Luxury Kitchen Design Features: 10 Ideas For Your Project
Luxury kitchen design is about raising the standard of design and craftsmanship from the ordinary to the extraordinary.
If you are embarking on your own luxury design, this article contains 10 luxury kitchen ideas to consider. We’ve compiled our list from first-hand experience designing kitchens for some of England’s most glamorous super-prime homes.
1. Custom Kitchen Design: Truly Individual
The very best luxury kitchens represent the pinnacle of design and showcase the extraordinary that is possible. A custom kitchen goes even further than a bespoke kitchen by giving the client and designer complete design freedom. Custom design features include individually sourced materials, custom doors or cabinets and statement islands.
The design freedom of a custom kitchen means that the design can be genuinely original and personal to the client by reflecting their style, tastes and life story. This design approach creates extraordinary kitchens that each make a unique statement and give the property a distinct aesthetic.
2. Luxury Kitchen Appliances: Culinary Sophistication
Top appliances from leading manufacturers are a staple of any luxury kitchen. Brands such as Gaggenau, Subzero & Wolf are the best in the world, making them suitable for luxury homes.
Specialist cooking appliances such as warming drawers, sous-vides, teppanyaki and steam ovens offer more advanced culinary control for precision cooking. In addition, extra appliances such as second ovens and dishwashers make light work of cooking complex dishes and entertaining.
3. Open Plan Super Rooms
Open-plan living reaches new heights for luxury homes. Super rooms with generous footprints combine open-plan kitchen, dining and living into one space. Multiple doorways or openings offer a seamless flow with other home areas and create a luxurious spaciousness. Separate rooms often supplement the central kitchen to provide private living areas, such as a snug, home office, reading room, dining room or home theatre.
4. Natural Stone Surfaces
A luxury kitchen design offers the opportunity to source unique and exotic natural materials. The rarity and natural beauty of stones like marble, granite and onyx make them highly coveted materials, and they feature in many luxury kitchen designs. Some slabs are deemed more beautiful or unique due to their colourway or pattern. Investing in these more unusual natural stones is another way to add a touch of timeless individuality to the design.
5. Bespoke Finishes
Luxury kitchens feature the most unusual, rare and exclusive finishes to reflect the standard and attention to detail expected from a high-end home. Beyond natural stone, materials and finishes can include wood veneers which are individually sourced and stained to the perfect colour, molten metal coatings applied by hand in a bespoke texture, and eglomisé mirror.
6. Specialist Kitchen Lighting Schemes
Lighting is integral to any luxury kitchen and, if designed correctly, will ensure that the kitchen harmonises with the overall living environment. A specialist lighting scheme will consider the placement of lighting, colour temperature and light levels to achieve the desired aesthetic and ambience. Different lighting zones should cater to different times of the day. In the evening, the kitchen’s atmosphere should transition from day to night and become a beautiful backdrop to the interior.
Luxury kitchen lighting can be designed to highlight striking design features, such as top-lighting feature panels, backlighting onyx or illuminating a home drinks bar.
7. An Environment for Entertaining
Entertaining is at the heart of the luxury kitchen, and the grand proportions make the perfect entertaining space. To accommodate entertaining, kitchen designs often feature high-level breakfast bar seating for casual parties and lower-level seating for more formal dining.
Expansive islands can include seating for as many as ten people or a chef’s table-style layout for simultaneous cooking and entertaining.
8. Wine Rooms & Storage
Wine storage is another feature of many luxury kitchens. Many options are available, from a dedicated wine room or spiral cellar for the longer-term storage of a collection to a wine fridge for short-term use.
Temperature controls prevent wine from ageing too rapidly and preserve its taste for longer. Proper humidity maintains the cork and prevents the wine from oxidising and spoiling. Wine storage is a perfect addition to your luxury kitchen, whether your collection is for investment or purely pleasure.
9. Separate Prep-Kitchen
A luxury kitchen will often encompass a secondary kitchen, referred to as a ‘prep-kitchen’ or ‘spice kitchen’. A prep kitchen is a dedicated space for functional food prep and cooking tasks. Cooking foods in a prep kitchen prevents odours from overpowering the rest of the home, which is especially relevant for spices.
A prep kitchen can also function as a servery for entertaining, where food can be prepared and stored before serving guests. This highly functional addition is worth considering for any luxury kitchen design.
10. Home Bar & Drinks Cabinets
A glamorous home bar is the perfect way to add a touch of elegance and fun to a luxury kitchen. Home bar designs can include bespoke furniture drinks cabinets in the kitchen, perfect for entertaining within the main kitchen. Or, a home bar in a separate room elevates entertaining even further by creating a dedicated space to party with friends. Bespoke furniture and glamorous finishes can make a show-stopping place to entertain, whether a drinks cabinet or an opulent home bar.
We hope that these luxury kitchen ideas offer inspiration for your design. Discover more of our designs by requesting our portfolio below.
Extreme is a multi-award-winning, independent design brand specialising in kitchens and furniture for super-prime homes. Extreme carries out residential projects across the UK for private clients and collaboratively with developers and interior designers.
If you seek a specialist luxury kitchen designer for your project, contact an Extreme studio or book a complimentary design meeting.