3Style Kitchens Blog

Grand Designs Live

POSTED ON 14th October 2014

Kitchen Inspiration from the Exhibition

Last week Grand Designs Live came to the Birmingham NEC. An off-shoot of the Channel 4 TV programme, it is an exhibition dedicated to home improvement and home building projects and we were there.

The show was split into 4 categories – Kitchen and Bathroom, Building, Interiors and Garden – and obviously it was the Kitchen category that we were particularly interested in. Here’s our summary of the trends that were on show and some of the details and finishes.

Kitchen Styles

In terms of style, there were 2 clear examples, both of which have been around for a while. One, a traditional Shaker style and the other a clean, modern handle-less style.

Shaker kitchens are very popular at the moment – they’re certainly our best sellers. The trend at the show was very much the painted doors rather than natural wood and these tended to be heritage type colours such as latte, French grey, olive green and duck egg blue. While quite a traditional kitchen they still felt fresh and contemporary due to the avoidance of fussy detail. These are some examples from the show.

Grand Designs Shaker Kitchens

The handle-less kitchens were much more modern in style with very clean lines and gloss finishes. Here they tended to stick to white or wood but teamed them with bold colours like acid green. See the examples here.

Grand Designs Handle-less Kitchens

Kitchen Details

There were some nice details on show including hidden storage ideas and lighting options such as under counter and under plinth details as well as traditional under wall unit lights.

Grand Designs Kitchen Details

Attending these shows is always good for new ideas and seeing how trends are developing but it was also quite reassuring for us to see that we’re already doing these things anyway in terms of the styles and details that we offer.

If you’re looking for some kitchen inspiration you can download our free top tips guide or simply book in a consultation which is free and conducted without obligation. Call us on 0800 321 3491.