For years, the "dream" kitchen has looked like nobody actually cooks in it — think pristine white cabinetry, vast expanses of stone countertops that seemingly never get dirty and antiseptic stainless steel appliances. In the name of renovating for resale, kitchens became austere and cold, stripped of personality and character. But change is brewing in the world of kitchen design, as cooking spaces get less, well, kitchen-y — and much more interesting.
Design writer Sophie Donelson, the author of the new book "Uncommon Kitchens," has deemed this trend the "unkitchen." When she started using the phrase in her talks and on social media, she says, "People really seized on the idea, they seemed to understand immediately what it meant — and they were invigorated by it. A lot of what the unkitchen idea promises is that there could be smaller updates, looseness — dare I say whimsy — involved in a room that has had a lot of the joy sucked out of it."
Donelson credits the desire for less kitchen-y cookeries to the British cottage kitchens by designers including Beata Heuman and Matilda Goad, which swept the design world a few years back. These kitchens were colorful, layered and playful; for example, Goad's cook space featured a backsplash of red and white glazed checkerboard tiles. And rather than hide her refrigerator, Heuman had hers tricked out to look like a Swedish armoire.
"Magazine readers, Instagram and Pinterest users, and design lovers saw these and it was almost as if they were experiencing the kitchen for the first time," says Donelson. "These British designers captured this sweetness and intimacy — a kind of collective memory about what a kitchen is like. These are rooms where life happens."
Hollie Velten-Lattrell, an interior designer in Maplewood, N.J., who is known for her colorful and unconventional kitchens, says that the pandemic may have also influenced the pivot away from renovated-for-Zillow white kitchens. "It really shook up our perception of self in relation to our home," she says. "Prior to COVID, we just were so busy and rarely home; we related to our space differently." Velten-Lattrell says her clients realized that life is short and unpredictable, and as a result, designed their home for themselves, rather than resale.
The layered look of an unkitchen also "cleverly allows for cooking messes, collections and passions, and everyday life to unfold without detracting from the space," says Donelson. You don't have to keep these kitchens perfectly tidy to enjoy them.
Aiming for a looser, more lived-in kitchen style is also more sustainable because it often means working with what you've got instead of ripping everything out. And even if you're saddled with white cabinets, stone counters and stainless steel appliances, you can make small changes to give the space an unkitchen look. Here are tips from Donelson, Velten-Lattrell and others on how to get started.

Bring in saturated color