If you’re planning a kitchen remodel, and you love nature, you might craft an earthy kitchen design. This type of design typically includes colors and images of nature. It often incorporates natural textures and utilizes plants and flowers. Including elements of nature in your kitchen design can be like bringing the outdoors inside.

Planning Your Kitchen Design

The first step in planning an earthy kitchen design is to clarify what your definition of “earthy kitchen design’ means to you and your family. Does it mean using the colors of the earth in your design, and all your appliances? Perhaps you want your kitchen to convey the image of a natural setting. Some homeowners with this design in mind will interpret it to mean using only organic products.

Your family’s preferences will be the determining factor here, so you should discuss the kitchen plans with everyone involved before making a final decision. You may want to gather inspiration from visiting a kitchen showroom. You and your family may see displays in that showroom to help you decide on the theme and materials.

One of the principles many homeowners follow when planning an earthy design is bringing natural light into the kitchen. Natural light invites the sun into your kitchen, making it the finishing touch of your decor. If your kitchen is next to an exit door, consider making that door a glass door, because a glass door will capitalize on the light in your yard. If you have a one-story home, you can install a skylight in the kitchen to flood your kitchen island with natural light.

Crafting Your Floor Design

You’ll want to use natural materials for your floor to conform to your earthy kitchen design. For example, using limecrete instead of concrete provides a more natural material. Limecrete combines lime, sand, aggregate (crushed gravel or rock) and water. Lime is a natural fungicide, so limecrete is a good choice if your home is located in a wet climate.

If you want your floor to resemble the earth, you could choose an earthen floor. These floors look just like the bare ground outside. They are made from sand, chopped straw, and water, although some contractors add a sealant. The earthen mixture is topped with linseed oil, although some have used beeswax to give it a polished glow.

The most popular type of natural flooring is hardwood, especially oak, maple, and cherry wood. These floors are relatively easy to make, install, and maintain. If you’re trying to save money, ask the lumberyard if they have a source for reclaimed wood. If you choose hardwood flooring for your kitchen, you’ll always have an impressive natural foundation for your kitchen design.

Choosing Your Countertop Designs

Your countertops have several uses, so you’ll want to consider their ideal location as well as the materials you’ll use for them. Most of all, you’ll want your countertops to conform to your earthy kitchen design. Some kitchens have limited area, so you may have only two counters, and they will flank your sink. In a larger kitchen, you may have an additional countertop near the stove to chop or peel vegetables before they go into the recipe.

Homeowners with a kitchen island will want to style their countertops with the same materials as those near the sink. One unusual design for countertops that has a practical application is an ‘L’ shaped design. This design extends the countertop horizontally to the edge of the counter space, while your island intersects it vertically. This design benefits busy people: they can cook food and then move quickly to place the food on the plates of those seated on the island.

Some homeowners don’t use a kitchen island. It may be due to space, or a kitchen island may not appeal to them. Some prefer to use a rolling cart as a kitchen prep surface, which can easily be moved, or a conventional table to double as a table for the family during meals. When choosing a kitchen remodeler, you can share your ideas with them and ask them for suggestions.

Selecting Your Countertop Materials

A natural kitchen design calls for natural materials, so selecting your materials should continue to express the spirit of your floor design. Granite kitchen countertops are homeowners’ most popular natural stone countertops, as granite has many different colors and patterns. Granite is durable and easy to care for. Granite is also resistant to scratches and heat, so its gleaming beauty will last a long time.

People with wooden floors who want countertops to match their floors can choose a butcher’s block countertop style. Butcher block is the only countertop surface that is safe to use as a cutting board. If you care for the butcher block properly, it will last for several years. You must use a food-safe oil to regularly polish a butcher block countertop, or the wood will dry out.

A third type of countertop to select as part of your earthy kitchen design is porcelain stoneware. This material is easy to clean and is resistant to heat, water, and scratches. Porcelain is also stain-resistant, a good option for households with children or elderly family members. Porcelain is available in a wide variety of colors and patterns and can be made to resemble more expensive materials like marble, granite, or quartz.

Reviewing Your Kitchen Cabinet Designs

Your kitchen cabinets are necessary but offer many opportunities to express creativity as part of your earthy kitchen design. One popular idea that provides an illusion of increased space is an open shelving design. While these aren’t ideal for breakable plates, cups, or vases, they are a good showcase for canisters and metal plates.

Before beginning your kitchen projects, decide where you want cabinets installed. Most people place their cabinets above the kitchen or the stove – a convenient choice, in terms of location. However, height-challenged people may need their plates and cooking essentials at a more convenient height. You can place cabinets under the sink and your kitchen island.

An open shelving concept to your walls can give you additional storage space. You also can use expanding shelves in your cabinets for more storage space. You can insert hooks in the side of a cabinet to hang kitchen utensils like a pancake turner, spatula, or meat thermometer. Contact a local cabinet maker for more ideas if you still need inspiration.

Picking Your Kitchen Cabinet Materials

Once you’ve decided how to arrange your kitchen cabinets, you can next select the materials you’ll be using. Once again, you’ll want to continue the spirit of the earthy kitchen design you’ve established. For example, if you go with hardwood floors and butcher’s block countertops, you’ll want a bare wooden surface for your cabinet doors. You can embellish the cabinet doors with windows and stain the wood, but you won’t need to paint them.

If your countertops are white, glass cabinet doors might be a good idea. Today’s kitchen cabinet contractors will often be able to provide you with a custom kitchen cabinet design to produce your unique idea. As for painting your cabinet doors, you should choose earthy tones to fit your theme. For example, green evokes the feeling of plants and nature, blue allows you to feel calm, like a quiet pond, and white means purity.

You can paint all your cabinets or alternately paint doors with bare wood. You could decide to paint only the decorative trim in the kitchen. Other designers prefer metallic kitchen cabinets, such as polished brass, copper, or stainless steel. One of the newer trends using metal is wire mesh for cabinet doors.

Designing Your Tile Patterns

Tiles are a great decorative element that can add style to your earthy kitchen design. You can make a mosaic pattern with the tiles and place the mosaic over the sink, or on the wall, to serve as a focal point for the kitchen. For example, if you have an available wall, you could create a mosaic tree next to a riverbed – and make the picture as creative or minimal as you like. You can also use tile to decorate the trim in your kitchen.

Other ideas for using tiles include placing them over the back edge of your countertop. Some people like to use tile in and around their sinks. You don’t always have to use conventionally styled tiles. If you want the appearance of bricks, you can use bricks as tiles on your kitchen walls.

Installing tile in your kitchen is very easy. Contact a team of professional tile contractors. If you’re artistic and have the correct materials, you might tile your kitchen yourself. If you have teenage children, you might allow them to design a tile mosaic in the kitchen.

Installing Your Kitchen Tiling

When you decide on your tile pattern or include tiling in your plan, you must determine what type of tile you’d like to use. Many tiles are made from natural products and can fit in with your earthy kitchen design. One frequently used material for tile is natural stone. Marble, granite, sandstone, quartzite, and slate are all stones that can be made into tiles.

Mosaics using tiles can use tiles of identical shapes or reclaim irregularly sized tiles for their design. Your tiles can blend into the color scheme on your cabinet doors or select a contrasting color. Your tiles don’t have to form a mosaic; they could make a simple shape such as a rectangle or a checkerboard. You can also use colored tiles which have flowers embossed on their surface.

Some homeowners use tiles to decorate their backsplash or the wall above their countertops. This design could continue the design from the countertops or complement that design. A boldly tiled backsplash and kitchen wall make a noticeable contrast against a dark, plain countertop, and provide an impressive look. Contact a local contractor who offers tiling services, and get your kitchen tiled the way you want it.

Purchasing Your Appliances

You know you’ll need a refrigerator and a stove, but you can make decisions about their appearance and your location. To find a refrigerator and stove that fits your theme may take an intensive search, and you may need to ask several appliance dealers. According to LeafScore, one of the most eco-friendly refrigerators is the Liebherr Monolith MRB 3000. There are many eco-friendly stoves, but you might like the two-burner Eco Fire Pot, which is small and efficient.

You should also decide whether you want a dishwasher and smaller appliances like a coffee maker, toaster, and an air fryer. The Bosch 300 Series Top Control 24-inch dishwasher was rated the most eco-friendly by Lowe’s. You can balance your desire for these small appliances with your budget.

When you buy your appliances, don’t forget to buy kitchen supplies and other items that match your earthy kitchen design. If you can find some that are eco-friendly, it’s better for the planet for you to use these. These include wooden utensils and reusable food wrap (made from beeswax – or from candelilla and soy wax for vegans.) You can also find glass food storage containers to keep food fresh in the refrigerator while using an eco-friendly container.

Painting Your Walls

When painting your walls, you can employ as much creativity as you did during the previous challenges. Depending on how you’ve styled your kitchen, you will probably still have some space left over to paint. Keep the color within the palette used in your tile or countertop or use the paint to accentuate wooden trim or windowsills.

You should contact a team of interior painters to execute your idea correctly to get the painting done correctly. Some national brands of paint (like Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams), but you may also buy eco-friendly paint from companies whose mission is to produce sustainable products. Better Homes and Gardens chooses the ECOS company’s paint as the most eco-friendly paint.

Your earthy kitchen design will take time and money. However, if an earthy kitchen design is what you want, you should go for it. Find contractors who understand your vision and let them help make your dreams come true. It’ll be something you can always look at with pride.