Designing with Color and Texture: Reference Models
What if you’re not building a kitchen based on historical precedent or want to create a kitchen based on your own personal vision? Modern materials offer a virtually unlimited range of choices, both in color and texture. The range of material choices is so broad that we’re devoting the next chapter to them. And unlike the past, these materials are easily accessible to anyone with the resources to pay for them. Your challenge is develop an individualized materials palette to work from in your design.
Choosing the right color and texture palette for your kitchen means making many choices, while remaining flexible and trying to keep an overall look in mind. This ability to visualize a finished room from a handful of fabric swatches, paint chips and material samples is an acquired skill. It helps to have a model for making these difficult choices, a model that gives you a reference point for the overall look you want. In this article we’re going to look at two such reference models, one based on a colorful photograph and the other on a grouping of favorite objects.
Two Exercises In Color and Texture
The following examples provide a reference model for sifting through the thousands of possible materials and finishes used in kitchen design. They show how to choose a basic palette of color and texture and then apply it to your kitchen to create a cohesive design. Rather that trying to wade through the almost unlimited range of available samples to pick colors and materials, you first choose a basic group of colors and then work from them, picking materials based on their relationship to your original group.
Exercise One, Favorite Photo
Grape Arbor Photo
Our first example is based on a photo of a grape arbor in early fall. We chose colors from it that naturally work together and also used it as a reference for textural and architectural cues like the bark on the old vines and the molding details on the arbor. These elements were then used to assemble several groups of potential materials for the final kitchen. Finally these choices became the basis for the actual finished look of the kitchen.
Its important to consider your original source an inspiration rather than a hard and fast guide. It might be possible to literally duplicate the colors in a photo like this and then carefully find materials that are exact matches. The results would probably not match your expectations. Instead try using your reference model as a starting point. The purpose of exercises like these is learn to visualize on an abstract level and then apply that vision to your practical design problems. The final result should be an esthetically pleasing and functional kitchen.
We started by selecting several areas of the photo that show colors or textures that we liked. The bright green of the leaves, the reddish brown edges of the early fall leaves, the weathered creamy gray paint and the purple of the grapes themselves were good starting points. We knew they worked together well in the photo; the challenge was to translate this harmony into the choices we needed to make for our kitchen design.
After making these color and texture choices from the model we had a guide for choosing material samples. The next step was to take each color or texture range and assemble samples of the various kitchen materials that fit in that range. Assemble a group of tile, wood, laminate and other typical kitchen materials that share a similar tone and texture. These samples can be obtained at any commercial supplier of each material or your local home centers. As you search for your samples you’ll may begin to understand why a model like this can be so valuable. There are so many choices that it really helps to find some method of narrowing down your range. In this example the colors from the photo provided that model.
Choices should not be only based on color. Consider sheen or polish, texture, resiliency or the way it responds to touch and other elements like the transparency of the finishes. Try not limit yourself at this stage by price or any prejudice regarding various materials. Just gather your samples in the groups by tonal and textural range. Once you’ve assembled them you can start to group the different elements to try various combinations on for size.
Our final choices began with the selection of a bright green Mexican tile. Its glossy sheen and reflective qualities were eye-catching and we knew that if we decided to use it the other materials would have to work in harmony with it rather than competing. The purple of the grapes required care because matching two strong colors like the purple and green can be a challenge. We found a laminate sample that had the color but also had a fine sandy texture in it that muted the purple nicely.
Taking a cue from the reddish brown of the leaves we decided to use oak upper doors stained a mahogany brown with the wide grain highlighted by the stain. The gloss of the finish carried over from the green tile. Finally, we knew the lower cabinetry would have to be more subdued. A grayish beige color chosen from a historical paint chart matched the color of the old trellis and a simple molding around the panels echoed the lines of the old wooden trellis in the picture. Our final choices of brushed bronze hardware and clear glass panels in the upper cabinets helped convey some of the intense feel of light that made the photo so attractive.
The result is an unconventional look that combines the almost pop intensity of the green and purple with the elegance of traditional cabinetry, a combination we would have been unlikely to consider without the influence of the photo.
Exercise Two: Favorite Objects
In our second example the color palette began with a few favorite objects chosen for their muted colors and textural intensity. The original idea was to create a somewhat restrained design that would serve as a backdrop for the intense colors of cooking tools and food. We assembled a still life from various objects, some from around the house and others gathered during walks on the beach. The final selection combines a black iron Japanese tea pot, driftwood and the muted hues of old shells.
We assembled our material samples based on a group of black, coal colored and dark metallic textures, the creamy whites and reddish browns of the shells and the muted brown of the lighter piece of driftwood. Again an unusual tile, this time a natural stone material set the tone for the overall design. These tiles are made of tumbled marble, a material that closely mimics the look of the worn stone pavers you’d find in a Mediterranean village. Complex in texture and carrying a surprisingly wide range of tones, they reflected several appealing elements of both shells.
The palette of blacks presented an interesting challenge. The iron Japanese tea pot was highly textural with a slightly glossy feel while the black driftwood was grainy. Our materials palette contained hand wrought iron hardware, black granite, laminates and dark dyed woods. Our final choices were small but very tactile hand-made iron pulls and a manmade solid surface material for the counter that had a grainy look but was very smooth, offering an interesting contrast to the rough marble tile.
While we liked the wood grain of the brown driftwood in the grouping, we eventually varied from the formula and chose a washed gray finish over beadboard panel doors. The grain of the wood shows through and the beadboard carries a reminder of cottages near the water. The slightly weather-beaten look of the finish also echoed the weather-beaten textures of the driftwood.
The result is a restrained but visually intense kitchen model that has a wide range of textural elements. The tumbled marble is a material that conveys a feeling of ancient permanence while the thoroughly modern counter material reminds us that this is a space dedicated to practical pursuits. The muted, almost monochromatic range of color is broken by the rusty reds in the tile and would serve admirably as a backdrop for entertaining and cooking.
Developing a reference model and creating a palette based on it will take experimentation. Inspiration will be found in unexpected places. You need not rely on paint chips for color choices, for example. Any object with a color you like can be taken a reputable paint dealer and matched to derive a paint color. The same goes for choices about everything from laminate to hardware. When matching its not necessary to find a perfect match, instead seek the same tone and range as the color you’ve chosen and try your material sample against your original source for compatibility.
The nice thing about this approach is that one color or texture can lead you to others, often resulting in an unexpected juxtaposition that works. Occasionally the model will contain a radical color like the intense green in the grape arbor photo. Experienced designers seek these more radical elements and insert them carefully into a design with restraint. Sometimes a luxuriant color or exotic detail can lift the whole scheme to another level.
In assembling your palette don’t forget to try a range of materials. Stone next to steel next to laminate next to paint is something that will occur many places in your finished kitchen. Once you start finding a basic set of three or four colors and textures to work with, get actual samples of materials and paint chips and try them together in the room under varying lighting conditions. Don’t scrimp here. If you’re unsure about a color or texture buy a quart of paint or a finished wood door and look at them on a larger scale. A few extra dollars spent on experimentation can mean less money spent trying to get it right after the fact.
