2021/2022 NEW YEAR KITCHEN & WORKTOP TRENDS II

Once again, this is a trend that has been pushed along by the need for our homes to be more multi-purpose during the pandemic. In Kitchens layered light can be seen in…

• Overhead spotlights for general working light.
• Task and focused lighting for working from home and undercabinet lighting for producing our marvellous kitchen creations .

• Islands lend themselves to bold statement lighting and can lift a white-on-white kitchen straight out of the clinical into the stunning. 
• Retro incandescent lamps create a soft ambience when entertaining. 
• We have also seen an increased number of people opting for under-counter LED lighting strips. Routing the groove for the strip can be quite a big additional cost but this kind of lighting and statement drop lights can be a great way of injecting some personality and wow- factor into the kitchen . 

Worktops are what we do, so you would expect us to have a lot of thoughts on this area of kitchen fashion!

• Marble-look. This still remains the biggest trend of the year and shows no sign of going away for 2022, both in the supernaturalist stones and the more obviously man-made.  For every person who wants something more natural looking, there are those who want a stone with a super-white background which looks more designed. For Shaker-style kitchens we see a lot of customers who want something quite natural-looking and we are starting to see people wanting more “warmth” in the stone. 

A full slab of Cambria Portrush – a great example of a more artificial-looking white marble

Silestone Eternal Calacatta Gold in Oxted, Surrey

• Going for Gold! The big winner in terms of design in recent years is the Eternal Calacatta Gold from Silestone. Almost every other quartz manufacturer has copied this to some degree (even Silestone themselves with their Ethereal Glow), but the Eternal Calacatta Gold wins in subtlety.
• Our best-selling alternatives to the Eternal Calacatta Gold have been the Calacatta Gold from Classic Quartz and the Calacatta Nuvo from Cimstone. Both have a more definite vein, with the Cimstone having the most gold in the outer part of the veining.
• The reason that these colours have been popular is that they have a bright, clean background that many people want, but with those soft gold accents which work beautifully with warm metal finishing touches and wooden accents in the kitchen. We also love Capri by BQS which has a more natural marbled background and softer sweeps of gold.
• For a more modern look, we love the Topus Concrete from Caesarstone and the Alluring from Radianz. 

A beautiful display kitchen for Norden Kitchens of Ewell – Radianz Alluring worktop and splashback

• Boldly-patterned natural stones. Customers looking to show a bit of their personality in their kitchens are often opting for a stunning natural stone, particularly with darker coloured backgrounds. For instance, the velvety dark chocolate of Belvedere Granite looks beautiful in polished, leathered and satinato finishes.  Although a difficult material to find in slabs with even patterning and at a good quality, when you find the perfect slabs for your kitchen it really does make an impact.

A full slab of Belvedere Granite in leather finish

White island; Black worktops

• Using two different worktop materials.  As mentioned last week with different unit colours last week, mixing two different worktop materials is still very popular. Often this may mean a stronger colour or bolder patterned statement stone on the island with a plainer worktop for the wall runs. The bolder pattern may also be used for a splash-back area or up to a floating shelf. 
• Care needs to be taken with using two different cabinets and two different worktop materials, to avoid overwhelming the kitchen with too much going on. Our sales team works hard to find materials that work to bring the whole kitchen into a cohesive scheme whilst using materials that are going to be practical and liveable for the customer. 

• Mitred down-stands sometimes known as waterfall ends. These have been popular for some time now and we are sometimes seeing them combined with wooden flyover bar tops. They can add a relatively large proportion to the cost of the worktop element of the kitchen. This is because although they may not appear much they are actually two very large pieces of stone, often needing an additional whole slab just for themselves. Mitring that join and back-polishing any visible areas also add to the cost. But they are stunning! 

One of our fitters took this photo of a mitred downstand in Cambria Portrush Quartz. Nice veins, lads!

Cove Dupont edging on Classic Quartz Calacatta Gold at 30mm thickness

• Bespoke Edge profiles. For many years Affordable Granite provided only a basic chamfered edge and this still remains our standard. In the last year we have seen a hugely increased requirement for more specialised edge profiles. Once again this speaks of the need people feel to personalize their kitchen and put their own stamp on the overall design. Bespoke edge profiles, due to their labour-intensive nature, can add a significant additional cost to the overall worktop element of the kitchen, but do provide a real wow-factor. Popular edges include our own “Cove Dupont” shown here in Calcatta Gold, and also variations on Cove, Lamb’s Tongue and Sharknose. 

• Tiles:- 
• Feature tiled walls still seem to be very popular. Bold geometric patterns for just behind the range or in between a false mantle can create an eye-catching feature. 
• Plain tiles but in bold colours and tiled in a herringbone pattern. Emerald Greens and burgundy wine colours have become more popular. 
• Exposed brick and slate slips are still popular but do need some thought particularly in an area that is going to have a lot of splashes , as they are not necessarily the easiest to keep clean. Highly porous materials near a hob (or even a sink) are NOT a great idea!

Vintage tiles create a splashback over white quartz worktops

Bold statement glass! For more on glass splashbacks, see our blog. 

• Glass Coloured glass and mirror splash-backs are always popular and easy to live with. People tend to fit into one of two camps, either Big and Bold – print or block of colour to add impact – or Strictly Neutral – a tone to match or complement the units and other walls in the kitchen.

• Stone Matching stone splash-back to worktop. We are asked more and more to provide splashbacks in matching quartz or granite – either for the hob/cooker only, or right around the kitchen. For a single splashback at your hob, the cost of buying in granite or quartz is not far different from going for glass. If your tendency is to a “blending in” splashback rather than a “bold statement” then fitting the same material as your worktop makes a lot of sense.

Even matching can be bold – this solid rectangle of Silestone Negro Stellar is no shrinking violet!

Full room splashback showing vein-matching in Classic Quartz Alaska Bianca 

• The cost of perfection. The real challenge with stone splashbacks is where the whole kitchen is clad (from worktop to wall unit) and where the stone is a “big vein” material. This kind of installation looks like a big bodge if the veins don’t match – but to make them match requires considerable thought, some extra labour and a cost in material. In order to get the match we avoid buying the more economical 20mm material, preferring to mill-down 30mm quartz to make the splashbacks. That allows us to use the strip straight from the back of the worktop run so as to get a seamless match. This all costs – but the end result is wonderful!
• For more on vein-matching, see here.

• This year has definitely been the year of the herringbone. We have seen herringbone marbles as well as herringbone woods. This trend seems set to continue with darker and warmer woods making a welcome reappearance. 

Beautiful kitchen floor from V4 Wood Flooring

• The predicted trends for paint colours last year seem to be carrying on, with both slightly stronger and more muted hues, and (as we saw last week) some remergence of pastels. We have seen a lot of soft blues e.g Bright Skies (Dulux Colour of the Year 2022)or Lulworth Blue by Farrow & Ball. Bringing the outside into our homes, soft greens are also on cue to be popular e.g Breakfast Room Green by Farrow & Ball.
• Even the brighter colours that are on trend are not garish hues. Yellows and reds are set to make a come back but they will not be bright primaries; the yellows will be soft buttery yellows or more of an ochre colour, for instance Indian Yellow by Little Greene.
• The reds are along the lines of a soft brickish red akin to Silestone’s new quartz Arcilla Red; I love Beetlenut from Paint & Paper library. 

Fine bespoke kitchen units painted in Farrow & Ball Stiffkey Blue – kitchen and photo by Nicholas Bridger

Lovely blue Graham & Brown kitchen wallpaper featured in Ideal Home – I am curious as to how the drawer and knob placement will turn out to be ideal, though! 

• Apparently, we are also going to see a revival of wallpaper in kitchens. There are more paints and wallpapers especially designed for kitchens now. We haven’t seen much evidence of our customers using wallpapers yet, but they is a definite move away from cold clinical kitchens to a warmer more homely feel, so this may well happen. Floral and animal prints remain popular combined with complementary painted woodwork. As with tiles and flooring we will also see bold geometric prints as feature walls too. 

• It is probably not correct to put appliances last, as they are usually the reason that we are in the kitchen in the first place. The main trend is to smarter appliances: ovens that can work to particular recipes and adjust temperatures accordingly, and fridges that can order the weekly shop for you! Boiling water taps not only now boil the water but they can do filtered and sparkling too: some even can vary the amount of carbonation to taste!

Samsung Smart Fridge-Freezer quietly rules the roost in this modern kitchen!

The adorable Rose Gold Funky Toaster from the Funky Appliance Company

• Small appliances in complementary colours make a reappearance particularly with slightly retro styling and touches of wood elements for handles etc. 

And there you have it… I hope that we will be able to look at trends again in 2022, without waiting right round to the New Year. Whatever your plans for your kitchen, we are here to help with the very best in solid stone work surfaces. Wherever you buy your kitchen, your paints, your flooring and your appliances, you need to look no further than Affordable Granite when it comes to your worktops!

Naomi King