For a long time now, many kitchen designs have hit a bit of a creative block. How many times have you seen ads on TV showing a modern design exclusively draped in polished chrome features, or a faux retro look with the same aged brass handles you’ve seen a thousand times.

The thing is a lot of different metals go really well together, it’s just important to understand which ones to use without making your kitchen look like a reclamation yard (not that there’s anything wrong with reclamation metal… we’ll have more on that later).

Statement lighting

Possibly the easiest way to add a new metal into a kitchen is through your lighting. It’s very much accepted that your lights won’t match the kitchen handles, but why not go a step further and create a bold centrepiece that adds contrast to your other metal fittings.

The example here shows a 1950s house in LA that chose to add bold, copper pendants to complement the stainless steel fittings. It’s not to everyone’s taste but it’s bold and punchy, bringing new life to the house without completely losing the character of the older units, which they’ve retained.

Create bold features

Some kitchens require features to stand out, almost jumping out of the cabinets at you when you walk in. If you’ve got dark carcasses, you can use brighter metals to highlight your focal points, such as the cooker or the sink.

The example here uses long, dark handles to mimic the lines in the centre kitchen island. And then a bold gold kitchen tap as an accent colour that goes well with the light worktop.

You can find those kitchen handles and other styles here.

Recreate rustic styles (and here it is)

These styles of kitchens rely on a degree of chaos and haberdashery. If all the fittings were the same, it would just look strange.

The example here uses dark steel handles with stainless steel appliances and sink – combined with some dark ironware to accentuate feature pieces, such as the candle holder. The bright worktop and appliances bring a modern twist to the reclaimed cabinets the designer has used. The mix of metals in this kitchen works really well, as it does for any kitchen looking to recreate this style. In fact, rustic kitchens are some of the easiest to use mixed metal in. Avoid copper or overly polished metals, but other than that, pretty much anything goes.

A kitchen should reflect the different elements of a house’s personality. Whether it’s that of the house itself or the people using it day in day out. Too many uniformed, matching finishing’s make a kitchen look like it’s still in the showroom, waiting for someone to come along and add their own personal touch.

The metals and hardware bring personality to a kitchen, so choose the styles you love and experiment. Unlike cabinets, handles and lighting can be changed relatively easily, meaning you can try several different styles, choosing the one that suits best. For More information please visit Kitchen Design Styles