Industrial design grows ever more prevalent in our world today, serving not only as a design and decor feature but as a functional part of your living space. Typically associated with lofts and other living spaces that boast open floor plans with reclaimed spaces, industrialism doesn’t require such a space to feature industrial design and decor.
Kitchens are prime real estate when it comes to industrially designed spaces. They need a careful balance when it comes to decor due to their primary purpose as a functional space. An industrial style kitchen can incorporate functional elements, as well as metals, exposed brick, and vintage-style fixtures.
Let’s look at a few examples that have been collected to help inspire you with kitchen design ideas. We’ve also compiled some of them in this lovely video for you to watch before proceeding to the complete list below.
1. Backdrop
This red fridge is a beautiful backdrop for the rest of the kitchen. With the addition of barstools at the large kitchen island and wooden countertops, you have a nice contrast to the polished grey tiles on the back wall.
2.Accents on open shelves
An aged, antique wooden table with chairs made of metal piping, wood floors, and a white radiator against the wall all give a vintage feeling, complimenting the newer fixtures quite well.
3. All the Fixings – Industrial Style
Stone countertops contrast a wooden table that matches the nearby shelves, balancing rustic with modern quite nicely.
4. Exposed Brick walls – the industrial touch
Including unexpected elements in your decor is part of the reason people love industrial kitchen design so much. For example, you can hang a bike on your wall and pass it off by calling it a personal flair.
5. Down By the Beach
Industrialism is famous for the frequent use of brick and metal, often resulting in a slightly harsh look with many hard edges. Exposed wooden beams, old wooden countertops, and a few mismatched stools pull this look together quite nicely.
6. Woodshop Kitchen Design
Industrial design can be composed of many elements, but you needn’t include them all. For example, a particular shade of wood might catch your fancy, which can then be included in things such as stairs, cabinets, and floors.
7. Simplistic style kitchen
Several different shades of wood are used in this kitchen, and all cupboards and cabinets are seamless, without any fixtures to mar an impeccable surface.
8. A clean industrial look
While the excess cement coming out from between the bricks may not be appealing to all, it can also hold a certain amount of charm. With the walls providing a more rustic take on decor, the rest of the kitchen is free to give us a more modern look on life, with polished concrete floors, and hanging metal lights above a seamless table.
9. Neutral colors for kitchen cabinets
Industrial designs are known for their proclivity to include lots of greys and other neutral colors. This is done to help spaces look bigger than they are, and to put the focus on different items in the room. For example, with grey and white being the primary colors used in the background, the wooden surfaces and indoor plants become the focus, transforming the kitchen into a somewhat earthy feeling space.
10. Wide Open Spaces
This beautiful large kitchen features several different kinds of exposed lights, using them to help transition the room from the meal preparation area to the sink. Don’t be afraid to use your furniture to establish the different sections of your house when dealing with a loft-type setup!
11. Tinted Industrial Chic
Adding small tints and light shades of colors is a great way to make a subtle difference when it comes to the color scheme of the room in question. For example, this shade of green isn’t far off from a grey, which is typically used in industrial design.
12. Circles and Squares
Add some different shapes to shake up your kitchen! While many functional spaces tend to have hard lines, try to include some soft curves in things like your chairs, houseplants, and small decorative items to provide some variety.
13. Greyscale
Monochrome may not be your thing, but if you’ve got a color you like, why mess with it? Try using a few different shades of the same color in things like the floor, walls, and furniture you use. This will provide variety, while still giving you the stability of using a color palette you won’t regret.
14. An Outdoor View
Many industrial spaces come with large windows that give you lots of light. If you’re able, take elements that are outside your windows and incorporate them inside to house to draw the interior and exterior together, effectively bringing your gaze outside and widening your perspective of the size of your room. Stainless steel appliances work well in this setting as well.
15. Dark and Light
Sometimes seeing things in black and white isn’t all that bad, especially when it comes to design and decor. This kitchen is in different shades of black, which instantly draws your attention to the white streaks running through the marble in the background, and magnifying the shine coming off of any metal fixtures.
16. Vintage Industrial
While many of our examples so far have been of new designs, industrial decor most certainly doesn’t have to be that way, nor is it normally. A few older, worn pieces of furniture and a brick wall are sometimes all it takes to provide you with your ideal aesthetic!
17. Dark and Dreary?
Use the natural light in your home to your best advantage in accenting some mechanical design aspects. While many industrial homes are seemingly darker than average, they don’t have to be. Draw your inspiration from a favorite bakery or cafe, something functional, and go from there!
18. A Special Shine
You can’t go wrong with metallic! Many, if not most industrial homes include many metal fixtures, whether they were put there intentionally or are simply things like exposed pipe and columns, typical of industrial design. If you’re not sure what to add, but you know something is missing, consider adding something metal.
19. One or the Other
If you take a look at the walls and the ceiling, you will see that this kitchen employs two different kinds of brick in its design. While this isn’t common, it’s certainly a beautiful effect that deserves to be utilized more often.
20. Multicolor
Beaten copper looks amazing when it is used in a modern industrial kitchen. With the smart use of some tile to incorporate some neutral colors that won’t clash, you get a design that feels quite nice.
21. Bare Bones
If you’re financially and architecturally able, consider taking your room down to some of the bare bones. This will expose some of the elements so beloved in industrial design, and might give you some inspiration for decor ideas! And we loved that rustic dining table, complete with built-in benches. A perfect combination of industrial and rustic styles.
22. Using Cement
The ceiling in this kitchen comes together with the concrete walls and polished floor, giving this kitchen has a very professional look.
23. Retro looking Industrial
Don’t be afraid to take this and run with it. Not all industrial design is a stainless steel monument to modernization, and sometimes it’s old wood, antique furniture, and exposed lights wrapped around a homemade chandelier.
24. Sunshine and a brick wall
One of the few areas a bare-bones industrial plan comes in lacking is the color department. Where neutral tones are generally used, this frees you up to put in a pop of color that will become the focus.
25. Lights in Focus
If you want to take your seamless look a little further, try putting your lights either flush with the ceiling or in an alcove. This will remove protrusions that interrupt the gaze, making each glance a smooth trip.
26. Art Show
Individuality can be expressed in many ways, and one of the best of those is art! Find a few pieces of art that you love, and hang them up to add that perfect final touch!
27. Indoor Garden
Indoor greenery is the perfect way to add a personal touch to your kitchen. If you decide to use herbs, you’ll still be keeping that perfect balance of fashion and function!
28. Simple Does It
If you don’t feel like going over the top but have a few industrial elements you’d like to add, add what you want! A metal table and a single exposed light are just enough sometimes, and your option is the only one that matters when it comes to your kitchen.
29. Home Sweet Home
You can still go the industrial route and have a homey feel! A chalkboard wall for your kids, a bar for them to do their homework on, and a few drawers in the wall are all true to the industrial feel and may help you make your day-to-day life a little less hectic.
30. Tropical Vacation
Did you know that there are different kinds of industrial style? Based on places that once served a purpose in the working industry, this means that there are all different kinds of places you can draw your inspiration from, and that includes the outdoors.
31. Simple Elegance
If you’re feeling adventurous, try including several different colors of metal in your kitchen theme. Wood and paint aren’t the only things that you can diversify when it comes to color.
32. Eccentricity
Industrialism is a fantastic design for free-thinking people and those of us who like to collect neat little knick-knacks or odd installations. Take the lights and the art in this room, for example!
33. Entirely Tile
Between the black exposed lights, and the use of black tile above the countertops, the kitchen effectively breaks up the monotony that white can cause, maintaining a pleasing balance.
34. Thought Bubble
In smaller floor plans, sometimes your kitchen space becomes a workspace as well. Help make it a place where you can relax by including some softer colors, as well as a few natural sources of light.
35. Support System
The dark wooden beams on the ceiling juxtaposed to the white, slightly faded brick wall help provide a needed contrast for the room, effectively matching the floor and bringing all the surfaces of the room together as a balanced whole.
36.Elaboration
Elaborating on an idea doesn’t have to mean making it over the top. For example, the wood in this kitchen appears older, and the countertop is new and modern. Two beautiful individual ideas that have been brought together quite nicely.
37. A Special Combination
Wood and metal are classic materials that are used in most industrial designs. The metal and wood shelving on the wall brings the floor and the countertops quite well, nicely combining both elements into one.
38. Grey and Green
Aged looks are popular due to their emotions of older memories they evoke. Neutral colors combined with some natural wood is a great way to make that look your own.
39. Silver and Rose Gold
Sometimes inspiration strikes as a full-sized industrial kitchen and what better way to decorate it than classic silver and copper?
40. Elemental Combinations
The copper in the hanging lights perfectly communicates with the brick in the background, helping pull the kitchen together and stabilize the room.
41. Metalwork
While not everyone can have exposed metal pipe in their kitchen, there are other elements you can add! A few metal stools and a set of classic exposed lights bring the different greys together and make the wood of the counters shine.
42. Interruptions
Some people like a seamless look, while others may prefer abrupt change. Try installing and using different materials and patterns to find that special something. Wood, brick, cement, metal, and stone are all great places to start!
43. Spotted White
Spotless might not always be the way to go. Showing wear on white painted bricks, as in this home, helps add character and removes pressure for extreme levels of upkeep.
44. One Design Fits All
This home takes the pattern behind the sink. It applies it to the woodwork on the side of the island, creating beautiful continuity that helps pull two otherwise different areas together.
45. Inside Out
This room has large windows, allowing for lots of light, and the stark greys and blacks create an effective separation from the outside of the house.
46. Shades of Red
Brick is a beautiful way to decorate your kitchen since it adds warmth to all the neutral colors so typically used with industrial design.
47. Subway Tile
If you want the look of brick, but don’t want to install actual brick in your house, you can use subway tile to give your kitchen that special effect at a fraction of the effort and cost.
48. Ups and Downs
If your industrial kitchen is attached to different levels of the house, try to establish some continuity by using some of the same colors and materials on each level to make sure it doesn’t appear messy and overwhelming.
49. Ease of Care
One of the many perks of certain industrial designs, especially in the kitchen, is the ease with which you can clean it. Typically seamless surfaces made of low maintenance materials make them easy to keep clean and compatible with many cleaners.
50. Light Catcher
Embed some lights in the ceiling itself to make them less noticeable, and compromise with the rest by installing some hanging lights, preventing yourself from going overboard with things hanging above your head.
51. The Comfort of Home
There’s something about a classic white paint and natural wood that will always seem like a timeless way to decorate, and it fits so many different kinds of decorating patterns, from country house to industrial design.
52. Stark Contrast
Sometimes the best (and easiest) way to decorate is to create minimal mental interference, and the best way to do that is to keep your color panel simple. You don’t need many colors to make a big impact.