What is the Coastal Kitchen Design Style?

Coastal kitchen design features a palette of soft, natural colors and materials intended to evoke the feeling of walking along the coast. These kitchens have open floor plans and abundant natural light, allowing for spaciousness. As you decorate your coastal kitchen, focus on unique natural details and a minimalistic feel.

Weathered finishes, attractive metal fixtures, and vintage accents add visual highlights. This trend has a relaxing appeal, leaving you feeling like your kitchen has a touch of seaside charm.

Avoid Artificially “Beachy” Decorative Items

Far too often, when people think about coastal decor, they immediately think of the artificially beachy items that one finds in gift shops. Modern coastal design trends avoid these elements entirely. You won’t find any plaques with beachy puns, fishing nets, or starfish used in this design trend.

Instead, you’ll find a focus on open design and hues found in nature, which combines to create an appealing trend. You’re working to create a room that naturally feels like the beach feels. So avoid theming your kitchen around fish, for example, and instead consider including a few nautical elements as part of the overall decor.

For example, a statement shell works well, or a piece of art with a seaside theme.

Focus on Natural Minimalism

The coastal design style reproduces the sea’s natural minimalism, including distressed wooden elements, ocean tones, and natural lighting. Design choices are clean and uncluttered, with open shelving, storage, and floor plans. Flat surfaces should be left clear to create an open, airy feel. Avoid collections of items on surfaces and shelves. Instead, aim to create visually appealing areas that are airy and minimalistic.

Choose an Open Style

Space in the coastal kitchen should remain open for energy, light, and people to flow easily. There shouldn’t be areas that are closed off or cluttered. Instead, focus on creating spaces to cook, gather, and spend time. Open floor plans, islands, and spaces to move are critical to this design. This makes your kitchen highly accessible and easy to use, which is great if you’re a home chef.

Select Coastal Shades

Coastal design trends focus on the colors of the beach and the ocean. Think navy blues, grays, and whites, with light or weathered wood finishes and brushed brass fixtures. Focus on a simple color palate that allows the eye to relax in the room instead of a more flashy, dramatic look. You aim to create a room that feels like a relaxing day at the beach, not a vibrant beach party, as you select the shades to decorate with this trend.

Opt for Weathered Finishes

The beach is visually striking for its ability to weather various materials - shells, glass, wood, and sand. Including weathered finishes in your coastal kitchen design helps the visual appeal of the beach in your kitchen.

Focus on weathered wooden surfaces, vintage glass, and natural seashells to help bring the outdoors in. Select brushed brass fixtures to complete the look. Avoid wall-to-wall carpeting and focus on hardwood floors with a weathered finish or tile floors with a coastal appeal.

Let the Light Shine In

If possible, include large windows in your coastal kitchen design. This may not be an option in your home, however. If it isn’t, focus on incorporating as much natural light as possible and reflecting the available light. Choose light, airy paint colors, keep the spaces open and airy, and try using large mirrors to help the space appear bigger.

During winter, mimic natural light with plenty of broad-spectrum bulbs in nautical-themed fixtures, creating a warm, bright effect. If there are dark or gloomy spots in the kitchen, consider adding additional fixtures or lamps to brighten the area.

Use the Best Accent Materials

Accent materials for coastal design include brass, nickel, and copper for fixtures and wicker for furnishings. Striped fabrics and rugs in heavy canvas can make bold accent pieces, as you bring pretty outdoor fabrics inside and utilize them in new ways.

Focus on simplicity overall, then use one or two special items as lovely pieces to highlight in the room. Think about the fabrics, metals, and woods you admire when you’re on a boat, at a seaside restaurant, or at the beach, and then select these materials to use as you decorate your kitchen.

Aim for a Relaxed Atmosphere

One of the things we all love about a day at the coast is the chance to relax, breathe in the sea air, and get away from it all. As you design your coastal kitchen, consider what would help you feel most relaxed. Do you need bigger walkways, so there’s less crowding in high-traffic areas? More storage space? Soothing neutral tones?

Aim for a relaxed atmosphere and consider what it will take to create that in your home. A coastal kitchen features specific decorating trends, but it’s also partially about your state of mind.

Focus on Unique Details

Fun vintage items can be another clever way to brighten your coastal design. Whether you’ve found a collection of vintage seashells, nautical decor, or something even more unique, focusing on these items can be a great way to create focal points in the room without resorting to visually cluttered spaces.

Overall, strive for simplicity as you decorate, then zoom in to show off the unique items that make the room pop. Thrift stores, auctions, and antique stores can be great locations to find interesting items to decorate with, especially if you spend time shopping in seaside towns.

Create a Kitchen That Feels Like the Beach

Designing a coastal kitchen lets you upgrade your kitchen while focusing on recreating attractive natural elements. Choose from weathered wood, brushed brass, and vintage canvas fabrics to create a kitchen that’s truly your own. Design a functional space that’s visually appealing, relaxing, and welcoming for the entire family - creating a kitchen that feels like a beach weekend.

Shop Kingston Brass for the Coastal Kitchen

As you design your Coastal kitchen, Kingston Brass carries the perfect fixtures to enhance the room’s entire design. From attractive sinks to brushed brass faucets, the vast selection of quality kitchen products makes it easy to create the relaxing kitchen of your dreams. Shop Kingston Brass today to see the variety of fresh new products available.