Country Kitchens for your Country Home; Decorating Ideas, Design and Images

Enjoy our country kitchens. Some ideas to create your own using the right furniture, decor and design.

Just how does one create kitchens with that country style and look one sees in decorating magazines or other people's homes?

A country kitchen conjours up scrubbed pine tables and herbs. It's the heart of the home where people gather for meals, bake bread, can vegetables and fruit from the orchards, or just a place to sit and chat and share the happenings of the day.

As a result, it should be a welcoming place with good light, a place to sit, a place to cook those country meals, and that specific country style you choose will be an extension of your personality.

There are many different types of country living kitchens from the rustic to the traditional, French romantic and even the sophisticated.

If you already live in a farmhouse, then a country living kitchen would be a natural choice. We hope to give you some good country kitchen ideas that you can take away with you so that you will know just what to do when redecorating or building your country home.

A large country living kitchen reflects the more relaxed atmosphere of country. It's also a hard-working area. Floors have to cope with the punishment of muddy and dusty boots. Hearty meals and numerous snacks are consumed around the kitchen table and cooked in woodstoves or farmhouse ranges.

Country Kitchens; Ideas:

Have a built-in wood box beside the woodstove which can be filled from the outside through a trap-door. This will save the unavoidable dropping of wood debris being dragged through the kitchen

Rugged floor finish and a strong table and comfortable chairs would be a boon in this type of kitchen. Nowadays, the season's excess of fruit and vegetables can be either bottled and stored in a generous pantry, or deep frozen. But when you have a farmhouse kitchen you can display these on your dresser in decorative canning jars.

When dealing with food in quantity, more work and storage space is needed than the average city kitchen can afford. But there's no earthly reason why a kitchen shouldn't be glossy and stylish or a city kitchen matter of personal preference. The only hard and fast rule is that your kitchen should serve you well and be in harmony with your lifestyle.

Country Kitchen Ideas for Creating that Look

Have a look at the picture above of typical French country kitchen decor for this part of the house. You only have to look at the wooden cupboards; warm tones, bordering on the slightly rustic, and yet, not really. They still maintain a quiet air of sophistication, although rustic cupboards would not be out of place here either.

Look at the gleaming copperware, an essential element of any country style kitchen, and having them hanging from the wrought iron frame adds character to the scene. The copper theme is echoed throughout, bringing different elements together and therefore cohesion.

We see this with the antique bronze taps, the cupboard handles and the bronze Belfast sink. These are all different country kitchen elements that have been "knitted together" using bronze, copper and wrought iron as metal materials, and therefore resulting in a very fluid country living kitchen.

Imagine how dreadful it would have looked had the designer used stainless steel taps? The whole picture would have been ruined. Paying attention to detail when drawing up your country kitchen designs and choosing your country kitchen decor is what will make your kitchen authentic looking in its style.

And what about the beautifully carved stone range hood? This essential element of a country living kitchen truly is a work of art, and adds elegance to the kitchen. It also evokes feelings of a bygone age and becomes a focal point. See how the granite tops carry the same cream as the stone hood. These country kitchen decor ideas are really a lovely example of what a country kitchen should be.

Traditional Country Kitchens

Traditional country kitchens from the past comprised of assorted cupboards and shelves with large, unfitted stone sinks and a free-standing cooker.

The floor was stone, compacted earth or tile and the work surface, which was provided by a wooden table, was left untreated for daily scrubbing.

There was always a dresser, and this, like the cupboards, was either painted or unpainted pine, except in the grander houses, where it might be made of hardwood, in which case it was also usually left unpainted.

Modern Country Kitchens

Modern country kitchens try to take something from both worlds to produce a kitchen that is functional, has all the user-friendly benefits of a modern kitchen with some of the character of the country kitchen.

Modern country kitchens are not authentic, but since they use natural materials like wood and terracotta they do capture the feel of the countryside.

However, the country style is not difficult to replicate and with carefully choosing of floor coverings, window treatments, kitchen cupboards, work surfaces and even a dresser to display china, spice jars and preserves you will soon have that country look you are after.

For those modern country kitchens that have the painted kitchen cupboards, moldings and cornices, are more likely aiming for the French country kitchen look as seen below.

Decorating Country Kitchens on a Budget

The genuine country kitchen is quite a low cost project For those looking to decorating on a budget, a country kitchen is the answer.

A pine kitchen table instead of an island unit, open shelves instead of closed wall units and a rail to hang utensils from come relatively cheap.

These can be combined with a few built-in cupboards containing a Belfast sink and woodstove to provide the convenience of a smooth work surface and a place to store foodstuffs.

The whole lot could either be painted, or painted and destressed to look old, or even left plain and unpainted.

Your country living kitchens should also have cupboards that have a simple style with wooden, painted, brass or wrought iron handles.

Your kitchen cupboards could also have solid doors or glass fronts if you don't like the idea of dusting those open shelves.

For a top-end, expensive country style kitchen you could go for natural oak cupboards, or hand-painted panels with fancy cornices and decorated tiles. You could also have made to order pot drawers, spice drawers, moldings and have your woodstove slotting into a panelled out alcove.

Traditional Design for Country Kitchens

A quick list of what you should have to create a farmhouse or country kitchen:

• A genuine country style kitchen has a free standing woodstove or range and a few basic free-standing kitchen units to provide storage space.
• Open shelves instead of closed kitchen cupboards
• Open fireplace in the kitchen
• Kitchen dresser
• Kitchen table
• Baskets for storing vegetables
• A butcher's block
• Natural materials for cupboards, floors and work surfaces

Decor for Country Kitchens:

If you like the warmth and charm of a country kitchen but can't cope with the clutter, you can still create a relaxed warm atmosphere by still using natural materials such as timber, slate, stone and cork but adding visual interest with patterns such as small print wallpaper, handpainted tiles or gingham curtains and a tablecloth.

Decorating Ideas from Country Kitchens around the World

Dutch Country Kitchens:

The decor of a Dutch country kitchen usually gleams with well-polished copper. Long handled warming pans that used to be filled with hot coals from the kitchen to warm winter beds, copper coffee urns to brew a dark rich roast and a tiled hearth all go to make up the Dutch country kitchen.

English Country Kitchens:

The decor of an English country kitchen has wooden beamed ceilings and walls lined with a Welsh dresser to display the pretty white and pink floral china and summer preserves. Brass candlesticks stand on top of great wooden beam above the fireplace. The floor is made of ancient flagstones chipped and uneven from age.

Spanish Country Kitchens:

A Spanish country kitchen is brightly colored in rich designs. Its plastered walls are often orange-pink and its floors in a rich terracotta red.

Majolica plates, jars of olives and preserves are placed on wooden shelves in a recess and the warm and bold colors of Spanish living is very apparent.

French Country Kitchens:

A French country kitchen is simply furnished with dark floors, either wooden or tiled, and a beamed ceiling.

Color is added to the kitchen with the addition of colored pottery in warm yellows and browns.

A red and white gingham table cloth matches the valance above the kitchen hooded fireplace.

A bunch of glossy bayleaves is tucked in the dish rack over the stove.

American Colonial Country Kitchens:

An American Colonial kitchen is furnished with mellow pine and maple of New England and copper kettles and pots for cooking.

The kitchen is the heart of the home. Here the weaving loom or the spinning wheel sits and family treasures line the mantlepiece. A flintlock musket is always close at hand to prepare of the event of dangers that lurk in the nearby forest and beyond.


If you are looking for that some wonderful country style kitchen accessories for your house, home or even for the garden, visit our Country Corner Store for country decor, furniture and kitchen accessories.

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Country Kitchen Design Ideas - Examples to Consider

By Olinda Rola

A country style kitchen design means having a relaxed and friendly kitchen space with some antique or reproduction furniture where everyone can gather to enjoy wonderful meals and good conversation that reflects country living. Not just a place to prepare meals, the kitchen can be the most popular room in your home.

With a country style kitchen design, use natural materials with comfortable rustic furnishings that are warm and welcoming. Creating unique country kitchens means using open shelves and cupboards for displaying antique or reproduction plates and dinnerware, earthenware, baskets and glass jars. Pots should be made of copper, cast iron, stoneware or even stainless steel to maintain the country look.

Having a country look means using warm earthy colors for this style of country kitchen decor. The use of neutral colors like bone or white works well. You can also select red barn, blues and greens that will be appropriate colors for country home decor. Select plain colors for coverings for counter-top materials if laminates will be used. Country home decorating can also incorporate stenciling and wallpaper. Stenciling around windows and in areas where walls and ceiling meet can add to the rustic look.