Kitchen trends to look out for in 2022
Just like in previous years we have again asked architects and interior designers about their predictions for the biggest interior design trends in 2022.
Covid-19 has changed the world, and this year too the biggest influence doesn’t come from big international exhibitions, but instead from recommendations from friends and family, social media inspiration and focus on practicality. We have also witnessed the power of Instagram and Pinterest here at Granitop, where the biggest and most effective advertisement has been the weekly stream of shared pictures from our happy clients. This has raised the beautifully patterned limestone Jura Grey as our best-selling stone worktop material of the year 2021.
Natural materials
Natural materials, such as light (oak) and dark (teak, walnut, even dark stained plywood) timber are still popular materials in kitchen cabinetry. Natural wood is especially used for cabinet doors and drawer fronts, however it’s not rare to find the frame of the furniture is also wooden, or finished with wood veneer, and made to match the floors or other furniture elements in the room.
Like we saw already in 2021 stone keeps growing its popularity as the material of choice for worktops. The most popular stone right now is quartz (almost half of all sold stone worktops). It is also worth noting that the third place on the list of our best sellers last year went to quartz Mystery White, that could easily be mistaken for the Bianco Carrara C marble, to which it bears remarkable resemblance, and to which it got very close to on the list of our best sellers. In addition to marble-patterned quartz the biggest rise in popularity went to limestone and terrazzo.
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Durability and high quality are always worth the investment, but practicality is becoming just as important in interior design. When it comes to the ease of maintaining and cleaning your worktop stone (especially quartz) really has no competition and thus the continuation of this trend is guaranteed. When comparing the classic and timeless white marble that held the number one spot for years, and a uniquely patterned limestone such as Jura one must admit the latter holds the advantage of being more stainproof and forgiving.
Comfort and open space
Practical approach to interior design is for sure important, but in addition to that we see more focus on comfort and wide-open spaces. Books are getting rarer and rarer in today’s homes and the physical volumes we still own are moving more towards the kitchen where the cookbooks and magazines reside.
Looking at the kitchen furniture and cabinetry as a whole we can see that the upper cabinets are losing popularity. Often, they are being replaced with light open shelves or wall cabinets with doors made of either clear or stained glass or different kinds of grates or netting. If the upper cabinets are removed or replaced with open shelves the kitchen storage is often moved to great cupboards or pantries made by utilizing all different corners, nooks and crannies of the kitchen. For these storage solutions one could opt for, for example, a full-length sliding door, make it into a handy set of roll-out shelves, or even use a blind or a curtain that reaches all the way to the worktop or the floor.
If such a giant cupboard is not an option, drawers are preferred over cabinets for storage in the kitchen. Different dry ingredients are also stored more and more out in the open on worktops or shelves as the packaging designs are becoming more stylish.
Kitchen islands
Where some time ago people experimented with kitchen islands that resembled serving tables, sometimes even with wheels, the island of today is growing bigger. The kitchen island has become the focal point of the room and often also contains a wine cabinet, dishwasher, stovetop or other kitchen appliances, and is surrounded by comfortable chairs. Even double islands are not rare anymore and using two smaller islands, instead of one massive one, the room lends itself for more natural paths of movement and workflow. In U-shaped kitchens one might find an L-shaped island, and maybe a sofa on the side facing the living room. Maybe a more traditional island or bar hides an extension leaf for turning it into a full-sized dining table. Or you might see an I-shaped kitchen with creative use of double islands parallel to the kitchen where the middle island functions as the kitchen table and the island closer to the living room acts almost like a credenza, a sideboard and a little room divider all in one.
The popular chair has now evolved from simple bar stool into much more comfortable seating that resembles regular dining chairs but with taller legs. Often these chairs also have soft upholstery or pillows. Naturally the selection of big furniture houses also affects the trends, and they are currently offering a lot of spinning adjustable stools and foldable director’s chairs.
Living room
Many interior designers now say that the kitchen absolutely doesn’t need to resemble a kitchen as we’ve come to know it. After all, open kitchen is not merely a place for cooking and eating, but an active part of the greater living space. And sometimes kitchen is not only an extension of the living room, but also leads to the outdoor space via a terrace, balcony, or a garden. Thinking about it there’s no reason to get stuck into all of the traditional kitchen interior design rules. In addition to practicality, we should think about what makes the space cosy and sensual. Nowadays you will find more antiques and art in the kitchen as well as unique solutions and very personal approaches to design. Since we are spending more time in our homes it’s important that the items we fill them with are meaningful to us and that the interior aligns with our needs, values, and personal taste. Previously the goal seemed to be to keep our kitchens as simple as possible with minimal clutter. Now that can be seen changing with more people embracing a family-centered approach and enjoying their favourite tableware, textiles and decorative items more freely than before.
The pandemic has also brought with it the need to be able to quickly divide the space into smaller, calmer sections for conference calls and working from home. This could be done with different room dividers, sliding or folding doors or at its simplest with a curtain, to easily create a peaceful home office corner.
Full-height solid stone backsplash
Playing with different textures using wallpaper, decorative plastering and rustic brick walls are still relevant today, but in addition to them solid stone slabs are both gaining momentum and growing in size – the trend is full-height solid stone backsplashes. Natural stone as a big surface, such as a worktop, is already a piece of art on its own right, but adding to it a backsplash reaching all the way from the counter to the wall mounted furniture creates a real wow-effect!
Popular options for the stone to use as a backsplash include different stones with brave and large patters (Jura Grey, Crystal Calacatta Silva or genuine marble) that don’t need to be the exact same material used on the worktops. A very different approach is to forgo shelves, traditional cabinets and backsplashes altogether and instead build a full-height glass-door cabinet to fit all your favourite kitchenware and items for display.
Colours
The trendiest colour of 2022 is olive green but the more traditional colours white, grey and black, and their combinations still have lasting power and continue to be a stylish choice. A poll ran at the end of 2021 showed that the most popular colour for kitchen furniture is white (41%), followed by wood finishing (12%) and different tones of grey (10%).
Renewing our selection and bringing in new collections
We are constantly freshening up our selection and bringing in new stone materials, sinks and mixers here at Granitop no matter if the year has changed or not. Inevitably the factories will occasionally discontinue the manufacturing of some quartz types, while bringing out new and exciting stones with different colours and patterns to explore. A great piece of news from the world of stone is the addition of dramatic Decore Ocra, a quartz stone with beautiful rusty pattern, to our selection. We have also added several wonderful kinds of marble to our special-order selection! Here they are – Calacatta Belgia, Fantastico Arni and Macchia Vecchia.
The TOP-10 of our most popular materials in 2021
Our statistics summary from last year tells us that almost half of all the stone worktops we sold last year were quartz, and out of those quartzes the Noble collection proved to be the most successful one. Next up were the granites (close to 20%) and limestones (close to 12%), followed by marble and terrazzo (both at just a bit under 10%). Our top-10 fit five different types of quartz, three kinds of granite, one limestone (the number one spot Jura Grey) and naturally the white Bianco Carrara C marble.
Our TOP-10 stones
Jura Grey
Bianco Carrara C
Mystery White
Noble Ivory White
Noble Concrete Grey
Nero Assoluto
Noble Carrara
Noble Supreme White
Steel Grey
Viscount White
Stones that almost reached the top-10 but still have a little way to go were the marble patterned quartzes Noble Areti Bianco, Veined Michelangelo and Crystal Calacatta Silva, as well as artificial marble Terrazzo Calacatta.
Take a look at the selection of materials and calculate the price of the stone surface!
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