Undeniably, the kitchen is one of the most important rooms of your home. Long gone are the days of the kitchen as solely a place for food prep and storage. Now, more than ever, kitchens are the home’s hub. They’re a place for casual-quick meals, a place to help kids with schoolwork, a makeshift home office, and even a place for casual gatherings with friends.
To gain an expert’s point of view on 2024 kitchen design, Ellen reached out to Lisa Nienhaus, a designer and colleague of Ellen’s in Wisconsin with whom she has maintained a strong professional relationship and close personal friendship. Nienhaus is Program Director of the Interior Design department at Madison Area Technical College where she has been an instructor for 20 years. Prior to Madison College, Nienhaus worked exclusively in kitchens and bath design for 14 years. According to Nienhaus, “Functionality matters first and foremost when it comes to kitchen design. Many people, and even designers, come into a kitchen and want to start right away on the ‘pretty’ stuff, but the primary attribute of a kitchen needs to be more than just beauty.”
Following is Lisa’s take on kitchen design trends anticipated in the coming year!
Kitchen Design Trends For 2024
Colors and Finishes
In the last few years, pristine, nearly all-white kitchens have become the rage. The push for bright, white kitchens may have just been following a trend we saw 100 years ago after a similarly society-shaking event – the Spanish influenza! Elizabeth Yuko of Architectural Digest noted in her article How Previous Epidemics Impacted Home Design that once people began to understand how disease and viruses spread, hospitals switched to using stark white tile, which was easier to keep clean. In an attempt to bring that same cleanliness awareness into the home, kitchens followed suit. After the pandemic of 2020, white once again was the color of choice for kitchens.
Nienhaus commented “White is on its way out to some degree, but it’s a trend that we see on a pendulum swing throughout the years. Light and dark kitchens tend to switch out throughout the decades.”
Now, a few years out from the pandemic, the all-white aesthetic is beginning to fade, and kitchens are now showcasing softer colors or wood finishes instead. Woods such as oak and maple are today’s top choices, adding a natural warmth to kitchens. If cabinets are painted, they tend to be done in lighter colors.
Paint choices are also remaining on the lighter side. Take a look at the Sherwin Williams Color of the Year – Upward. This relaxing, breezy-blue, spa-like color is calming, yet not boring, making it perfect for adding subtle, uplifting character to your space.
Storage
In recent years, the balance between cabinets and drawers has begun to tip more toward the drawer side. The choice is twofold. For one, reducing the amount of cabinets in a kitchen can make the room feel larger and more spacious. Secondly, when it comes to storage, drawers are much more convenient than cabinets. They are easier to organize and keep clean. When working in a kitchen, accessing your tools and utensils kept in drawers is often easier than those in cabinets.
Storage has always played an important role in the kitchen. Homeowners are eager to increase the storage abilities of their kitchens, but in ways that are personalized to their lifestyle. For example, including a designated beverage station, where a specialized coffee maker and all the needed accouterments can be stored.
Large Islands

With kitchens serving as multifunctional spaces, having a place where the “extra cooks” can fit comfortably into the space without impeding use is essential.
Oversized kitchen islands have been on an upward swing, in part because they can improve functionality, especially in larger kitchens. Designers tend to follow a rule known as the kitchen work triangle, placing the stove, sink, and refrigerator in a triangular configuration with sides no longer than 26 feet. This is an ideal layout that makes cooking and preparing food easier and more efficient. A strategically placed island can help tighten this triangle up, while also providing extra storage space and a bar seating area within the kitchen.
Allowing for seating at kitchen islands has continued to be on the rise. More and more homeowners rarely use their dining rooms and some are doing away with them altogether, opting to group their eating area into an expanded kitchen, be that with space for a table or having ample seating at a bar-height island.
Appliances
When it comes to appliances, advancements in technology are continuing to arrive. Nienhaus recalls a seminar she attended years ago where experts prophesied refrigerators that would monitor the items inside so when the homeowner visited the grocery store, they could instantly check if they were low on anything in the fridge. While we might not be there yet, the desire for convenience is certainly there.
Today, Nienhaus notes that trends in appliances are focusing on ones that are quieter as well as appliances that help alleviate high-traffic areas. For example, more homeowners are opting to have drawer refrigerators installed near preparation areas to hold produce or in outer areas of the kitchen to hold snacks and drinks for kids.
Countertops, Backsplashes, and Lighting
For kitchen countertops, designers expect to see manufactured quartz continue to gain in popularity. Quartz has overtaken natural stones (such as granite) because of its extreme durability and resistance to scratches and stains. Because quartz is non-porous, it does not stain like marble or granite and is easier to keep clean. In past years white quartz with gray veining was a top pick, but today many are leaning toward quartz featuring more cream or brown veining.
As the more fanciful sister of the countertop, backsplashes continue to be a place where homeowners can demonstrate personality with less fear of overdoing it. While often bright and eclectic, backstops of the past were mostly limited to smooth, easy-to-clean materials. Today’s homeowners are now more likely to choose interesting backsplash textures with less worry about how difficult it will be to keep clean.
Kitchen lighting has also taken a turn toward functionality. Previously, the trend was to have one primary light source – a lightbox above the cooking island was often that source. Kitchen designers now look to incorporate lighting in a more strategic manner with consideration for how the kitchen will be used.
An overhead light source may not be the ideal choice for the space as it may wind up casting shadows over a workspace. Under cabinet lighting can help alleviate this issue. What’s more, having the ability to adjust the amount of lighting to match what is happening in the space at any given time can add to the overall functionality of the space – so multiple light sources, often with dimmer controls – have also gained in popularity.