Kitchen Remodel Trends: Design Ideas and Innovations

Reflect Your Personality in These Bold Kitchen Remodel Trends

The kitchen is the heart of every home. As lifestyle and design tastes evolve, kitchen trends come and go to match these changing needs. Throughout 2023, the most popular trends reflected a desire for streamlined, multifunctional spaces for cooking, working, and gathering.

Why Remodel a Kitchen? 

The kitchen is the most important room in your home, serving as a hub for cooking and gathering. A well-designed kitchen improves the day-to-day lives of homeowners. Investing in a kitchen remodel also offers a great return on investment in terms of resale value.

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), upscale kitchen designs can recoup 67% of the value of the remodel. Plus, renovations make time spent cooking and entertaining more enjoyable. Updating an outdated, worn kitchen improves the home’s livability and market value.

How Kitchen Trends Evolve Over Time 

Kitchen design trends ebb and flow, but they always reflect the changing ways families live and cook. The open-concept kitchen gained popularity in recent decades as kitchens integrated with living areas. Islands also became popular multifunctional spaces for food preparation, gathering, and working.

Kitchens are also trending toward sustainable, durable, easy-to-maintain spaces. Ease of cleaning and low maintenance requirements are increasingly preferable to high-maintenance materials. Adding your style and considering the comprehensive needs of this versatile space are driving new remodel trends and highlighting the principles of a livable, modern kitchen.

2023 Kitchen Remodeling Trends to Embrace

Staying up to date with the latest kitchen remodel trends is a great way to keep your home looking fresh, functional, and inviting. 2023 brought exciting trends in cabinetry, countertops, color, and design elements. Let’s discover the top 2023 remodel trends you can implement in your upcoming remodel.

Remove Upper Cabinets

One of the biggest kitchen remodel trends of 2023 is the removal of all upper cabinetry. This creates an airy, more open aesthetic for your kitchen. Without bulky upper cabinets, the eye is drawn to the high ceilings, pendant lights, and surrounding scenery. Removing the upper cabinets showcases the rest of your home while also bringing in the surrounding light.

This streamlined look helps smaller kitchens feel more spacious. This trend reflects the shift toward minimalism and decluttering cooking spaces. Overall, this trend opens up the possibilities for kitchens to become brighter, more welcoming places to gather and to prepare meals together.

Add Seating around the Island

Because the kitchen has taken over as the top multitasking command center of the home, the kitchen island has become the hub of this central room. Integrating seating around the island transforms the space into an eating and hangout zone, bringing the family closer as you cook, eat, play, and work in one spot.

The key to including more seating around the island is allowing 42 inches around the perimeter. This leaves enough room to sit and to eat comfortably together or to gather for conversations. With a little creativity and design innovation, you can effectively turn the island into a functional kitchen table. When you do this, the kitchen takes on the feeling of a casual diner or cozy coffee shop as family and guests interact and connect at the island.

More 2023 Kitchen Remodeling Trends

Go Bold with Backsplashes

Creative, eye-catching backsplashes continued to be popular in kitchens throughout 2023. Yes, backsplashes protect walls from splatters and spills, but they also double as an artistic focal point. Homeowners are increasingly choosing bold tiles and patterns to let their kitchen’s personality shine through.

Subway tile remains the versatile classic, but many opt for more distinct looks. Consider geometric Moroccan tiles or even handmade artisanal tiles. Varying the tile size, opting for different layouts (hello, basketweave), and combining materials all add visual interest. 

Don’t let your kitchen’s backsplash be an afterthought in your upcoming remodel. Instead, consider it a centerpiece as you add a pop of color, texture, and unique style. Embrace this design moment to showcase the tile you love.

Opt for Two-Tone Cabinets

Two-tone cabinetry continues to gain popularity in kitchen remodels. This trend adds depth and visual interest while pairing two complementary colors.

Homeowners often select a neutral cabinet color, such as white or gray, for most of the cabinets. Then they use a bolder tone, such as blue or black, as an accent color. Variations include using different colors above and below the countertop or combining colors on the kitchen island or the perimeter cabinets.

The two-tone look adds pleasing contrast and definition to your kitchen. Darker cabinets can ground lighter walls and countertops. Lighter cabinets help to keep small kitchens feeling larger and more open.

This two-tone trend works in kitchens of any size and style. Thoughtfully employing this two-tone effect creates a dynamic feel while adding dimension to your kitchen remodel.

Quartz Comes Out Ahead

Throughout 2023, quartz maintained its status as the leading kitchen countertop material. Made from natural stone and resin, quartz combines the beauty of stone with extreme durability. This man-made material is resistant to scratches, stains, cracks, and heat, making it your kitchen’s MVP.

White and light gray quartz countertops are perfect for both traditional and contemporary kitchens. These neutral tones help the kitchen feel clean and open. While you can find quartz in any color, it can also replicate the natural look of stone with realistic patterns, speckles, and veining.

The cook in your home will appreciate quartz for its low maintenance and longevity. For kitchens that get daily use, quartz is an ideal choice that maintains its beauty over time.

Additional Remodeling Trends

Add Metallic Finishes

Metallic accents in kitchens continued to shine throughout 2023. Polished brass, copper, nickel, and bronze finishes add a touch of glamor and reflect light beautifully. Metals pair especially nicely with popular kitchen color schemes, including white, gray, blue, and green. 

Consider using metallic finishes on cabinet hardware, kitchen faucets, sinks, pendant lighting, and range hoods. Mixing metal finishes, such as brass faucets and nickel hardware, remains a popular trend.

The warm, luminous sheen of metal creates ambiance in your kitchen and catches the eye. Metallic lighting fixtures also contribute to a decorative focal point. Polished metals provide a bit of glitz to this functional room.

The Future of Kitchen Trends

Kitchens are versatile areas that play many roles in your home: food prep station, office space, craft zone, desk, and entertainment area. Kitchen design trends will continue to reflect this expanded functionality and the idea that, when it comes to kitchens, flexibility is key.

As the heart of home life, your kitchen deserves to be both beautiful and functional. The kitchen remodel trends of 2023 reflect how we want our kitchens to meet our modern needs while still feeling cozy and inspired.

Let Slate Design & Remodel become your partner in your next kitchen remodel. From keeping up to date with changing trends and materials to understanding how important it is to meet the needs of this versatile space, we delight in fulfilling your kitchen’s potential!