In our latest Dezeen Lookbook, we’ve rounded up 10 residential kitchens by designers who have experimented with bright tiles and coloured cabinets to challenge the ongoing trend of all-white cooking spaces.
Plaster Fun House, Australia, by Sans-Arc Studio
A pink-terrazzo breakfast bar is complemented by duck-egg blue cabinetry, spherical pendant lights and abundant brass detailing in this kitchen by Sans-Arc Studio.
It was built as part of an extension to a cottage in Torrensville and takes its cues from art deco and P&O architecture – a style that emerged following the popularity of cruise liners in the 1930s.
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Delawyk Module House, UK, by R2 Studio
R2 Studio introduced mustard-yellow cabinets to the cooking space of this 1960s home on a London council estate, as part of a playful redesign of the dwelling for a young family.
The kitchen units are teamed with retro, orange splashback tiles, minimal silver handles and an oak floor has been stained dark for contrast.
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Nagatachō Apartment, Japan, by Adam Nathaniel Furman
A bubblegum-pink kitchen suite sits at the heart of this Tokyo apartment that Adam Nathaniel Furman designed as “a place of happiness, joy and lightness” for a retired couple.
The units are paired with slender, blue wall tiles that are arranged in a herringbone pattern and a stripy watermelon-green floor. There is also an adjoining breakfast nook with a lilac carpet that is intended to resemble icing.
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House P, China, by MDDM Studio
MDDM Studio combined vibrant yellow walls with earthy terrazzo fixtures made from green, orange and beige stones to create this colourful kitchen in a Beijing apartment.
Contrasting turquoise accents, seen on the cabinets and sliding doors to the room, were also added to accentuate the colour of the green stone in the terrazzo.
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Klinker Apartment, Spain, by Colombo and Serboli Architecture
Terracotta-coloured cement lines the ceiling, wall and floor of the kitchen inside of Klinker Apartment, a holiday home by Colombo and Serboli Architecture in an art-nouveau building in Barcelona.
These warm surfaces are complemented by matching cabinetry and a central breakfast island but contrasted with the surrounding patterned floor tiles that were saved from the flat’s previous fit-out.
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Belgian Apartment, Belgium, by Carmine Van Der Linden and Thomas Geldof
The birch-wood cabinets and shelving that line this apartment’s kitchen have been stained a murky shade of green to evoke seaweed and marram grasses, paying homage to its setting on the Belgian coast.
They are paired with a dusky plaster wall finished in the same colour, alongside chunky industrial steel detailing, light marble worktops and a speckled grey floor.
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Kennington House, UK, by R2 Studio
Kennington House’s multi-coloured cooking space was designed by R2 Studio as “a kitchen that doesn’t scream ‘kitchen'” by avoiding the use of cold and shiny surfaces.
Instead, it is lined with birchwood cupboards that have cobalt blue, lemon yellow and sage green matt finishes, adorned with coral-hued stools and concrete countertops.
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Esperinos, Greece, by Stamos Michael
This kitchen is one of several rooms in a guest house in Athens that Greek designer Stamos Michael overhauled to evoke a gallery-style space.
Warm plum-purple walls are animated by a large piece of modern art and set against emerald-hued cabinetry and black, industrial-style shelves.
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Apartment in Born, Spain, by Colombo and Serboli Architecture
Blush-coloured quartz was used to craft the flecked breakfast island and splashback inside this kitchen in a 13th-century apartment in Barcelona.
They are offset with grey kitchen units with brass handles, exposed oxblood-hued extraction ducting and a coral-coloured arched volume on one side that conceals a small toilet.
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White Rabbit House, UK, by Gundry & Ducker
A large green kitchen island with an overhanging monochrome worktop made from terrazzo is positioned at the centre of this kitchen in Gundry & Ducker’s White Rabbit House.
The island is teamed with a backdrop of matching built-in wall cabinets, arched windows and doorways, and a floor lined with large slabs of luminous white, blue and grey terrazzo.
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