Literally every owner, who is planning repair of the kitchen space, faced with a choice of finishing materials for the walls. The inevitability of such dilemma emergence is related to the specific functioning of the kitchen space – high humidity, constant changes of temperature conditions, the presence of soot and hot fat droplets in the air. Despite the increasing popularity of the use of powerful extractors, the walls in the kitchens are often exposed to various destructive factors. Good news for all homeowners, who plan a renovation in the kitchen area, is that there are plenty of materials that can emphasize the individuality of the interior and maintain an attractive appearance after exposure to all negative factors. But the choice still waits for your decision. In order to make it easier to navigate in a variety of kitchen walls best finishing materials with photos, we have created a selection of current design projects of modern kitchens, which were used the most popular means of surface finishing to date in their design.
Requirements for finishing materials of kitchen space
Obviously, the choice of finishing materials affects primarily on the style of interior design and the basis of zoning premises on working and dining segments. But because of the functional characteristics, specific microclimate of the kitchens, there are performance criteria to be met by finishing materials:
- resistance to moisture, splashes of hot water;
- keeping the original appearance after exposure to high temperatures, dripping hot grease and grime;
- ease of care, which suggests the possibility of cleaning the surfaces (using a solvent) and then saving the “marketable condition” of finishing material;
- a high level of hygiene – no tendency to accumulation and multiplication of harmful microorganisms.
The one can often see the use of ceramic tiles or mosaics, painting and pasting wallpaper on the walls in the real kitchens. Also wall panels veneering and application of decorative plaster are in use. Of course, most finishing materials are combined within the functional areas of the kitchen facilities – the main separation factor is the presence of working and a dining area. Namely by means of combining the decoration of certain segments of the functional kitchen segments achieves the maximum effect and the ratio of decorative and technological parameters.
Ceramic tiles in the kitchen area
Ceramic tile and mosaic are among the most popular materials for kitchens’ cladding. When making a kitchen apron ceramic cladding becomes simply indispensable tool. Incredible popularity of this finishing material is explained by the following technological and decorative properties:
- durability;
- the ability to tolerate high temperatures;
- moisture, hot grease resistance and other harmful factors;
- ease of care, possibility to use detergents;
- the richness of color and texture solutions, variations of size and configuration;
- excellent compatibility with other finishing materials.
Conventionally, the entire ceramic tile can be divided into the following types:
- smooth;
- textured;
- glossy;
- matte.
Find a suitable option of ceramic tiles, which will not only perfectly protect the wall cuisine from various exposure factors but also become an organic element of the interior can anyone who is planning to renovate the kitchen area. There is represented a lot of ready-made collections in general sale, which include materials, organically selected for cladding floors, walls, kitchen splashback. There are decorative elements, various panels, borders, moldings and baseboards.
It is hard to meet the design project of kitchen design, where all the surface of the walls would be lined with tiles. Yet in the modern interior of the kitchen, ceramics is most common as splashback or the working area of the wall trimming. The entire surface over the entire working area (sector of the sink and the hob or plate placement) can be arranged with the help of ceramic tiles or mosaics, making it the accent wall with the help of color or texture.
Painting of kitchen walls
For many of our compatriots painting the kitchen walls becomes the best option of decoration. In the first place it is due to the affordable cost of materials and the possibility to carry out all the work by yourself. The ability to find the right shade using the color mixing also serves as the advantage of such a finish. But it is important to understand that this method of wall design requires a lot of preparation – for painting must have perfectly flat and smooth surface.
Water-resistant and washable paints are suitable for the kitchen spaces. As for the color palette, the choice of the options is variegated. Typically, using different by brightness shades of one color, designers and their customers separate the food intake zone from the working area segment. But you can also use fundamentally different colors – bright, colorful tone for a dining area and pastel – for working area.
Choosing a paint color for the walls of the kitchen space, keep in mind that the cool colors (all shades of blue, green and their variations) help to reduce appetite. But the tones of red, orange will awaken not only positive emotions and adrenaline, but also hunger. Of course, the choice of color palette of wall decoration will depend on the range of kitchen fronts. If your kitchen set is presented in a bright tone, then is better to choose light, neutral palette for finishing. And vice versa – for the neutral color of the furniture ensemble colorful design of the vertical surfaces of the room will be a great companion.
When choosing between glossy and matte paint, it is important to understand that the surface with a slight shine look great and even visually able to increase the scope of the room, they are perfect in cleaning and do not gather dust. But the smallest surface irregularities are clearly visibleoin these walls. If you do not sure about the ideally grinded walls, it is better to prefer a matte and semigloss paints.
Mainstream of modern kitchen space design projects is the use of black paint to finish one of the walls. This surface becomes a sort of communicative ground for the households. They can post messages to each other, to write recipes or just post photos, children’s drawings, postcards and magnets, brought back from trips on a dark surface.