The Swan KitchenModern Kitchen, Sydney

Option 4: Create depth in your design. This is a more advanced strategy, and one you might want to get a kitchen designer to help you with. Basically the idea is that the design details themselves can give your kitchen warmth. “Warmth is not always a color thing; it’s also about the depth of a design,” Rasky says. For example, “if you were to take something like a bright white kitchen, and use tile or stone for the backsplash and countertops, and have depth.” This kitchen is one example of the ideas Rasky is talking about. Here, design firm Minosa used large-format tiles to give the back wall texture, interest and a range of colors. Wood warms up the kitchen, yes, but so does the interplay between the patterns of the large-format wall tile, the subtly variegated flooring and the vertical grain of the wood on the island. Wall tiles: Iris CeramicaRead more about this kitchen | When Bigger Is Better: The Dramatic Look of Large-Format Tiles

Large-format tiles can be installed on both walls and floors. When used on a wall, they can be a durable alternative to paint or wallpaper. There’s no repainting or worrying about staining the wallpaper in your future. Since it’s tile, you can just wipe it clean.

For the social family, it was important that the new kitchen have room to entertain in. Bar stools were added to the island to allow for chats while cooking, and a walnut dining table to the side is where family dinners take place. The color and form of the piece ties in well with the style used throughout the home.

background wall for dining wash basin

walnut table off white counter. Floating feel.