Built-In Features of a Farmhouse Kitchen

The farmhouse look is all about sturdiness and practicality. It’s a necessity for life on a farm because home essentials cannot be as conveniently replaced as in the city. Everything has to be built to last. There’s also an emphasis on being more down-to-earth with natural materials.

With those qualities in mind, here’s how you can achieve the farmhouse look in your kitchen with built-in features:

Architectural details

Take a look at the existing structural features in your kitchen. Is there something about its bare bones that you can highlight? If yes, don’t cover them up with finishing; farmhouses often leave brick walls and ceiling beams exposed. If you don’t have these features and still want that look, build them in! To be more faithful to farmhouse styles, source old bricks and wooden beams. What’s great about reclaiming old materials is they come with a history that makes for a great conversation piece with guests.

Large windows are used a lot in farmhouses to maximize daylight. Besides size, you can also play with window shapes. Skylights, arched windows, Palladian windows, and transom windows are all designed to bring in more sunlight.

Shiplap walls are classic in the farmhouse style. If you paint them white, all the structural features you want to enhance will stand out even more. For texture variety in the kitchen, use beadboard finishes on the cabinet doors as well as the island base cabinet.

Flooring

Farmhouse kitchens call for natural and rugged floors. That means flooring materials of hardwood or stone. Again, try finding reclaimed planks for hardwood floors. If you opt for a stone floor, use slate tiles with a rough surface finish. You’ll have to seal them regularly though so keep that in mind. Rounding out the farmhouse look for whatever flooring you choose, lay down vintage runners to give the kitchen a more cozy feeling.

Countertops

Baking is a big part of farmhouse life. And if you’re a baker, then you probably swear by marble countertops as a baking surface. The naturally cool touch of marble is perfect for rolling dough without having to sprinkle too much flour on the counter beforehand. It’s also great for lining up fresh-baked goods to cool off enough to enjoy. As for the colour, white is a good choice because it’ll help accentuate the natural materials in the kitchen.

You can add to the rustic theme with a patterned tile backsplash. Bonus points if they have a hand-painted look! They could be patterns of wildflowers, crop harvests, or even just simple floral borders. What’s more, patterned tile is actually one of the backsplash trends this year and probably into the next.

Cabinets and open shelving

Eliminate the debate of whether cabinets or open shelving is better by getting both! Continuing with the natural materials theme, use maple or oak to build them. When you paint the well-defined grains of these woods in pastel or muted colours, you’ll get a certain weathered charm from them.

This is a good, solid base for a farmhouse kitchen. It takes care of all the major elements to get you the country feel you’ve always wanted. If you really want to take the farmhouse look all the way to authenticity though, don’t miss out on the next post.