You have so many options when designing your kitchen, whether it’s the first time or you’re remodeling. There are a lot of styles and moods that your kitchen can emulate with the right accessories and materials.
Do you want to feel like you’re in a sunny beach house? Use reclaimed wood for your furnishing and purchase aquatic-themed decorative pieces. Are you more interested in capturing the essence of a warm Latin kitchen? Employ lots of adobe bricks, brightly colored tiles, and warm earthy paint.
But if you want a kitchen that’s functional, elegant, and long-lasting, you can never go wrong by using metals. Products made of high-quality metal have so much to contribute to a kitchen, aesthetically and functionally.
Beauty Through Metals
You or your decorators have plenty of metals that you could use to decorate your kitchen. But first, be aware that certain metals emanate particular appeal.
Copper has a warm, reddish-brown color that works wonderfully as a light fixture, countertop, and sink. It can enhance the charm of modern and traditional designs. But when it oxidizes, it acquires a distinct greenish patina. Although you can stop this by using wax and lacquer, sharp or rough objects can scrape away this layer. It’s also soft enough that dents can occur more often.
Brass has a subtle, gold, and earthy color. You can find kitchen hardware and furnishings made of brass. The golden sheen adds an expensive and elegant aura to your kitchen. The metal also makes a room seem more expensive. However, brass is costly, particularly items that are completely made of brass. You could settle for items that are brass-plated instead to retain the aura but at less cost.
Wrought iron is normally black, adding to its industrial feel, but it takes paint easily. You could use wrought iron to create strong frameworks for chairs and stools and evoke an antique feel for your kitchen.
As beautiful as they are, some metals also have obscure abilities that can add to their value in a culinary environment.
Metallic Kitchen Magic
There some who ascribe great medical claims on metallic utensils, but the proven qualities of metals are already impressive enough. You can easily clean utensils made of metals, such as wrought iron and brass, with just soap and water. Some rare metals, like silver, have antimicrobial properties that keep them clean of microorganisms.
But the most impressive attribute of metals is their resilience. Stainless steel countertops will not tarnish from acidic substances and are extremely resistant to rust and corrosion. The material has an elegant but efficient feel because of its chromium content, which makes it easy to wipe down after particularly messy preparations. You can never go wrong with the material of choice of commercial as well as professional kitchens around the world.
Whatever you decorate your kitchen with, keep in mind that although durability is important in the kitchen, so is charm. Few materials on earth can match metals when it comes to combining both those things.
