Photo: almode.ru Despite all the fickleness of fashion trends, some styles manage to stay afloat for decades. And the loft is one of them, because every year it only acquires new features and details. A loft-style kitchen is at the same time unusual, creative, practical and multifunctional. Here the advantages of the industrial style are fully revealed. And we'll tell you how to use them!
Features of the loft style
The loft fits most harmoniously into functional rooms, because the style itself is initially industrial. Therefore, it will come in handy in the kitchen, especially if you properly arrange communications and choose household appliances.
A loft requires open space, so fitting it into a small and cramped kitchen is problematic. Otherwise, it is completely eclectic, so you can combine rough textures, elegant minimalism and catchy, flashy accessories.
Loft is open communications: ventilation, wiring, boilers, household appliances, gas pipelines. The main thing is to take care of the insulation, but you don’t need to sew everything into walls, boxes and hide behind facades.
In loft interiors there is a lot of deliberate roughness, negligence, and untreated surfaces. This is convenient and practical for the kitchen, because work and life are constantly in full swing here.
History of style
It originated not so long ago - in the middle of the last century in the USA. The prerequisite was a jump in land prices in megacities, as a result of which various enterprises were forced to move outside the city limits. But construction companies simply did not physically have time to build up the vacated territories, so the empty industrial premises were hastily converted into housing and rented out for affordable money.
In fact, it was housing for the poor - with a minimum of amenities, unfinished walls, huge factory windows. Often there was not even a ceiling partition on top - only ventilation elements, beams and other steel structures. The only additions were bathrooms and kitchens, which were also hastily equipped at first.
Low rents and the opportunity to rent huge spaces without special expenses attracted creative people and especially artists of that time. They set up workshops there and held exhibitions. Naturally, the paintings were perceived much more elegant against the backdrop of rough industrial textures. This also affected the exquisite furnishings, which were often adjacent to concrete and brick walls and looked completely different from those in standard interiors.
All this ultimately led to the fact that interiors, originally created as an economical option, began to be perceived as something elite and original. Popularity grew rapidly and after a couple of decades, loft was found on all continents and was widely used by designers.
By the way!
Over time, such apartments have turned from affordable housing into expensive and prestigious ones. This trend continues to this day.
Color spectrum
Loft-style kitchens are dominated by calm and restrained classic colors: black, white, gray, brown. And bright colors are well suited for accents, textiles and decorations. These can be acidic neon shades, or fashionable deep complex tones.
Black kitchen in loft style
For spacious and large kitchens with wide windows and plenty of light, a black finish would be an interesting solution. It always looks noble, elegant and stylish, and against its background any bright accents look completely different.
White kitchen in loft style
If you like lighter and brighter interiors, white color will come to your aid. With its help you can create a cozy and elegant loft kitchen with an emphasis on popular Scandinavian trends.
Gray kitchen in loft style
The variety of shades of gray opens up almost limitless space for experimentation. A stylish and bright interior can be achieved even in one neutral color scheme, combining dark graphite with steel, and cold bluish with warm taupe.
Green kitchen in loft style
Noble dark green shades are a stylish neutral background for an industrial style. It is lighter than dull black and brighter than calm gray, and against its background, aged wood, copper and bronze accessories, cast iron and forging look advantageous.
Brown kitchen in loft style
Brown in the loft is used not only in the form of natural wood. Terracotta shades of raw brickwork, fading into red, are combined with matching accessories and textiles to match.
Aesthetics
This is a modern kitchen design that finds expression in the romance of urban factories, factories and other industrial plants. The stylish trends that it has absorbed combine perfectly with new materials and elegant simplicity. The basis of the style is the openness of the premises, like an attic or attic, which confirms the meaning of the English word loft - upper room, dovecote.
Along with modern design ideas, you'll find rustic materials, solid wood, concrete, oxidized metal, and intricate glass that create stunning contrasts that bring energy with plenty of large shelving and beautiful industrial-style accents.
This style will not suit any type of kitchen.
Ideas for style may depend entirely or partly on taste, but general trends must always be taken into account:
- Open shelves . An attic space with an industrial look looks good with open shelves. Create a nice contrast with polished tile flooring and granite countertops.
- Brickwork . Use it for your favorite part of your kitchen - the cooking area or dining table. Brick will give the room a classic look for the style.
- Textured walls. It can be not only brick, but any other rough work, or its imitation - Provencal putty, imitation cobblestone, wooden boards, unusual tiles, burlap and hemp fabric - the choice is limited only by imagination.
- Large windows are the most noticeable feature of this style. And they create a great cooking space.
- The sloping roof with sunroofs is the best feature.
The basis of the style is the openness of the premises
Wood is definitely present here in one form or another - if it is not in the basic furniture, then the presence must be compensated by finishing the walls, ceiling and other surfaces. Often designers use hardwood and other expensive materials - such as high-quality furniture with glass and metal. Metal and glass surfaces work to increase visual space and urban novelty, and play with colors. While wood gives the interior a touch of country style, without which the design loses its zest.
In short, a loft kitchen is a combination of innovative design developments and familiar, useful details. Such an interior will look simple, holistic, devoid of everything unnecessary.
Tip Use laminated wood and artificially aged texture to achieve an authentic loft. Bright combinations of colors will not spoil the interior, but will make it more interesting, so don’t be afraid to diversify the palette.
There is definitely a tree present here in one form or another.
Loft style kitchen furniture
Furniture for kitchens in the loft style is laconic and functional, made of wood, glass or metal. The lower tier of sets closed with massive doors is combined with open upper shelves. This way, all the heavy utensils can be hidden inside, and small appliances, jars, spices and copper utensils will become practical decorations in their own right.
A bar counter with massive high bar stools, an antique cabinet, and a separate kitchen island will fit well into the loft. A large wooden dining table with epoxy resin inserts looks interesting.
Design of a kitchen combined with a living room (90 photos)
Furniture
The last thing you need to adapt to the loft style in the kitchen is headphones. The color and material of the facades, finishing, filling with fittings are possible, experiments with furniture are not.
Practicality comes first, so I strongly recommend that you read my 3 materials, which discuss the problems of designing a kitchen in terms of practicality, fittings and maintaining order: how to choose a kitchen, design a small kitchen, renovating a kitchen in a Khrushchev-era building.
This is how we make standard built-in corner cabinets up to the ceiling. The appearance is already more interesting.
Facades are almost always made of MDF or with a uniform surface (matte or glossy) or with imitation wood. Most of the latter are junk because they don't even remotely look like real wood.
The more solid wood facades look in color and texture, the better. Choose a contrasting pattern of veins, cuts and knots. Imitations on the market often have a faded, uniform pattern. This does not happen with naturally treated wood. Good examples: Egger Natural Nebraska Oak and Halifax Oak. Dark wood, by the way, is not necessary. The loft can be light. The main thing is that it be realistic.
But even a good imitation cannot be used over too large an area, because the pattern will begin to repeat itself. When this happens, we subconsciously feel “unreal.” Chipboard tabletop - ok, part of the facades - ok, all facades - not ok. I discussed it in detail in an article about a white kitchen made of wood. The photo below is natural wood and you can see it right away.
Kitchen set
Industrial style kitchen units usually come in two types - straight and corner. If necessary, you can order an individual design taking into account the architectural features of the room (niches, bay windows, projections).
The facades can be made of untreated wood, coated with neutral-colored enamel or laminated film similar to metal. An interesting finish is the stone veneer, a 1mm thick stone cut on a flexible backing that looks like real stone.
For a small kitchen, it is better to choose a lightweight plinth model without handles or protruding fragments, up to the ceiling.
Appliances
The main highlight and bright accent in the kitchen are red retro refrigerators with rounded corners and stylized as stoves. To create a calm loft design, a more modern product with steel doors is installed.
An important element of the interior is a stainless steel sink with a chrome-plated mixer, equipped with a high watering can. Faucets made of brass or bronze look no less original in the attic. To save space in the kitchen, built-in appliances are used. The industrial flavor of the style will be emphasized by a metal or glass hood with bright lighting.
Dining area in a loft style kitchen
It can be used as a separate dining group consisting of a table and chairs, as well as a bar solution with a counter and high stools. Metal furniture looks very organic. You can also choose armchairs, but as long as they don’t look “homey,” the office kitchen option is more suitable.
Loft-style work area in the kitchen
And here we adhere to the principle of naturalness with a touch of “industrialism”: natural stone, metal, glass, and ceramic tiles are used for finishing surfaces. Masonry or cladding can also be used as an apron, provided that they are impregnated with water-repellent compounds.
Storage systems
Unlike most other styles, a large loft allows for open shelving, shelving, or hooks. This is convenient in its own way, because you can immediately see where everything is.
If the kitchen is small, it is better to hide dishes and food behind the cabinet doors. To store various small items, it is worth providing drawers, folding and folding structures, corners, rotating shelves, grilles and magnets. The equipment can be left in sight, but it is advisable to use it in the same style.
Decor
The best decor for a functional kitchen in the loft style is carefully selected furniture with beautiful handles, fittings and other details. Fancy metal lamps, floor lamps with lampshades, forged elements and cast concrete accessories will complement the picture well. Pay attention to wooden frames and stands, bronze hooks on wooden bases, and steampunk style elements.
Loft kitchen renovation: materials for walls and ceilings
When looking at photos of the loft interior, it may seem that repairs and decoration do not require large amounts of money and time. But this is only at first glance. Restoring and decorating walls, repairing floors and ceilings require a lot of time and sufficient investment, even if the walls were originally made of brick. Key points to consider when renovating:
A distinctive feature of the loft style is the brick wall
- It is recommended to make the ceiling several shades lighter than the floor to visually increase the volume of the room.
- The best materials are plaster and paint.
- An ideal addition to the interior would be metal or wooden beams around the perimeter of the ceiling, painted black or silver. Make beams or install ventilation pipes, which can later be used to place lighting sources, preferably in the presence of high ceilings.
- Using a variety of lighting. The kitchen should have the maximum amount of both natural and artificial light, with track lights being a good choice.
A brick wall is considered a distinctive decorative element in the kitchen, but all the walls in the room should not be made of this material. It is also not recommended to use brick to decorate a backsplash for a loft kitchen, because it is difficult to care for. It is much more practical to use ceramic tiles, and you can also stick wallpaper on the wall with a pattern that imitates brickwork, and cover it with durable glass, which is easy to clean. The tiles should be selected in such a way that they blend harmoniously with the overall background of the apartment and do not attract undue attention to themselves.
You can decorate the ceiling of a loft-style kitchen with wooden beams or pipes
Idea! It is advisable to use a combination of different materials and shades when developing the design of kitchen walls.
Which wallpaper to choose and how to choose material for the floor of a loft style interior: photo
Wallpaper is rarely used to decorate a workspace due to its fragility and instability to mechanical stress, but it is quite acceptable to cover one of the walls with wallpaper. Wallpaper that imitates brickwork is considered a good option when decorating a small loft kitchen.
Gray wallpaper with graffiti will add originality to the room, which will dilute the rough interior with bright colors. An unusual solution would be to decorate one of the walls with black film, on which you can draw with chalk, leave important notes, or use it for children's creativity. Below are photos of kitchen wall designs using various textures and materials.
The universal material for the floor of a loft-style kitchen is linoleum.
To cover the floor, different materials are used, with the help of which the space is further zoned. However, it should be taken into account that it is unprofitable to cover the work area with laminate or parquet boards, because their protective layer is subject to mechanical stress: it wears off quickly and scratches appear on it. The ideal combination is the combination of high-quality tiles in the work area and wood in the dining space.
If you choose between laminate, parquet and parquet boards, you must take into account the fact that even high-quality laminate is less resistant to moisture than other materials. Due to the variety of colors and patterns, linoleum is considered a universal coating. In addition, it is easy to install and maintenance is not difficult. The coating is not afraid of moisture and retains heat well. The advantages of linoleum include the price: covering a kitchen with it will be much cheaper and faster than with other materials. Significant disadvantages are considered to be instability to mechanical stress and susceptibility to damage, because linoleum can easily be damaged even by a chair leg.
Curtains and textiles
Textiles and curtains in particular are not a mandatory attribute of spacious and bright industrial premises. But still, not every kitchen can do without them - this is not always practical.
The most harmonious are the same industrial collections: blinds, interior shutters and roller blinds of all types and shades. If you prefer more classic interpretations, pay attention to the floor-length curtains made of thick fabric on a simple metal frame. They are inappropriate near the work surface, but are good in the dining area or kitchen-living room.
Avoid excessive decor: lambrequins, multi-tiered curtains, lace napkins and decorations. Leave maximum functionality: hooks, potholders, stands - only the essentials. And you can add coziness with the help of bright sofa upholstery, colorful decorative pillows or chair cushions.
Decoration of walls and apron
Wall decoration is usually done using decorative plaster, brick, and wooden panels.
- Sometimes the surface is simply painted or left untreated.
- Walls with brickwork made from real brick or its imitation look very impressive.
- Wallpaper is used very rarely: no matter how expensive and beautiful it is, the effect obtained from decorating with textured material cannot be achieved using it.
- To decorate the apron, use concrete, plaster or brick, and protect the work area with transparent glass.
In addition, tiles stylized as concrete, white tiles, and skinnels are used.
Materials and design
The main advantage of a loft is its versatility, so the materials for such an interior can be almost anything. This allows you to make the kitchen completely individual and unique. No strict classical style with clear canons gives so much space for self-expression.
Floor finishing
If you still have old wood flooring on your kitchen floor, you can simply tidy it up and coat it with a protective compound. This solution is ideal for a loft; it is inexpensive and looks stylish.
Tiles, porcelain stoneware, stone slabs and arbitrary combinations of all these materials look good. The main thing is to choose wear-resistant and non-porous coatings that are resistant to moisture, because the kitchen is always directly connected with dirt, stains, moisture and grease.
Ceiling design
If the ceiling height allows, leave open pipes, ventilation ducts and other communications: this immediately sets the appropriate atmosphere in the loft kitchen. If there is not enough space, pay attention to suspended structures - cassette, slatted, plasterboard.
There is no room in a loft for a perfect, flawless whitewash, and even classic stretch ceilings are rarely used. But you can safely install any lamps to your taste, and not worry about where to hide the wires and hangers.
Wall decoration
To decorate the walls in loft-style kitchens, the most simple and concise materials are used: paint, stone, brick, concrete. Keep in mind that overly textured surfaces are more difficult to clean from dirt and grease. Therefore, it is better to leave the bare brick wall further away: for example, near the dining area.
You can safely combine different textures: painting with stonework, tiles with wood. Use bright accents: a red brick wall on a concrete background, colorful posters and modern paintings, abstract geometric panels.
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Color solutions for loft kitchens
Traditionally, a loft kitchen is made in dark natural colors, and this is due to the peculiarities of the style itself - the surface of the walls and ceiling is not subjected to complex finishing, but is left in its natural form, which means wood, metal, brick, concrete and stones. Dark walls and ceilings will not “press” and depress if there is good natural lighting in the kitchen. The accent in such a kitchen is the kitchen set and furniture in bright colors.
If you decide to create a loft style in a relatively small standard kitchen, then the solution will be white brick. In this option, furniture and kitchen units can be made in dark colors from natural materials with minimal finishing. The interior will be complemented by massive wooden beams, creating the effect of exposed floor structures.
The original solution is false windows on the ceiling. Creating the effect of bare ceilings, you can place structures imitating windows in niches. A stretch ceiling with a corresponding pattern will help create the effect of a sky with clouds.
Lighting and backlighting
Light in a loft is fundamentally important, because a large, spacious room with a rough finish requires thoughtful lighting. Use suspended slatted systems that are installed zonally in islands or stretched along one of the walls. They provide soft diffused light and look interesting with metal, copper, forged or textile lampshades.
An interesting decorative technique is ordinary incandescent light bulbs directly on cords and wires. A more elegant alternative is lamps styled like street lamps, spotlights, kerosene lamps or candlesticks.
For local lighting, LED strip is traditionally used, and less often, neon sticks. To illuminate the work area, take compact built-in lights around the perimeter. You can even combine devices from completely different and unrelated collections, which will give that same eclectic effect.
Zoning with light
The large loft room is divided into zones. The kitchen is combined with a dining room or living room. In addition to furniture, local lighting is used for zoning.
There are these options:
- LED strips or tubes;
- rail or bus structures;
- Spotlights;
- chandeliers suspended at different heights;
- floor lamps or spotlights.
Apron for a loft style kitchen
A loft for a kitchen is good precisely because of its practicality and the ability to combine incongruous things. Even if you leave sloppy bare concrete walls, this doesn’t mean you can’t lay out a decorative mosaic tile backsplash. On the contrary, such a game of contrasts always looks advantageous. Untreated brickwork also looks good as an apron. Just keep in mind that you will have to constantly wash and clean it, so it is better to cover it with a glass plate. But with smooth tiles there are fewer problems: just choose the right grout and pre-treat all the seams.
What should you consider when planning?
Dynamic, relaxed and adventurous, the design is perfect for a metropolitan kitchen. Whether it’s an apartment in a Khrushchev-era building or a new high-rise building, you can make yourself a loft kitchen anywhere. You will need to change the layout a little, or perhaps make a studio apartment where the living room and kitchen are combined into a single organic space.
You can't go wrong if you select materials for a room, focusing on a combination of modern materials (glass, steel, chrome) with old materials and objects (brickwork, concrete walls, wooden floors).
Stainless steel enhances the concept and highlights the contrast between the smooth metal surface and textured walls, which is why many kitchens are equipped with commercial or professional appliances.
Dynamic, relaxed and adventurous design
White kitchen
White walls are the most preferred design option and the optimal basis for placing advanced furniture. You can choose a plastered version, painted (including painted brick) or wallpaper. Against such a background, any objects look contrasting, and this effect will especially appeal to lovers of unusual details in the loft style.
The flooring used here is:
- graphite tiles;
- wide laminate;
- rough artificially aged wood covering;
- as well as other materials with a patina effect.
Stainless steel enhances the concept and emphasizes the contrast
In addition, you can throw in a rug that realistically imitates a “pedestrian zebra” or “hopscotch.”
A white attic-style kitchen should look like a restaurant kitchen: high-tech, neat, with shiny steel and chrome. A very original and fresh idea is a combination of a cool dark color at the bottom of the furniture and a contrasting bright and warm color at the top.
Tip To make your kitchen look more professional, you need to install a stainless steel oven and refrigerator. You should also have modern consumer electronics: a high-gloss black or chrome oven and a ceramic hob without a surround.
In the dining area, a floor lamp on a high chrome leg looks good.
The walls can be decorated with appropriate accessories: road signs, advertising posters, graffiti and other details that are everyday and common for residents of large cities.
Kitchen studio loft
Since the open plan of the apartment is becoming more and more common, there are a lot of projects in which the advantages of the style are clearly visible - easy delimitation of space, the absence of suspended ceilings, a minimum of rugs. And if you add new colors, plants and large windows on the sunny side, you can get a very comfortable living space.
The first rule here is to decide on the color scheme of the room you are preparing. The color scheme doesn't have to be restrictive or boring, but it's important that the pieces you end up purchasing for your space complement each other somewhat, either subtly or overtly. Popular tunes today are neutral, as they involve bright accents and relaxing, subdued areas.
Blends into another room
To make a real loft studio out of your kitchen, use industrial decor. One of the most important elements in it is open space.
The following elements are used here:
- brick walls;
- rustic furniture;
- vintage accessories;
- ceiling pipes;
- wooden beams.
Retro-designed kitchen appliances are combined here with modern cabinets and concrete walls.
Studio loft
Monochrome palette
If you evaluate the color content, there are shades of gray, brown and white everywhere. They form a complete neutral background, which is diluted with expressive red spots - the upholstery of sofas and armchairs, the lacquered surface of chairs, the inner surface of a pendant lamp, bright expressionist paintings on the walls. Muted colors help highlight and focus the attention on bookshelves. In addition, the vases provide subtle splashes of green and pink.
Zoning and transformation
The room has different zones that can easily be transformed from one to another. Although the space looks like one large room, there is a kitchen, living room, bedroom and several sitting areas.
Next to the shelves there is an area that is suitable for reading, relaxing and working. Choose furniture that can also be transformed to serve different purposes. There is a coffee table in the center that can serve as a pouf or table for drinking coffee and tea. The coffee table, in front of which is a large TV, is surrounded by a large gray sofa and armchairs . Here you can receive guests. At night the sofa can be turned into a bed.
Design of a kitchen-living room in a loft style
Lofts are best suited for large combined kitchen-living rooms, because at its core the style gravitates towards spacious multifunctional spaces. For pronounced zoning, use an island layout: a separate soft corner with a large sofa upholstered in leather, a suite, and through shelving.
The interior will be stylishly complemented by a decorative fireplace, fashionable concrete flowerpots with succulents, and elegant retro radiators. Leave rough wooden boards on the floor and a bright, high-pile carpet near the seating area. A full-fledged home bar with a massive bar counter made of wood or artificial stone looks interesting.
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Corner kitchen in loft style
Zoning is a common technique in a loft, but instead of partitions and screens, a competent arrangement of furniture and accessories is used. In this regard, corner kitchens are good, as they allow you to separate the work area from the dining area. These zones can even be completely different stylistically or in materials, because the loft is eclectic.
Design of a small kitchen in loft style
Fitting a loft into a small kitchen is quite difficult, because it requires space for maneuver. But you can use individual expressive elements even in a small kitchen - and use them to your advantage.
With a limited budget, a loft allows you to save on finishing, and if the area is small, it allows you to save valuable centimeters. After all, bare walls do not need to be carefully leveled with a thick layer of plaster or covered with voluminous panels.
Instead of large pendant lights, leave tracks or line up a series of spotlight LEDs. This technique visually expands the room and provides uniform, comfortable lighting.
Replace massive and heavy wooden furniture with lightweight frame structures, aluminum, glass, acrylic. They fit into the loft as harmoniously as aged classics with a retro touch.
Loft style kitchen – photos of real interiors
It is almost impossible to reflect all the diversity of the loft in one article, because this is one of the most comprehensive modern interior styles. To make it easier for you to understand the concept and its main features, we offer this selection of photographs!
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