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5 Kitchen style ideas using tiles

The kitchen is the heart of the home and often a difficult project to design whilst prioritising practicality. A great deal of thought goes into the look and feel of cabinetry, lighting, paint colours, furniture, fixtures and fittings, but does as much consideration go into selecting tiles? Many homeowners opt for paint on the walls to avoid having to install tiles, but this can be a false economy. Both wall and floor tiles provide a clean and hygienic surface that won’t be damaged by cooking splashes or constant wiping and can really enhance the finished look of the space.

Natural and neutral

It’s no surprise that many of us opt for natural and neutral colour schemes; they’re simply beautiful and add a cosy feeling, thanks to the warm undertones of browns, creams and taupes found in a natural colour palette. These shades reflect the warm rustic shades of the earth and can be enlivened with dark leafy greens or coppers and golds for a touch of glamour.

If this is the style you’re looking to create, it’s worth considering wood-effect floor tiles. Natural wood flooring can be high maintenance and subject to damp, woodworm and the scratches and scuffs of everyday life. With the developments in ink-jet tile printing, wood-effect floor tiles now look as good as the real thing; check out the full range here.

For wall tiles, white brick tiles complement wooden worktops, cabinetry and rustic furnishings perfectly. For a really organic feel opt for natural stone. Here, we’ve teamed Natural Slate in Burnt Sienna with Levantine ivory wall tiles for the perfect country kitchen in soft neutral tones, for that blissful homely feeling.

Keep it simple with Field Tiles

There’s a reason field tiles have remained a staple trend in tiling and interiors for decades. They are a classic choice and simple enough to work in harmony with so many kitchen styles, with the option of different colours, sizes and finishes. The field tile has a long history in interiors due to their functional yet decorative qualities.

Whether your kitchen style is contemporary, modern or an eclectic mix of both, you can be sure that field tiles will in, some way or other, work easily into your scheme. Just take a look at the beautiful settings below that showcase how a simple field tile can complete a space.

Installing field tiles in a grid layout is one of the most popular tiling methods, but field tiles can also be brick bonded to add an extra element of interest.

Be bold with a statement floor

Flooring is fundamentally a functional design aspect in a room. It can often be overlooked in the design process or thought that functional needs to be plain to be practical.

Nowadays this is no longer the case, recent years have seen vast developments in ink-jet printing – meaning beautiful patterns can be printed onto practical porcelain tiles! There’s a whole host of options out there from bold patterns (check out the Odyssey collection) to all sorts of heavily detailed wood and stone-effect tiles.

For an authentic look, its worth considering Victorian Floor Tiles. There’s a wealth of patterns, designs and colours to choose from, all with the advantage of longevity due to their hard-wearing nature. This means Victorian Floor tiles are perfectly suited to kitchens that endure high traffic, spills and the daily tread of busy families!

Experiment with layouts

If you’ve opted for simple cabinetry or a more contemporary style, but you’re still looking to add that pop of interest, why not try tiling in a herringbone layout? Any brick tile can be ‘herringboned’ but it works especially well with ‘kit-kat’ style brick tiles that are long and thin. This is also a great way to introduce colour into scheme whilst including some texture and interest.

Feature walls

The kitchen is the perfect place for a feature wall, especially if you’re looking for a way to inject a bit of personality and style into a practical space. You don’t need to tile entire walls, just the areas prone to spills and splashes making splashbacks a great place to start! Just take a look at our Mosaics collection and explore all sorts of colours, textures, patterns and shapes that are perfect for transforming a space. Shown below are Fable and Medine Mosaics, both made up of beautiful intricate patterns in a multiway of colours or a soft muted grey.

For an even bolder look, explore our Odyssey collection, home to a huge variety of patterned tiles in a range of sizes.

If you still can’t decide on kitchen tiles, find your nearest Original Style retailer. Visiting your local tile showroom will allow you to appreciate the look and feel of a wide range of tiles and get help and advice from the experts.