Mediterranean Kitchen Designs: Warmth and Coastal Vibes

Warm and oh so inviting, choosing to design a Mediterranean inspired kitchen can help you to create a space in your home that is tailor-made for entertaining and socialising. With comfort and charm at its heart, a Mediterranean kitchen is synonymous with preparing delicious meals to enjoy with loved ones, relaxing and recharging after a long day, and feeling enveloped in a space that feels comfortable and safe.

What are the Characteristics of a Mediterranean Kitchen?

Earthy tones, natural materials, mosaic tiles and open shelving often take a starring role in Mediterranean kitchens, which have timeless appeal and an inviting atmosphere. Wood, terracotta and stone are beautiful materials that often feature heavily in Mediterranean spaces, each of which can also bring a unique textural element to a room.

If you want to give your home a Mediterranean style makeover, here are some design techniques and tips you may want to try.

Incorporate Earthy Colours

Classic Mediterranean kitchens are often filled with earth tones, which instantly create a feeling of warmth. From light sandy beige to rich brown, terracotta, golden yellow and green, you can tailor an earthy colour palette to suit kitchens of all shapes and sizes. These hues work best when layered, allowing you to create depth by really playing with light and shade in interesting ways.

Pro Tip: As one of the main features of your kitchen, finding the right replacement kitchen doors is essential to the overall success of your design. Our entire Bella range of cabinet doors is available in more than 50 different finishes, including a variety of earthy tones such as sage green, cashmere, dakkar, and rusty red.

Opt for a Fresh and Revitalising Colour Palette

Admired the world over for its classic white and blue architecture, Greece is one of the Mediterranean's best loved locations. Blue and white is a refreshing yet tranquil colour combination that can increase the sense of space and light in your kitchen.

White kitchen cabinetry can offer the coastal vibe that feels so synonymous with Greek interiors, particularly styles with panelled detailing, which offers another layer of personality and character. Our Bella Richmond doors have a simple and sophisticated silhouette, which can be adorned with brushed brass hardware for an overall look that feels very refined and put-together.

From here, you can then start to incorporate flashes of azure blue through your choice of wall colour, tiles, and decorative accessories. This approach to designing a room means that it's easy to keep your space as simple or as impactful as you like.

Make the Most Out of Architectural Details

If you're fortunate enough to have a kitchen with unique architectural details, such as exposed ceiling beams, elegant archways or wooden floors, finding ways to incorporate these elements into your design will result in a space that feels authentic and in keeping with your property.

It's not always easy working with original features; however, they can be incorporated into Mediterranean style kitchens with ease. For example, if your kitchen has original dark wooden beams, choosing a floor in a complementary colour will immediately create a sense of cohesion and harmony between these two elements, offering strong foundations upon which you can build the rest of your design.

Texture Matters

The tactile and visually exciting nature of texture can offer rooms additional depth and character, which are two qualities that are essential to Mediterranean style. Incorporating natural materials is a simple way to guarantee that your space has enough texture, which is why natural stone worktops and wooden replacement kitchen doors work so well.

Pro Tip: There are also myriad other ways you can choose to introduce additional texture into your kitchen, including with textured walls, decorative plaster moulding, terracotta floor tiles, and handmade patterned wall tiles.

Accessorise with Vintage Decor

Mediterranean kitchens always feel lived-in, so it's important to avoid creating a space that looks and feels too pristine if you're hoping to design a room that feels authentic. Incorporating vintage accessories is an excellent way to ensure your kitchen feels like it's always been the heart of your home.

From antique terracotta pots filled with fragrant herbs for cooking to vintage weighing scales and old cookbooks displayed proudly on open shelves, there are countless ways to accessorise your kitchen that will make it feel as though it's always looked exactly like this.

You can also amplify the rustic look and feel of your space with new items simply by making mindful decisions about the pieces you're introducing. For example, taking the time to carefully select a beautiful wooden chopping board that has the right tone and texture means that it can offer both functional and decorative qualities to your space.

Frequently Asked Questions

What style of kitchen cabinets should I choose for my Mediterranean style kitchen?

As traditional Mediterreanean style is all about character and charm, cabinetry that has personality and a timeless aesthetic is often the best choice. From our simple Bella Shaker doors to our more intricate options, including our Bella Aldridge or Bella Stratford doors, you can keep your cabinetry understated or opt for more detail with great success.

What colour hardware works best in a Mediterranean inspired kitchen?

Warm toned drawer handles and door knobs tend to be the most popular, as they work beautifully against an earthy colour palette. The golden undertones and inherent texture in brushed brass hardware make it a popular choice; however, the rusty undertones in copper hardware and the vintage look of pewter can also complement a Mediterranean style kitchen.

How easy is it to measure for new kitchen cabinet doors?

It's remarkably easy to take measurements for your new kitchen doors. Simply measure from top to bottom and side to side, repeating for each door. We recommend measuring each door in your kitchen from the backside, which ensures that any detailing, such as bevelled edges, doesn't cause inaccurate measurements.