How To Create a Kitchen Mood Board?
So you’ve made the decision to remodel your kitchen, now it’s time to gather inspiration. Most people when starting out on their kitchen design journey will immediately gravitate towards social media platforms that make it super easy to save or pin images of your dream kitchen designs. However, with the amount of content that you can find online, figuring out what’s best for your own space can soon become overwhelming.
Creating a kitchen design mood board, whether that’s digital or a traditional “scrapbook style” with scissors and glue, will give you a better sense of what your finished kitchen could look like and what your preferred style is.
Having a mood board will be helpful when discussing design ideas with your partner, family or friends. It will also help with giving direction to your kitchen designer.
Let’s dive into the steps and benefits of creating a mood board for your dream kitchen!
Why Create a Kitchen Mood Board?
A mood board is the most important visual tool at your disposal, as you remodel your kitchen. It’s a place to give you a proper idea of what you want your new kitchen to be like. Here, you can accrue material samples, design inspiration, and everything else you need to create your perfect kitchen.
A kitchen mood board helps you see in real life what your dream kitchen would look like. Sometimes, things don’t look the same in your head, as they do in the real world. A mood board makes sure you don’t invest without thinking things through.
8 Simple Steps to Creating Your Mood Board:
1. Combine the digital with real life.
You’re probably browsing Instagram, Pinterest, and other such sites for design inspiration and with such a vast amount of searchable content it really is a fantastic place to start. That said, it’s easy to get lost in the sheer amount and variation of styles, you’ll want to save all the ideas you like in one place, so you can easily come back to them.
Whilst digital inspiration is quick and easy to source however, your kitchen and your mood board are both going to be real and tangible.
In order for your kitchen mood board to satisfy your every need, it should also include:
- Colour swatches;
- Fabric samples;
- Furniture images;
- Flooring samples / images;
- Tile or splashback samples / images;
- Details (accessories, handles, etc.).
So print out your design ideas, gather your samples and attach them to a real-life board, where you can assemble all of the important stuff.
2. Consider which design represents you best.
To help you with this step, feel free to try out different design styles on your mood board. Explore different options such as modern, classic and traditional furniture styles.
A crucial step in planning your dream kitchen is figuring out which design is for you. A lot of people are ditching the more old-school traditional and farmhouse designs, as they’re no longer relevant to modern living.
Instead, more modern German-style kitchens are amassing popularity thanks to their sleek design, and space-saving build. Since you’re going to be spending a lot of time in the kitchen, you want a place that’s spacious and that allows you to easily move between the oven, the fridge, the sink, and so on
3. Write it all down.
Before you get too ahead of yourself, you need to properly consider all the necessities for your new kitchen. Are you remodeling the entire room or just part of it? Make a list of everything you’ll need, not just in terms of furniture, but also floor and wall redesign, if necessary.
Place your list at the heart of your kitchen mood board, and tick things off, when you’ve made a choice. Not only does this ensure you don’t forget anything, but it also gives you a sense of satisfaction.
4. Think in colour.
I would definitely recommend taking a moment to understand a little colour psychology when designing your new kitchen. While in the past, ‘crazy’ colours like yellow or red were popular choices for kitchens, nowadays, white and grey shades seem to come out on top.
White and grey signal maturity, but also inner peace. They convey an air of cleanliness and class, which makes you feel like a proper chef at work. Other colours also carry interesting psychological meanings. Green, for instance, suggests good health, blue is calming, and yellow is uplifting and energizing.
Moreover, the colour you choose for your kitchen matters because it affects your perception of space. Neutral shades like white and grey once more are preferable, as they give the impression of more space.
- Pro Tip: You want to pick your base colour first, and then work off that, choosing shades of the same, or contrasting colours that will complement your base.
Once you’ve narrowed down your colour options, you can get colour swatches added to your mood board, to compare them against your chosen design.
5. Decide on storage.
As a nation of hoarders, kitchen designs in the UK will often prioritise storage space above anything else. So if you need extra space for the bread maker you use once a year or the fondue set you’ve had since the 70’s then you need to think about storage pretty early on because you’re going to build the rest of your kitchen around it.
Make a quick inventory of the things you’ll need to store in the kitchen, and that will tell you how many cupboards and cabinets you need.
Next, you want to figure out how you’ll store things. Are you going to be the kind of person who hangs their utensils on hooks on the wall? Do you want lots of open shelving to show off your collectables or would you prefer a sleek, clever storage solution that offers easy access, but is inconspicuous?
6. Build around.
You can begin with the cabinets. Or not. If you have a worktop idea you’re fixed on, then build around that. The main focus here is making sure that every unique piece in your kitchen has something else in the room that complements it. So figure out your starting point, and then work around it.
Think about which colours and textures will be connected… Your worktop doesn’t necessarily have to go with your flooring as long as the base cabinets in between complement both. It’s actually a lot easier than it sounds, especially if you have your mood board handy to help piece it together.
7. Let there be light
Light fixtures are an important yet often overlooked element of the overall design.
If you have a statement piece in mind make sure to include it in your mood board. Go for bold overhead pendant lights above your kitchen island and think about adding indirect under cabinet lighting so your kitchen becomes a cozy place to hang out in with friends and enjoying a glass of vino.
8. Figure out your mood.
Obviously, you need to properly consider storage, appliances, budget, and everything in between. But at the end of the day, a mood board should be about mood. How do you want to feel in your new kitchen?
Here’s an idea – just try to picture yourself filling your morning cup of coffee. What’s around you? What kind of worktop is the mug on? Do you look out a of big window? Are there kids’ drawings on the fridge?
The kitchen of your dreams can often be found right there – in said dreams. So pay attention to those, and design your ultimate kitchen mood board.
Need Some Inspiration?
Our talented designers have created 26 digital mood boards packed with ideas for furniture, lighting, artwork, accessories and colour palettes that complement our most popular kitchen ranges… And we’re giving them away for FREE.
Simply hit the button below, let us know where to send your FREE MOOD BOARDS and we’ll deliver them to your inbox straight away.
