Kitchen Tips: Elegant in Blue and White

Create a modern classic with plain white units teamed with warm wood.

The key to the success of this look is to keep everything simple - the duck-egg blue walls and the strong blue of the plain roller blind introduce areas of colour, pale wood adds warmth without looking rustic and heavy, but it is the predominance of white that gives this kitchen freshness.

'Laid-on' doors, where the doors are over the front of the cabinet rather than set into a frame, establish the clean, modern lines of the style. To avoid looking clinical, these doors are also edged with wood veneer, which gives and interesting 'frame'. The worktop is made from solid wood, and the flooring keeps the same theme going, although it isn't actually wood at all - it's bamboo, which is a good choice for a modern kitchen as it's more resistant to humidity than wood. The rectangular white tiles forming the slashback are laid brick style - you could get a similar look by painting bare brickwork with white gloss paint.