You’ve never been a boring soul, and your mantra is: go big or go home. And when it comes to your home décor, it’s no different, including your brightly colored kitchen. And even though you absolutely love the neon hues, there’s one small problem: kitchen’s get dirty.
How can you keep your kitchen interior clean and nice so that the bright colors don’t start to look ugly and splattered? Keep reading for our top 10 tips for bright kitchen maintenance.
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1. Always Choose Satin or Semi-Gloss Paints
Because your kitchen is probably going to see a lot of cooking action, it’s important to choose a paint that can hold up to water, juice, spills, grease, etc. Whether you want bright cabinets or walls, using the right paint is key.
This way, you can easily clean it whenever it starts to look a little shabby.
2. Save the Bright Colors for Walls or Cabinetry – Not Both!
This tip may go without saying, but it’s important to remember for a fresh-looking room. You can opt to paint the cabinets a bright color, and leave the walls white.
Or you can paint the walls a crazy color, and choose white cabinetry as well as neutral colors for the stovetop range, refrigerator, and furnishings. Having a strong contrast will help the bright color pop for years to come.
3. Start Small and Experiment with Bold Colors
You might feel very ambitious and want to color your entire kitchen magenta pink. But before you do, see if you actually enjoy that color in your kitchen. To check if this color will invite you into the kitchen or make you want to leave it, begin by introducing small kitchen pieces.
Look for kitchen accessories and furnishings in your desired color and see how they interact with the lighting, general setup and your taste.
Things like serving ware, books, cushions, curtains, chairs, benches, rugs and towels are all easy and affordable ways to experiment with a bold color before painting your walls and/or cabinetry with it.
4. Be Smart with Color Combinations
You might love a good coral or a frosty turquoise, but that dream color can be a complete nightmare if you pair it with the wrong neutral color, or with an incorrect, bold color. Here are some examples of do-able color combos for your kitchen.
- A deep turquoise looks amazing with black cabinetry.
- Find inspiration from Mother Nature, and use calming browns alongside neon greens, lime greens, and chartreuse shades.
- Lemmon-y yellows are uplifting when the rest of the colors, like soft greens and creams, remain peacefully in the background.
- Apricots and rich pinks look juicy when they share the space with velvety greens.
- Take inspiration from Sicilian designs that often combine strong yellows and sea-blue shades. These create an instantly inviting kitchen, where wooden furnishings fit in easily.
5. Be Organized
It doesn’t really matter if you have a watermelon pink kitchen or a beige one. If it’s cluttered and disorganized, the colors aren’t going to pop and it’ll probably ruin your appetite. So, take time to get rid of everything and anything that’s not useful.
Then, take time to create specific places for every single item in your kitchen. If possible, store things in cabinets, on shelves, and in the pantry to create clean, negative spaces on the tables, countertops, and islands.
6. Create a Gallery Wall
If you have a free wall in your kitchen, and you’ve painted it an electric, neon hue, it could be a bit much on the eyes.
You can balance it out with a gallery wall, full of crisp black and white prints, or abstract paintings that play with the bright background.
7. Maintain and Clean Kitchen Vents and Fans
Cooking can leave grease and smoke residues on your kitchen surfaces, like countertops, cooking ranges and walls.
So, a good way to prevent lots of icky buildups is to be sure that the vent above the stove and any other fans are in good working order.
8. Wash Your Kitchen Walls and/or Cabinetry
How dirty your kitchen becomes all depends on how much you cook and what you’re cooking. But no matter what kind of chef you are, it’s always a good idea to wash the surfaces of your kitchen regularly.
Start by cleaning a small, hidden spot in the kitchen to make sure the soap isn’t too harsh and that the paint can hold up to the washing. If the paint still looks good after your test, go ahead and tackle the rest of the wall.
Use a gentle sponge and soap solution, and begin by cleaning one small section at a time. Pat the area dry with a towel. Your local home store can recommend a good soap to use for your glossy and semi-gloss finishes. Otherwise, you can easily make your own soap.
These two recipes don’t cost much and there also paint-friendly:
- Start with one gallon of warm water. Then, add two tablespoons of normal, dishwashing soap together with a cup of borax.
- Start with one gallon of warm water. Then, add one cup of ammonia together with one teaspoon of dishwashing soap.
9. Vacuum Walls or Cabinetry
This might be a good step to do before you wash the walls. Dust, cobwebs, and dirt can cling to the walls and attract grease and grime.
By keeping the walls dust-free, it’s easy to keep them looking fresh and bright.
10. Use Complimentary Window Treatments
Window treatments, or curtains, can make or break the lighting and ambiance of any room. And since this area of your home is usually a crowded and busy place, the wrong curtains can kill your kitchen.
Choose curtains, drapes, and blinds that complement the bright interior of your kitchen. These curtains should also let light in, which is a natural brightening tool.
You can create a kitchen that reflects you and your personal style, without having it look distasteful or crass. Just follow these 10, easy tips for a bright kitchen interior that makes you feel right at home.
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Extra Tip: Did You Know That Contemporary Style is The Most Popular Style in Kitchen Interiors?
Homestratosphere.com put together a wonderful analysis of different kitchen design statistics and let me tell you – the results are staggering. Take a look at this quick table with statistics:
Click here for many more kitchen ideas – you can be sure that once you get to kitchen remodeling, you won't be in trouble, no matter if you choose bright colors or something mild and traditional.
