Designer Tips To Create Luxury Mediterranean Kitchens: Design Ideas

These luxury Mediterranean kitchens feature designs inspired by architecture originating from countries around the Mediterranean Sea such as Italy, Spain and Greece. With dramatic open spaces, gorgeous textured walls, exposed beams, intricate custom tile work and clean lines with elegant arches these kitchens look visually stunning and impressive.

Mediterranean Kitchen Design

Mediterranean design is very appealing to homeowners who have specific preferences of styles with added brightness and relaxing atmosphere. With lively colors used for accents, high end finishes, and dramatic old-world elegance, kitchens designed in this popular aesthetics provide a sense of luxury and beauty.

This style commonly uses blues and greens for the walls, accents, and larger design elements, including islands and cabinets, reflecting the azure waters of the region. The color of the floors, and countertops are often presented in colors of tan and beige. For an additional touch of Morrocan essence, colors like the red, yellow, and green are used in smaller elements such as curtains, rugs, glassware, and storage containers.

The materials used for this style are often made from natural resources or even contemporary synthetics, which are naturally looking. Floors use mostly hardwoods or engineered hardwoods which are lighter in shade. The cabinets installed are made from high quality woods with rustic finish. The natural beauty of the cabinets is maintained by means of staining and painting. Mosaics can also be used to feature the region’s culture and include custom handcrafted tile work.

With regards to furniture such as chairs, tables, or stools, quality hardwood is utilized for its construction with the design of a natural or unfinished state.  Homeowners who wish to paint their furniture will make sure to use rustic colors so that the space will appear brighter and more vibrant.

In the picture above a very spacious Mediterranean inspired kitchen space uses solid Mahogany woods almost throughout the entire layout. Rich wood details was used on the floors, the ceiling’s beams & trusses, as well as the cabinets themselves. Adding a luxurious touch to this design is the solid marble top with a detailed nosing profile, and the matching marble backsplash.

Mediterranean Style Kitchen Materials

Below are the essentials of a Mediterranean style kitchen design:

• Colors are rich and warm – make use of popular Mediterranean colors such as blended colors of red, bright yellow, and blue
• Swooping curves and arched architecture – provide elegance and old-world style
• Wrought iron details – features beautiful detail with rustic charm in the kitchen
• Textured walls – present the sense of a vintage villa and give a sense of glamour
• Backsplash tile – made from travertine, ceramic, porcelain, glass, slate or marble.
• Tilework painted by hand – these are presented with colorful Mosaics
• Saltillo floor tile – offers an earthy and warm flooring
• Ceiling beams – must be exposed and should match with the metals and textured walls
• Dark wood tones – to have a solid appearance using wood in the cabinetry, exposed beams and flooring

Mediterranean kitchens build a relaxing theme even when it comes to the decor and other accessories. Many small and large appliances are already available in different colors which can be matched properly with the Mediterranean design. Cookware or cutlery must project visual enticement to the design by pairing them properly with the overall theme.

Designer Tips to Deepen the Mediterranean Mood

Layer the lighting for sunset-soft ambience. Mediterranean kitchens shine when multiple light sources overlap: a wrought-iron chandelier above the island, under-cabinet LED strips that graze textured walls, and small recessed spots aimed at hand-painted tiles. Warm-white bulbs (2700 to 3000 K) echo the glow of a coastal sunset and make terracotta floors and deep wood cabinets feel even richer.

Borrow outdoor elements to blur boundaries. If you have a patio or herb garden nearby, specify a set of arched French doors or a pass-through window so breezes, and fragrant rosemary or lavender can drift in. Even a small Juliet balcony rail outside a kitchen window can evoke a hillside villa and let you clip fresh herbs straight into the pot.

Mix metals consciously. Aged bronze or blackened iron should anchor the space, but introducing one secondary tone (antique brass faucets or pewter cabinet pulls) adds dimension without visual clutter. Keep the finish profiles matte or lightly distressed so they harmonize with the hand-finished character of Saltillo tile and plaster.

Choose countertops that feel sun-kissed. Creamy Crema Marfil marble, leathered travertine, or warm beige quartzite echo Mediterranean stone without looking busy against colorful backsplash mosaics. Finish edges with a soft ogee or demi-bullnose to mimic centuries-old craftsmanship.

Introduce rustic furniture pieces as workstations. A reclaimed oak farm table or painted Provencal sideboard can double as an island or coffee bar. Their time-softened patina breaks up runs of dark cabinetry and invites family to linger over espresso.

Celebrate ceiling height with artisan finishes. If beams are already exposed, brush them with a light wash of walnut stain for depth, then whitewash the coffers or barrel vault between them to bounce light. Where ceilings are flat, add shallow faux beams or install terracotta barrel tiles overhead to imply old-world construction.

Accent with earthenware and woven textures. Hang hand-thrown clay pitchers on wrought-iron hooks, line open shelves with olive-oil jars, and drape the breakfast nook with linen or jute cushions. These tactile touches soften hard stone and tile surfaces, completing the “villa kitchen” embrace.

Elevate ventilation to a focal statement. Clad the range hood in hand-troweled plaster or rough-hewn stone, then rim it with mosaic trim that ties back to the backsplash. For a lighter take, wrap the hood in wood to match beams and finish with iron strapping.

Play with patterns underfoot. If Saltillo feels too traditional, arrange hexagonal encaustic cement tiles in sun-washed blues and ochres as a runner in front of the sink, leaving the field of flooring neutral. It draws the eye through the room like a Mediterranean courtyard path.

Invite plant life for a lived-in flourish. Cluster potted lemon trees, trailing ivy, or basil in terra-cotta planters near windows. The greenery highlights the warm palette and brings a fresh, coastal-garden spirit indoors, which is exactly what makes Mediterranean kitchens feel timelessly welcoming.

Brick Accent

This kitchen’s vaulted ceiling in antiqued brick finish definitely takes us back in time and gives this culinary area an old-world vibe, especially combined with the antique mahogany flooring. The combination of the ceiling and flooring is a bit dark, so to balance it, the walls were simply painted white, and the cabinets were mostly finished in a creamy white color and topped with gray soapstone. Unlike the rest of the kitchen, though, the center-most island uses antiqued green finish on its base, making it unique.

Mediterranean White Countertops

Kitchens designed in this style are well known for their elegant curves and designs of clean straight edges. This design combines this style with a more modern design to achieve an inviting and beautiful space. Dark walnut floors and white walls serves as the background for the solid Mahogany cabinets, topped with smooth white marble with a simple nosing profile, creating a clean, seamless lines. Skylights help illuminate the kitchen, while the quatrefoil mosaic tiles add a more traditional pattern, using lighter, more contemporary colors to keep the space looking bright and fresh.

Mediterranean White Cabinets

This space also takes inspiration from traditional rustic-style kitchens, as demonstrated by its use of limestone tile for the flooring and taking the wood cabinets and painting them in an off-white color. These cabinets stand out nicely against the solid Mahogany beams and other furnishings, and blend seamlessly into the white walls. For the countertop, white marble was used for the main cabinets and the center island.

Baroque Style Mediterranean Design Style

This design has a somewhat Baroque-style feel to it, with its use of dark colors and heavy wood materials. You will see that all walls and even the ceiling were painted in a mocha brown color paired with antique natural stone tiles in different shades of brown, which provides a dark and warm background for the kitchen. It uses walnut finish for the heavily paneled cabinets, and tops it with a thick slab of brown granite, making it feel massive and heavy.

Light Colored Granite Counters 

Solid mahogany cabinets adds a touch of warmth into this layout and also matches the finish used on the ceiling molding, making the whole look cohesive. On the overhead cabinets, the traditional style paneled cabinets were given a bit more spice by using wire mesh on its panels, making the interior visible. This cooking space uses gold granite for all countertop, and uses a faux marble finish on the poured cement range hood cover, making it match with the color of the granite counters. The material used for the backsplash, on the other hand, is white-painted cobblestone tiles, giving it a unique texture, with a more traditional feel than subway tiles.

Open Layout Design

Going for a darker color scheme, this design produces a more private yet elegant feel to it. The unique open layout design is quite large, and uses mostly full-height cabinets against the walls, making it look very massive. These dark walnut-finished cabinets are all paneled and topped with brown granite stone. The brick finish of the ceiling, the wooden beams, and the arched openings, on the other hand, help give this design a more rustic Southern European feel, which also helps mirror the curvy shape of the upholstered bar stools.

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