Eco-friendly kitchen: 50 photo ideas and design guide

Content

Color spectrum
Finish
Furniture
Lighting
Appliances, plumbing, household items
Decor, dishes and accessories

The eco-orientation of modern interiors is nothing more than the human need to live in harmony with the outside world, without violating the laws of nature.

This means that in the arrangement of the kitchen in an eco-style should be used not only natural materials, but also renewable in nature, recycled and easily recyclable. In addition, it is necessary to create conditions for the reasonable disposal of household waste, economical consumption of water and electricity.

How can we not lose our usual coziness and comfort? In this material, we presented a eco-style guide and a selection of 50 photo examples that will help you plan the interior from scratch or introduce eco-ideas into an existing environment.

Color spectrum

Kitchen in eco-style should be framed in soft, natural shades. So the interior will be light and airy, and the beauty of natural textures will be noticeable more.

The basic colors are usually light: white, light gray, beige.

White color visually expands the space, hides the dimensions of the furniture, serves as an excellent background for color accents and natural textures (wood, stone, etc.)

As accents and complementary colors, pastel shades are used, as well as saturated, but not flashy colors - light and dark brown, green, yellow, blue, terracotta, olive. Especially stylish in the kitchen in eco style will look all shades of gray.

For the design of eco-cuisine is not desirable to use: rich red, fuchsia, black, purple, bright blue, as they are rarely found in their natural environment.

See details in section: Kitchen color.

Finish

Finishing the kitchen in eco-style involves the use of natural finishing materials.

The floor can be finished with wood (wooden flooring, parquet, parquet), stone, natural linoleum (marmoleum), cork or ceramic tiles. The last option is the most affordable and practical.

Example of different eco-style floor finishes

An example of design kitchen-living room in eco style

In the decoration of the walls of the kitchen should be used not only environmentally friendly, but also practical and durable materials. For example, paper wallpaper in the workspace will not live a month. But the walls can be painted with water-dispersion paint (the most eco-friendly type of paint possible), plaster, decorate with wooden lining or cork. The most stylish option for wall decoration is a real brickwork or bare concrete walls.

Partially walls can be decorated with stone or stabilized moss.

Stabilized moss is the same natural moss, only treated with glycerin, due to which it remains soft and beautiful, while not requiring watering and light. Such a phyto wall can last up to 8 years.

An apron in the kitchen in eco style will look great in facing from a natural stone, ceramic tiles, tempered glass.
As for the ceiling, there is no better option than traditional whitewashing and painting.Alternative option - facing by a tree. You can decorate the ceiling with wooden ceiling beams.
It is desirable that the window frames, interior doors, baseboards, the platbands were made of wood.

Furniture

Ideally, the eco-kitchen should be furnished with furniture from:

Wood (including recycled and old);
Plywood;
Rattan or vine;
Recycled plastic;
Glasses (more precisely with glass inserts);
Stone (for example, stone can be made tabletop kitchen or dining table).

Kitchen with facades of plywood in the interior

Another eco-kitchen interior with plywood furniture

Eco-style kitchen with rattan furniture and accessories

Wooden plank top

However, to achieve absolute environmental friendliness in the furniture of the kitchen is not always obtained. For example, if a kitchen set with fully wooden, and not veneered facades, is quite possible to find, then a wooden frame set is much more difficult to acquire. Most often, kitchen frames are made of MDF - a lighter, affordable and reliable substitute for wood.

When buying furniture made of chipboard, MDF and fiberboard, be interested in the formaldehyde emission class of materials. The material with the E1 emission class is the lesser of the evils.

How should eco-style kitchen furniture look externally? As a rule, it is laconic, made without excesses, it has smooth, natural or, on the contrary, strict straight lines.

The main decoration of eco-furniture is the natural texture and color of materials.
It can be easy, and, conversely, very massive.

A large wooden table can be the main pride of the owner.

Open wooden shelves facilitate the interior, make it more relaxed and original. But you should not get involved in them, because they complicate cleaning - dust settles both on the shelves themselves and on the items that are stored on them

And to bring your kitchen closer to the eco style will help old furniture or furniture made from waste and even not necessarily environmentally friendly materials. The main thing here is to see in beauty the beauty and breathe new life into it by painting in a different color, decor and / or skillful restoration. The photo below shows an example of an eco-kitchen, in which the facades of the headset are made of old wooden boards.

Lighting

Light in the eco-style room plays a key role - it enlivens all the details, emphasizes the beauty of natural textures, fills the space with warmth. Ideally, an eco-kitchen design involves an abundance of natural light, which can be achieved by installing large or panoramic windows and even glass partitions. In such a room, electricity is consumed much more economically.

However, in most cases, in order to provide the kitchen with daylight, it is sufficient to free the windows from curtains and any other barriers. The furniture is also located on the principle of "not interfering with the light to freely enter the room."
Artificial lighting in the kitchen in eco style should be uniform, so that the light is soft and pleasant. For example, in addition to the main ceiling luminaire, it is possible around the perimeter of the ceiling install spotlights. Also the main lamp complements well. wall sconcesfloor lamps and table lamps.

The eco-friendly design is minimalistic and simple. It can be pendants with lamps without lampshades, pendants, sconces or chandeliers with glass, cork, paper, bamboo or rattan lampshades.

An important caveat - in the lighting of the kitchen in an eco-style, give preference to LED lamps. They not only save energy, but also the most safely disposed of.

Appliances, plumbing, household items

Here are some tips to help you comply with the principles of eco-design:

The best eco-wash - ordinary ceramic. Suitable and stainless steel sink, because it can be used for a long time, and then pass in recycling.
Save the water resources of our planet will help you Dishwasher. Indeed, in one cycle of washing dishes, it spends 7-10 times less water compared to ordinary washing dishes under a running tap. By the way, tablets for PMM with a natural composition can now be bought at any hypermarket.
In Russia, a centralized system for separate collection and recycling of waste has not yet been implemented, but this does not mean that sorting garbage in your house is meaningless. We offer a look at a selection of photo examples of how to organize a scrap area in an eco-kitchen.

Containers for sorting garbage from Ikea

To minimize the use of plastic bags for storing products, use plastic containers or silicone stretchable "lids" as in the photo below (sold on Ebay, Aliexpress, Amazon, and in some Russian online stores).

Decor, dishes and accessories

Eco-style curtains should be sewn from natural fabrics - linen or cotton. Bamboo curtains will also be a good option. According to the style of the most suitable curtains are - blinds, Roman, roll and panel types. For details, see our material: Curtains for the kitchen: color, material, look and style.

Bamboo Blinds

The rest of the kitchen textiles (napkins, tablecloths, etc.) must also be natural - cotton or linen. But the coasters for plates best to buy cork, bamboo or rattan.
In order not to get carried away with asceticism and is guaranteed to make the interior cozy in the kitchen, in the dining room or in the kitchen-living room in eco-style lay a carpet. It can be woolen or sisal.

In the eco-interior, floral and floral motifs and ornaments look particularly impressive.

Plants are not only beautiful, but also very useful decorations, without which it is impossible to imagine an eco-style interior. Of course, you should not turn the kitchen into a winter garden, but you should definitely make a couple of green friends. For details, see our material: Indoor flowers and plants for the kitchen - choose unpretentious, useful and beautiful.

Plants can decorate niches, shelves, window sills, be placed on tables, hang above the working area.

In addition to living plants, dried herbs and branches can be used as interior items. By the way, even rails and hangers can be made of branches as in the photo below.

Wicker rattan and paper baskets are good for storing small items and products, and wicker dishes and ... hats look stylish on the walls.

A table top, shelves, or a dining table can be decorated with pretty natural-filled vases, such as river pebbles, seashells, wicker balls, and colored beans.
Also on the table will look great dishes with fresh vegetables and fruits.
To decorate the interior of an eco-kitchen you can use things ... "recycled" with your own hands. For example, it may be old wooden cutting boards, hung on the wall, lamps from plastic spoons, baskets, woven from paper (see photo below).