a second island opens up possibilities for additional fridges, wine coolers, hidden appliances, hide-away bins and more. You can also create two separate spaces set for specific functions, for example one set space for prep while the other becomes a dining space or a homeworking setup.
5. Built-in appliance drawers
Cabinetry has always been used to hide items in the kitchen and divide the space into functional sections, but have you considered building coolers or freezers into your drawers? The fridge drawer is a more modern luxury, part of the growing popularity for bespoke kitchen design as a method to cleverly save space. Discreetly storing colder items, some drawer models convert from fridge to freezer at the touch of the button, meaning your kitchen’s functionality adapts and continues to change to suit your needs even once built. You can also build temperature-controlled wine storage with a cellar environment into your cabinetry, enabling the modern kitchen to serve a wider purpose within the home.
6. Bold kitchen colours
While neutral kitchens never go out of style and are the perfect back drop, it seems in 2022 and beyond, more and more people will opt to add bolder colours to their kitchens. From cabinetry to walls to soft furnishings, we’ve seen a higher level of interest in adding statement colours to kitchens with colours ranging from the bright and bold to the dark and earthy. At PAD, our most popular colour has most definitely been green, with many kitchen-creators enquiring to add colour to their cabinetry as a starting point. However, we often suggest thinking about adding colour to elements that can be easily changed in your kitchen instead — walls, chairs and accents, for example — to ensure your more expensive kitchen elements like worktops and cabinets don’t run the risk of becoming tiresome or going out of fashion. Giving a statement wall a splash of colour is a great way to bring vibrancy to your kitchen without having to make too many changes should you decide it’s not quite right in a year or two.
7. Parquet flooring remains a statement
Parquet flooring, particularly in Herringbone style, has been increasing in popularity in recent years, with many home renovators looking to make a more traditional statement with their flooring. These floors are striking in appearance, so it’s clear to see why their popularity continues to grow. However, traditional wooden parquet flooring isn’t recommended for kitchens for maintenance reasons, but there are other options. Porcelain tiles, laminate flooring and LVT luxury vinyl tines are all fantastic flooring solutions for kitchens and can be used to create a parquet effect.
8. Freestanding furniture in the kitchen is on the up
Not all kitchen furniture needs to be fitted — standalone cabinetry, drawers and shelves are an increasingly popular option, particularly in more open plan spaces. This reflects the shift in using the kitchen as a living and entertainment space in its own right, with greater introduction of multi-functional kitchen furniture that is an extension of themes carried out in the rest of the house. Practical yet decorative, these items of furniture are a natural progression from the built-in options that have long set the standard for kitchen furniture.
Another fantastic feature of freestanding furniture is that it can be easily moved on. You can take it to a new home with you or you can sell it on.
9. Kitchen appliances are getting smarter
Lots of home renovators love implementing technology as it progresses, and kitchen appliances are no exception. Smart kitchen appliances, from wifi connected ovens to refrigerators with digital screens, have been around for a while but, until more recently, have not necessarily been adopted in the average UK home. The global smart kitchen appliances market is expected to grow a lot further due to growing demand for home automation. A large part of this push is the desire to connect smart appliances to smart home platforms and voice assistants. If you love the more traditional side of being in the kitchen and do not find connected appliances alluring, you shouldn’t feel pressured to keep up with technological advancements. That being said, a lot of our clients enjoy the connectedness, simplicity and intuitive side of smart appliances. We definitely see this as something that’s here to stay.
10. Wallpaper is making a comeback in the kitchen
Fear not the humidity: ventilation in UK homes is getting better over time so for many households, moisture-ridden kitchen wallpaper is a thing of the past. More home renovators are turning to bold print and patterned wallpaper to balance out the colour neutrality and sleek modern cabinetry in their kitchens. It’s an excellent way to add character and personal style to a space while ensuring the choice isn’t permanent and can be changed very easily. If you partake in this trend, opt for a wallpaper that is hardwearing and non-woven, and it’s a good idea to run over it with water-based matt varnish to seal the paper once securely hung.
11. Metallic finishes
In the past, when you thought of metal in the kitchen, your mind was taken to the clean crisp chrome of commercial kitchens. But, no longer for the likes of restaurants or professional chefs alone, metallic finishes are on the up in the residential market. Metal is excellent for creating accents and features — think brass, bronze, titanium, copper and aluminium — across flat slab doors, handle rails, splashbacks, upstands and even feature walls. As a rule of thumb, we recommend cool metals with cool colours and matching warm with warm, like grey toned oak with titanium and brass with walnut. You can introduce an element of glamour through metal and when mixed with other luxury materials like marble (explored below), this is a trend for those who are in the market for touch of modern kitchen decadence.
12. More prominent marble and more of it
Once considered only for the most decadent of homes, marble continues to make its way into other kitchens (and hearts) in the UK in a big way. From more expensive solid marble stone to marble-effect quartz and tiles, the look is now much more accessible. Which means contemporary kitchen settings and households with smaller budgets can now easily bask in its elegance. Quartz is a man-made material that is more stain and scratch resistant than marble, making it a great choice for kitchen surfaces. Worktops, splashbacks, flooring and more: marble adds the “wow” factor even in the most minimalist or small sized kitchens. Particularly if your kitchen is smaller, we recommend matching the worktop and splashback material to reduce the number of textures used, so why not add a touch of class to your culinary space with a clean sweep of marble?
13. Reupholstering bar stools
Upcycling is an extension of the move towards more sustainable choices when it comes to our kitchens, and oftentimes can be cheaper than buying new items of the same quality. So, since bar stools suffer wear and tear as part of their regular use in the home, there is a less wasteful option than replacing them. While chair reupholstering can come with a cost, if the items are sturdy, good quality or sentimental, it’s a great option to remove stains, replace torn materials or even just to give your space a bit of a face lift. Plus, if you love the outcome, the highly-customisable element of this option makes for something unique and priceless to take pride of place in your kitchen.
14. Pet friendly spaces
Now that more of us are able to work from home, we’re also able to provide a home to a furry friend. Pet adoption has increased dramatically over the last few years and shows no signs of slowing down. Luckily there are a few quick wins when it comes to kitchen design with pets in mind such as sticking to dark tones that are less likely to show marks and choosing easy-to-clean surfaces. Other things to consider are bespoke bed solutions, giving your pet somewhere they feel comfortable yet still part of the family, clever water supply features (bowls spill and get knocked over easily) and storage solutions for leads, food and squeaky toys you don’t want on show during dinner parties! It’s important to consider your pet’s influence from the very beginning when designing your new kitchen so that you don’t end up spending money on the wrong set up.
As with anything home design and decor related, styles go in and out of fashion. What’s important is finding something you like and making it work for you — and, importantly, making it last. So, while these are the 14 trends we’ve identified early on for 2022, more are set to emerge as the year progresses.
What are your plans for your kitchen in the new year?
Bring your kitchen ideas to life in 2022 with PAD: our design-only service allows you to make the most of a used kitchen whilst still keeping up with design trends.