How to Create a Sense of Calm in Your Freestanding Kitchen

If you like your freestanding kitchen spaces to be an oasis of calm and relaxation—aside from the odd culinary storm that might be whipped up during mealtimes—then there are a number of design features you can implement to create the atmosphere you’re looking for.

Your household’s engine room might become a hive of activity throughout the week, a place to dine, congregate, work, and chat over the day’s events—but let us explore some of the things you can do to transform your kitchen into a peaceful sanctuary for you and your family.

Time to declutter

It might be tempting to adorn your freestanding countertops with all the latest gadgets and appliances, but it's this kind of overloading of space that can hinder the feeling of visual tranquillity within your kitchen. It’s time to declutter your worktops. 

The first job is to decide what you’re using on a day-to-day basis, then utilize your practical storage space—within your handmade shaker cabinets or freestanding kitchen islands—and find a home for those less frequently needed items.  

You can then reserve your countertops for the stuff you're actively using. Not only with this give you a less chaotic aesthetic within your kitchen, it will also offer up more countertop space for practical and culinary tasks.

Feed the senses

Think about some of the touches and flourishes you can add to your kitchen to stimulate the senses. From a visual perspective, that could be the use of calming, neutral tones within your colour scheme, or making sure that you aren’t blocking any natural light flooding into your kitchen with your freestanding furniture placement. 

In terms of the other sense, you’re never going to be short of enticing food smells, but why not introduce aromatic plants or scented candles for when the oven isn’t in action? Piping some relaxing music into your space can also be the soundtrack to a calming Sunday afternoon of cooking and entertaining. A combination of these sensory elements will go a long toward helping create the ambience you’re searching for.

Choose your colour palette

While warming, neutral tones are generally more common in living areas within your homes, as this is the typical place for relaxation, you can also consider this kind of colour scheme in your kitchen. The perfect solution is to consider the shades around your home and see how your kitchen might complement the rest of your household. 

With the rise in open-plan spaces, this harmonious approach to colour schemes is a great way for homeowners to create a seamless aesthetic flow between the kitchen and living areas.

The colours of sea and nature can have a calming influence on your kitchens. From olives and marine blues, to fossil greys, there’s plenty of opportunity to integrate these understated natural tones.

Natural materials and finishes

Utilizing natural materials within your kitchen is a great way of bringing a sense of the outdoors…indoors and enhancing the feeling of calm within your space. Here at Hugo & Blake, we have a range of beautiful oak, birch and beech cabinets in our collection, that will offer your freestanding kitchen a wonderfully organic aesthetic. Add this to the many timber worktops available, and there’s plenty of scope to achieve that natural look. 

Why not further embellish that calming effect with a healthy dose of plant life? The introduction of a peace lily or a low-maintenance evergreen will both help purify the air and add to the zen of your kitchen.

How can we help?

Here at Hugo & Blake, our aim is to design and build your dream kitchen, with every bespoke element crafted to suit your exact needs and style preferences. If you’re looking to create a calming freestanding kitchen space, and would like to discuss some of the design options and finishes that will help achieve the aesthetic you’re looking for, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.