The kitchen is a room that has many functions. Here they not only cook, but also eat, meet with friends, spend evenings with their families, watch TV and teach lessons with children. The interior of the kitchen should be practical, as comfortable as possible, and evoke positive emotions. And the fulfillment of all these conditions primarily depends on the high-quality wall decoration. There is a fairly wide selection of materials for such decoration: wallpaper, wood, concrete, paint, ceramic tiles, plaster.
Ceramic tile
The decoration of the walls of the kitchen largely determines its style.
The idea of using tiles for the walls of the kitchen is good because it allows you to create an interior in any style: the tile imitates marble, wood, fabric. Ceramic tiles are easy to clean, withstand high temperatures and exposure to chemicals, and do not deform. It is possible to replace one or two damaged tiles without spending a lot of effort and without changing the look of the kitchen. It does not burn, so it allows you to protect the kitchen from fire.
Natural stone finish looks interesting
A big plus is that now there are many tile options in many ways.
The size
Sizes of tiles for the kitchen:
- wall tiles 10x10mm, which is easy to lay out any pattern;
- already rarely found traditional size 150x150mm, known since Soviet times;
- the now popular size is 250x400mm;
- large tiles 300x600mm, which are now conquering the market;
- while rare tiles 1000x3000mm.
Modern tiles not only tend to increase, but also move away from the usual square shape. Large tiles allow you to decorate the wall with a minimum number of seams, create large bright panels. Having rectangular tiles of different sizes (called modular), colors and shades, you can lay out walls in large kitchens, avoiding monochrome, while avoiding variegation.
A brick wall can be made a highlight of the interior.
The only drawback of modular tiles is the complexity of laying them out; only a specialist can ideally lay out such tiles without disturbing the thickness of the joints.
Imitation
Modern tiles so accurately convey not only color, but also texture that only with tactile contact it is possible to establish whether it is a tile or wood, stone, and so on. Wood-look tiles go well with wood furnishings and wood décor. Stone-tiled walls are the basis of many contemporary styles.
In recent years, modern manufacturers have launched the production of metallized tiles with a shiny copper, silver, iron surface. Some collections include tiles with patina, rust.
There are very glamorous options with rhinestones and Swarovski crystals.
Thanks to the tiles, you can now see the walls in the kitchen with exquisite tapestries, embroidery, oil paintings on canvas.
Modern kitchen walls look like they’ve been trimmed with denim, plush, silk, lizard and crocodile skin.
Drawing
Drawing in the kitchen will liven up the room
Contemporary designs use hand-painted tiles and photo tiles.
When hand-painted, the drawing is applied with special ink that penetrates deep into the texture of the tile. The walls of the kitchen with photo tiles look very impressive: forest glades, poppy fields, a night city.
Glass tiles with floral details inside
This is a novelty that allows you to decorate a non-standard interior: walls lined with tiles, where real dry leaves, coffee grains, branches, flowers and cereals are located under the glass, amaze with their unusualness.
Kitchen tiles can be combined with other finishes
Invoice
The tile can be with a smooth mirror surface, matte, glossy, rough, with an uneven relief, there is a lapped tile. Tiles with the same surface can be used as well as combinations with different surfaces. Tiles with different textures are especially often chosen to create interiors of modern styles, and, conversely, imitating semi-antique kitchen interiors.
Wall tiles must have high thermal, alkaline and acid resistance.
Ceramic tiles are one of the best finishing materials
Painting the walls
Paintable walls – brightness and depth
Paint for the kitchen has a number of requirements: it must be resistant to moisture and steam, not wash off when cleaning with detergents, and not lose brightness.
Today, it is no longer a problem with what to paint the walls, three types of paint are produced for the kitchen: matte, semi-gloss and glossy. For the kitchen, it is better to buy glossy paint, it visually enlarges a small kitchen, food stains are not so noticeable on it. But glossy paint emphasizes all the unevenness of the walls. If the walls in the kitchen are poorly aligned, it is worth using matte paint. It visually removes irregularities.
Types of paint
- emulsion paint is the safest from the point of view of ecology: it does not contain harmful impurities, does not evaporate, dries quickly;
- matt emulsion paint tolerates repeated washing well; but it cannot be applied to the wallpaper, because they will get wet due to the water-based paint and easily peel off, wood painted with such paint may warp, the metal will rust;
- alkyd paint; it is better to use it if it is necessary to cover the walls with glossy paint; but this paint is not used on plastered surfaces.
- epoxy and polyurethane paints are good for kitchen walls because they are very resistant to moisture and chemicals;
- now they produce so-called textured paints, ideal for creating interiors of certain styles, imitating the texture of many finishing materials.
Deep rich color
When choosing a paint, you need to remember that cold shades visually increase the size of the room, and warm ones reduce it.
Light colors will increase the space
Walls in a modern kitchen do not paint everything the same color. It is better not to paint the working area at all, but to lay the kitchen tiles on the apron. But the remaining three can be decorated in different ways. Now it is very fashionable to highlight the dining area when painting, even if it is small in size.
This can be done by entering a contrasting color:
- all the walls are white, and the table has a wide salad or blue stripe.
- The dining area can be accentuated by the type of paint: if all the walls are glossy, then the dining area can be matte.
- The third option is a drawing (a cup of coffee, coffee beans, a tree, a large flower, and so on) on the wall near the dining table. You can also imitate tiles.
The walls do not have to be plain, you can paint squares, rectangles, paint the walls with polka dots or apply even stripes. With artistic ability, you can apply any drawing to the walls.
It is good to use warm shades for the kitchen
To check if the paint is suitable for the kitchen, you need to paint a small sample and place it in water for a day or hold it under a stream for 15 minutes. If the paint layer remains intact, then the paint can be used in the kitchen.
Wallpaper
Wallpaper for the kitchen must meet the following requirements:
- resistance to fading and exposure to sunlight;
- density: on dense wallpaper there are fewer pores on the surface, and therefore, less dirt will settle and accumulate on them;
- high moisture resistance: such wallpaper will have to be washed often;
- vapor permeability: wallpaper in the kitchen should dry well and quickly after cooking;
- the ability to repaint: in the kitchen, any wallpaper will soon lose its appearance, and repainting is the easiest and most inexpensive way to update the wall decor.
How to give preference
Photo wallpapers look especially luxurious.
- Impregnated paper wallpaper: inexpensive, can be changed frequently; but they do not differ in a variety of texture and decorativeness;
- on a thin vinyl base: also inexpensive, but they cannot be glued on an uneven base;
- made of foamed vinyl: interesting with drawings suitable for the kitchen: vegetables, dishes, various food products; but they are not durable and wear out quickly;
- vinyl: they are not afraid of light or moisture; hide irregularities, fungus does not form on them;
- Friseline: very dense, not wrinkled, easy to clean, many of them are suitable for painting;
- made of fiberglass: do not burn, fungi do not start, moisture resistant, can be repainted; look very stylish.
Fiberglass wallpaper can be repainted up to seven times.
How to paste wallpaper on the walls of the kitchen:
Wallpaper on the walls of the kitchen how to paste
Colour
The color and pattern of wallpaper for the kitchen depends on its size. For a small kitchen, light wallpaper with a dull pattern is suitable. A large bright pattern visually reduces the size of the room. In northern kitchens, the best option would be peach, yellow, cream wallpaper. In southern kitchens, blue, gray, light blue, beige green and all the corresponding shades look.
Wallpaper can be combined in color and texture. This will give the kitchen a special flavor, will allow you to focus on the architectural features of the room: bay windows, niches, columns, will save the room from monotony.
Do not get carried away with the large number of colors used. It is better to limit yourself to two: they can be both contrasting and shades of the same color, when the first smoothly passes into the second. Now, there are popular options for using the so-called kits, when plain wallpaper and wallpaper with a print on the same background are taken.
Juicy beautiful wallpaper
Wallpaper can be combined by alternating vertical stripes (for example, a plain stripe and a printed one), symmetrically glued plain stripes along the edge of the kitchen, and pasted over the middle with printed wallpaper. This technique of combining colored wallpaper in the interior allows you to expand the space.
To make your kitchen design more dynamic, you can stick strips of different widths on different walls.
For zoning the kitchen, you can use photomurals, usually glued in the dining area.
Light wallpaper beautiful walls
Decorative plaster
Plaster is still commonly used in kitchen finishes. It is used both as an independent finishing material and as a basis for other materials.
Depending on what material is used as a binder, plaster is of the following types:
- acrylic: ideal for kitchen decor, as it is waterproof, tolerates significant temperature changes;
- mineral: environmentally friendly, but cracks when vibrated;
- delicate: the bunch here is liquid glass, a big plus is that it hardly gets dirty, does not attract dirt, but it can also crack;
- silicone: the most expensive, based on astringent polymers, it is easy to clean.
Variants
Decorative finishing of the kitchen
- structural: a heterogeneous mass based on latex or potassium silicate with the addition of pieces of quartz, wood fiber, small stones, various granules;
- textured: with the help of special compounds (lime flour with fillers: crumbs of marble, granite, fibers) gives the surface a relief structure; using a different tool, you can apply such plaster in a different pattern;
- Venetian plaster: this is a transparent plaster based on marble flour, when applied to the wall creates the feeling of a marble stone, adding color, you can get any color;
- “Bark beetle”: a wall finished with such plaster seems to be wooden, eaten away by a bug; the basis of such plaster is marble chips, while you can choose both coarse-grain plaster for large rooms and fine-grain plaster for small kitchens;
- Marseilles wax: cellulose fiber became the filler here, so this plaster has a very loose surface, allowing you to imitate old stone, tree bark, cork and other ideas for walls.
It is good to decorate the walls of the kitchen with wood
Plaster can not only be applied to the wall, decorating it, but you can create various panels that are suitable for any style: ethno, empire, minimalism.
Other finishes
Use multiple finishes
In addition to those already listed, there are other ways to decorate walls:
- plastic: very hygienic, easy to clean material, has a large number of color options;
- finishing the kitchen with decorative stone: this type of wall decoration is used mainly in large or combined kitchens, often the wall of the working area is laid out with decorative stone, especially if the kitchen has an oven or its imitation;
- wooden lining false panels: this material regulates humidity, creates coziness, evens out the walls; but the big disadvantage will be that when sheathing the walls with clapboard, the area of the kitchen decreases; for the kitchen it is better to use linden, oak and alder lining.
Stone finish looks very stylish
Most often, a combined option is used for wall decoration: panels up to half the wall, different materials on the wall in the working area and the dining area, and so on. In this case, there is more choice of materials and more decor options.
Stylish and modern
Wall decoration can be any, the main thing is that in the end you get a cozy, stylish room, where it is pleasant to all family members. See also information about liquid wallpaper for the kitchen.