French Bistro Inspired Kitchen

HOWDY!

I think one of my favorite design styles is taken from the French. I love love love those phenomenal black French iron windows and that black and white penny tile. When looking at apartments in NYC, which is something I do too often, it makes me so so happy when I find a bathroom with original black and white penny tile. I even get excited when the kitchen has black and and white traditional square tile. It makes me feel like I would be living in a pizza place. It’s suuuuch a good aesthetic. So, boy was I thrilled to design a kitchen and dining room in the same aesthetic I’ve been lusting over for years.

And, glory hallelujah, this kitchen turned out strikingly beautiful. I love me a black and white everything (especially the cookie!), but this one makes me so happy. The goal with this kitchen was to take inspiration from a classic French bistro. You know, the bistros that are ultimate perfection in the most “I’m not even trying” sort of way. It’s maddening how good they are. Just check these babies out!

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So, what can we say about the French bistro design? First off, the French are the most casual cool chic people on the planet, so it’s no surprise their interiors are all pin-worthy. Here are some qualities of a true French bistro (that we can copy!): mixing patterns with ease, they are unfussy, art is minimal, there are natural accents such as plants and wood furnishings, they are mostly black and white, kitchen fixtures are not high end and glossy but more muted matte and not stand out-ish, there is lighting – o – plenty, windows are their own design and don’t require curtains to cover their beauty, and basically, everything is selected so perfectly that there doesn’t need to be a abundance of other items to “pull the design together”. You know what I mean? Like if you have lots of different colors in your palette, well then you need items in the space to repeat that color so it doesn’t look like the scary boat ride in the Willy Wonka factory. That scene haunts my dreams. But here, we have a simple color palette. Thank goodness.

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Basically, we want…

Refined minimalism with a modern edge.

HUZZAH is that a good design concept. It takes me back to design school when we had to spend hours defining our “concept”, which to this day, I think is ridiculous and a waste of time. Designs change. Time goes by and you find items that reflect your ultimate goal even better than your initial stupid concept which is now apparently chiseled in stone and unable to be changed. My advice: CHANGE IT IF YOU WANT. AT ANY POINT YOU WANT. You’re not a tree; you can move.

People love to make up rules, don’t they? You will find that I throw rules out the window. I think rules, ESPECIALLY in design, are only created so people feel like they know more than the next person. Don”t ever follow a rule. Because really, a rule is just something someone said. Literally, anyone can say anything these days. I read it all the time on other well known blogs. Things like “10 trends interior designers wish would go away” or “10 things not to do”. It’s all lies. Do what you want, boo. So please, don’t read these sorts of posts without taking it with a grain of salt.

Nobody’s opinion about YOUR SPACE matters more than your own, ever.

I just want to make design fun again, instead of tricking people into hiring designers by convincing them they are doing things “wrong”. There is no such thing as wrong. There is also no such thing as right; everything is subjective. Sorry about the rant. I just want to be your cheerleader and want my voice to be louder than those voices making you feel like your home is somehow sub-par because you didn’t do what some random person said. Ya feel me?

Ok. Now where were we? Ah, refined minimalism with a modern edge. Doesn’t that sentence sound sexy? You betcha. And we achieve that with restraint. We choose items that are interesting, but also very simple. For example, I chose those 2 mirrors from Anthropologie. They look simple enough, but have this awesome vintage ivy surrounding them. It makes them look modern and interesting, but timeless because of the ivy. I also chose a very familiar bistro chair from Restoration Hardware. By looking at it, you would not be able to tell if it was new or had been there for years. And that is the goal.

The French are master pattern mixers.

They are much more brave at pairing color and patterns than most Americans. They have this casual way about it. The perfection in those designs actually lies within the imperfection, the mismatched-ness. I chose to do a classic white penny tile and then bring a black and white penny tile up the kitchen island. Because they are the same size, they are visually one. It gives interest to the island and makes it feel even more bistro-y because there is tile literally everywhere in a French bistro. Notice that the tile pattern and the awesome black and white Hygge & West wallpaper don’t clash at all. It just adds more visual interest since we are dealing with large surfaces and the same color palette.

There is a lot of uniqueness in this space but also even more repetition. I used the same wallpaper in the dining area (which you can see in a separate post), there is wood from the chair, 2 types of penny tile, and 2 types of counter materials all in the same color scheme. I used a beautiful dark charcoal soapstone with gorgeous but muted veining for the perimeter counters and concrete for the island.

Now, I like to subscribe to the idea that the island is the artistic piece in a kitchen.

It is a place to showcase your creativity because it is a separate piece of furniture. However, for the minimal design we have here, it was less important to have obvious differences in the island and other counter tops, and more important for the differences to be muted and slight. I decided to go with the black painted island so it is the same as the other cabinetry, and used my creativity for the concrete slab. It is unique, but does not stand out and still feels raw. That is the thing about these French bistros, nothing stands out more than the next. That is why they are so coveted and beautiful. Bold yet calm.

Here’s my design

I went with a sexy modern matte black faucet, and open shelving because you know I’m not covering up that beautiful brick. No sir. The stools are from Restoration Hardware and the art is muted and minimal, casually leaning against the wall instead of being hung. Are you noticing a pattern? And there you have it. The most beautiful kitchen I ever did see. To be fair, I say that about almost every kitchen I design.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to leave me your thoughts in the comments! As always, I share all items in this design in the links below because sharing is caring!

See you next time.

-K