Kitchen walls and floors are standing out this season

Prevent your kitchen from feeling soulless by adding personality to it. Subtle changes, like contrasting hardware or a contemporary lighting feature, can be enough to tip the balance, but if you want your kitchen to come with high impact then look to walls and floors.

“Take into consideration all of the furniture you already have in place. Selecting a design that will go with your current cabinetry and countertops will help you get the look you’re searching for,” says Poppy Godley-Miller at Galerie Wallcoverings. “To add visual interest, create a statement feature wall by selecting a colourful and dynamic scheme that will brighten up the atmosphere in the space.”

If you’re working with a more old-fashioned or country-style kitchen, twist the classic to add variety. “Get creative with the layout of retro tiles to give an otherwise traditional kitchen a more interesting element. For instance, a herringbone or basket weave style is modern, especially when laid out diagonally or when different colours are used harmoniously together to enhance the pattern,” suggests Sian O’Neill of Topps Tiles.

For a more eclectic vibe, O’Neill has plenty of ideas on that front too. “Consider mixing patterned and plain tiles together in different areas of the room to create ‘zones’ or different focal points that work to draw the eye.”

Of course, it’s not just the walls that offer versatility: switching up flooring materials is another way to bring in something unique to the room. It needn’t just be practical, either, it can also be distinctive to produce big results.

“Mixing flooring options such as wood and tiles helps to visually define an area. Many of us have open-plan living spaces and it works well to use different finishes to separate the kitchen from the living area for example,” explains Lee Thornley of Bert & May. “Combining materials works particularly well with our encaustic tiles as they use natural pigments and so the colour tones are muted and sit well with the warmth of natural wood.”

On the tiles

Wonder wallpapers

Get on the floor