Warming Up the Kitchen With Wood: A Dozen Examples from Real Homes

Written by

Adrienne BreauxHouse Tour Director at AT Media
Adrienne BreauxHouse Tour Director at AT Media
For more than 10 years, I've led Apartment Therapy's real home content, producing thousands of house tours from around the world. Currently, I live in my maximalist dream home in New Orleans, Louisiana, with my partner, a perfect dog, and a cute cat.
published Jun 8, 2016
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(Image credit: Sophie Timothy)

Sleek metal and elegant marble look great in the kitchen. Cabinets painted bold colors or fresh white give an instant face lift to a room. But nothing can quite replace the warmth of wood. For your inspiration files: twelve kitchens celebrating the natural beauty of wood in different ways, from rooms completely wrapped in wood, to spaces with a few well-placed wooden accents.

(Image credit: Emma Fiala)

In Alison & Jeff’s Chill Scandinavian Meets Mid-Century Style, a brick accent wall is complemented beautifully by wood countertops, open shelving and accessories.

(Image credit: Hayley Kessner)

In Nicole & Ben’s Eclectic Family Pad in Western Australia, vintage wood kitchen cabinets are embraced and elevated by painting the cabinet base white and leaving the doors unpainted.

(Image credit: Nancy Mitchell)

A wood ceiling and open wall shelving in A Modern, Vintage Houston “Tree House” help warm up a kitchen full of “colder” materials.

(Image credit: Sophie Timothy)

The natural edge wood countertop, rough wall planks and complementary accessories all combine to create a woodsy and warm dream kitchen in Kirsty & Simon’s Cozy Century-Old Coastal Cottage.

(Image credit: Jacqueline Marque)

In one of the kitchens of Breeze & Lauren’s New Orleans Shotgun Filled With Vintage Charm, wood is everywhere.

(Image credit: Cathy Pyle)

The simple act of extending the wood countertop into a small wood backsplash adds warmth in Katy’s Eclectic and Always-Changing London Flat.

(Image credit: Monica Wang)

A nearly all-white kitchen is kept from feeling too stark by a lovely layered collection of wooden cutting boards in Chris and Amber’s Old + New Renovated Home. (Evidence you don’t need to wrap an entire room in wood to feel wood’s warmth.)

(Image credit: Jacqueline DuBois)

Another example of a few well-placed wooden accessories adding a powerful punch of warmth to a kitchen with “colder” materials, seen in Edith’s Clean & Colorful Oslo Townhome.

(Image credit: Jacqueline Marque)

Why pick just one finish of wood when you can have more? In Shena and George’s Formerly Blighted, Beautifully Salvaged New Orleans Home, the kitchen is a medley of multiple wood finishes.

(Image credit: Jacqueline Marque)

Need proof that you don’t need to use expensive wood to have its warm? In Seth & Elisabeth’s Shipping Container Home in New Orleans, affordable wood is used in a modern way to create a simple but warm kitchen.

(Image credit: Andrea Sparacio)

In Carlos’ Custom DIY Loft kitchen, reclaimed wood installed in a pattern makes a warm visual impact.

(Image credit: Adrienne Breaux)

The kitchen in Erin’s Warm & Wood-Wrapped Austin Budget Bungalow is proof that wood everything works!