Traditional kitchen designs tend to feature more adornment and decorative flourishes, like cabinets with intricate woodworking or panelling, hardware and accessories inspired by their respective historical periods.

In some cases, they may feature distressing or other weathering techniques to inspire a more cosy and inviting design aesthetic. Colour palettes for traditional kitchens tend to feature neutral and lighter colours, as well as historic or period colours that contribute to a warm and welcoming feel.

Cabinets, chairs and tables are often constructed from quality hardwood, with cherry, maple, oak and pine particularly common choices.

Pine is an especially popular choice for farmhouse-style kitchens—it’s knotty, natural appearance can make it a perfect fit for the down-home appeal of a farmhouse kitchen.

Ancillary design touches like artwork or antique farm equipment may be used to add visual interest to a farmhouse kitchen design, artfully hung from walls or integrated into the design next to more contemporary cooking implements.

In the current era, modern kitchen design is part of a larger trend which embraced mid-century modern design and furniture and introduced bold angles and curves to the design landscape.

These kitchen designs often feature man-made materials like laminate, ceramics and moulded plastics. That’s not to say that modern kitchens can’t, shouldn’t or don’t feature natural materials—they almost always do, and often to great effect.