22 Traditional Kitchen Ideas That Will Stand the Test of Time

Traditional Kitchen with a Coffered Ceiling

Glass-front cabinets, vintage-style fixtures and hardware, and beaded-board accents steep this kitchen in classic charm. A coffered ceiling elevates the style with architectural details. White cabinets paired with a white ceiling add to the room's sunny atmosphere and make the kitchen feel spacious.

Use Historical Colors in a Traditional Kitchen

Painted cabinetry speaks to traditional style kitchens, often because a color or a finish reflects a home's historical origin. This remodeled kitchen of a late-1800s San Francisco rowhouse retrieves some of the home's Victorian roots and blends in a touch of Scandanvian style, thanks to the blue cabinets.

Glass-Front Kitchen Cabinets

Displaying collections and personal treasures is an important characteristic of traditional kitchens. Glass-front kitchen cabinets let you showcase favorite dishes or sentimental heirlooms and add personality with color. Windows behind these glass-door cabinets add an unusual twist, opening the kitchen to natural light and outdoor views.

Custom Kitchen Details

While contemporary design is recognized for its clean lines and sleek surfaces, traditional kitchen design often includes interesting details and embellishments. In the kitchen, cabinetry, countertops, and backsplashes provide perfect opportunities for incorporating special stylized touches. This sophisticated kitchen features a showy, two-tier mahogany island with walnut veneers and carved brackets. Carved detailing on the range hood, a marble backsplash inlaid with decorative tiles, and leaded-glass cabinet doors also contribute to this kitchen's traditional roots.

Contrasting Kitchen Cabinets

Mix cabinet colors, finishes, and counter depths for a custom, furniture-style look in a traditional kitchen. This oak sink cabinet, with chunky faux feet, inlaid detailing, and contrasting countertop, adds to the casual character of this relaxed kitchen with painted cabinets and a beaded-board backsplash.

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Furniture-Style Kitchen Island

Another popular way to incorporate the look of furniture into a traditional kitchen is with the island. Fluted corner posts, built-in shelves, and a warm wooden top personify this spacious kitchen island as a piece of freestanding furniture. The dark painted finish highlighted with lighter tones contrasts with the perimeter cabinetry, which is painted dove white with a dark glaze to carry the furniture finish throughout the room.

Traditional Kitchen with Blue Accents

Blue is a timeless choice when adding color to traditional style. A pretty Delft-style tile backsplash energizes this white kitchen and introduces color that's picked up throughout the space in decorative accents, such as the pendant lights and barstools (similar to these Better Homes & Gardens Upholstered Barstools, $62, Walmart).

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Elegant Kitchen with Fine Details

Intricate molding details, rich marble countertops, and a classy black-and-white marble tile floor exude elegant, traditional style in this upscale kitchen. The elaborate tin ceiling adds one more thoughtful detail for the finishing touch.

Spanish Colonial Kitchen

Traditional style is a melting pot of many worldly architectural styles. The kitchen in this Spanish Colonial home is influenced by its style origins. Hand-painted Mexican tiles add color, pattern, and texture to the backsplash, while Mexican clay floor tiles add cantina character. The turquoise painted island provides visual punch.

Colorful Cabinets in a Traditional Kitchen

Colorful cabinetry brings European influence to this traditional kitchen. The trick to mixing cabinetry colors in one kitchen is giving purpose to each change. Consider painting all of the base cabinets one color, for instance, and the upper cabinets a different color. Countertops and a backsplash provide separation. Here, color defines and decorates the cooking-range area of the kitchen and visually unites it with woodwork around the windows. The kitchen island also offers an obvious point for color change.

Customized Kitchen Island

A vintage dresser nestled into the kitchen island and incorporated with a matching marble countertop adds an elegant touch to this stately kitchen. Traditional kitchen design strives to make the space feel less like a work horse and more like a cozy room in the home. Wood flooring laid in a classic parquet pattern further enhances the ambience.

Classy Kitchen Tile

Don't be afraid to use modern materials in a traditional kitchen. Muted green glass tiles bring cheerful color and modern style to this classic white kitchen, yet the tiles' subway-style shape links the treatment to traditional roots.

Bringing the Outside In

Mother Nature plays a comfortable roll in traditional design. This kitchen doesn't just rely on the outdoors view from the large windows to bring in the natural world. Plenty of materials within the traditional kitchen itself incorporate materials inspired by nature. A rustic stone-and-wooden-beam arch gives eye-catching attention to the kitchen's cooking niche. And black Marinace granite spread across the island features a fossilized look reminiscent of a riverbed.

Modern-Day Traditional Kitchen

A new kitchen with modern amenities can still feature classic, traditional style, as demonstrated in this kitchen addition that looks and feels like it's original to the 1920s Georgian home. Look for fixtures with classic styling, such as these lantern-style lights and old-fashioned drawer pulls. Use materials with vintage charm, such as oak plank flooring. And incorporate modern appliances and features with traditional styling, such as the hearthlike surround over the professional range and cooking area.

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Black-and-White Traditional Kitchen

A simple black-and-white color palette injected with vintage-style elements offers a traditional look that transcends time and trends. In this kitchen, throwback-style pendant lights and cabinet hardware lead the charge in vintage traditional style, while a farmhouse-style sink outfitted with old-fashioned wall-mount plumbing and black soapstone countertops build on the antique appeal.

Crossing Style Lines

Fans of traditional style can still have an appreciation for contemporary influence. To satisfy a desire for traditional warmth and clean lines, this homeowner outfitted her kitchen with classic traditional kitchen cabinetry, then accented it with whimsical pendant lights, geometric fabrics, and touches of abstract sculpture.

Casual Cottage Kitchen

Certain architectural elements are a natural fit for a traditional kitchen. In this kitchen, furniture-style cabinetry with fluted pillars and molding details, granite countertops, and ornate window architecture convey classic traditional style. To relax the mood to better fit this Nantucket vacation home, the cabinetry was painted a buttery-cream color, and casual open shelving, baskets (like this Better Homes & Gardens Water Hyacinth Basket, $19, Walmart) and beaded-board accents add cottage influence.

Colorful Kitchen Backsplash

Bold design touches, such as this tile backsplash and blue range and hood, have a place in traditional kitchen design. Here, the noteworthy elements bring a modern twist to classic Arts and Crafts cabinetry, uniting old and new.

Rich Wood Kitchen Cabinets

All dark wood cabinetry can make a traditional kitchen overwhelmingly heavy. Instead, incorporate portions of cabinetry in dark hues (the large island and range hood are outfitted in rich cherry in this kitchen) with plenty of light elements, such as the white perimeter cabinets and countertops, and the sparkling white chandeliers above the island.

Farmhouse Kitchen Island

Clever design details in this traditional kitchen incorporate farmhouse design concepts found in other areas of the home. The cooking area resembles a cozy family room hearth with its bricklike tile backsplash and chimney-inspired range hood. The long kitchen island is reminiscent of a rambling farmhouse table.

Artistic Kitchen Tilework

A traditional kitchen embraces the heart-of-the-home label by encouraging personal decorative touches. When the homeowner of this kitchen wanted to feel like she was stepping into a faraway land, she had the cabinets glazed and the walls plastered to convey old-world ambience. Then she incorporated a beautiful hand-painted peacock tile backsplash she found in Mexico.

Tuscan-Influenced Kitchen

Old-world Tuscan design is a popular influence in traditional kitchens today. A mix of dark and light cabinetry treated with glazed finishes gives this new kitchen its rustic, timeworn appeal. Even the noteworthy ceiling beams were weathered and glazed to carry the old-world character throughout the room. A heavy bronze-finish light fixture, terra-cotta tile detailing, and a wooden island countertop keep the look sophisticated yet reminiscent.