Tiny Cooking: 7 Colorful Apartment Kitchens Across Europe

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These seven colorful European apartment kitchens offer a chromatic vision in response to the minimalist and monotone design trends that have dominated in recent years. Given the limited space available in urban apartments in European cities like Geneva and Lyons, architects have to be creative about spatial allocation. These kitchens each take unique approaches to the question of planning.

COCI studio cleaves the kitchen from the living room by inserting a glass screen that separates the spaces without sacrificing their visual connection. To maximize space, fala atelier and SABO project employ floor-to-ceiling cabinets for kitchen storage. The unifying theme of these apartments in a resurgence in vibrant colors and custom design to realize clients’ desires.

Apartment XVII by studio razavi architecture, Lyon, France

This delightful French apartment tempers postmodernist forms with a muted, yet vibrant color palate. Playful arches of mismatched sizes echo from the pantry throughout interior doorways, inset bookcases and radiator covers. The kitchen is similarly inspired, with a stepped backsplash in shades of green that diagonally splits the wall. Above and below the countertop, clustered handles rhythmically create keystone shapes at alternating junctions on the cabinetry. Beyond the kitchen, rough plastered walls and oak ceilings generate suggestive surfaces as light scatters through the apartment.

PISO PUJADES11 by Miel Arquitectos, Barcelona, Spain

Blue and white ceramic tiles are the centerpiece of this Barcelona apartment. Forming rows of triangles in alternating directions, the tiles are reminiscent of the iconic floors of Gio Ponti’s modernist classic, the 1960 Parco dei Principi Hotel in Sorrento, Italy. Circular cutouts in one of the wooden cabinets match the triangle motif of the tiles. In place of handles, there are additional cutouts in each cabinet to facilitate easy opening. The three bright yellow cords of the hanging lamps are a final shot of color.

Apartment on a Mint Floor by fala atelier, Porto, Portugal

The namesake mint floor sweeps the apartment’s entirety and gently antagonizes its coarse concrete ceilings. In the kitchen, dichromatic painting of the floor-to-ceiling cabinets gives a quilted appearance. The countertop and backsplash are composed of grey-streaked marble, also utilized to separate the exterior terrace entrances. The colors and rich surfaces of the kitchen distinguish it from the muted wood and white walls of the rest of the apartment.

Hike by SABO project, Paris, France

The floor of SABO project’s Paris apartment kitchen is a taste of the rainbow. This vibrant arrangement is composed of twenty-five variegated rubber strips. An all-white scheme for the rest of the kitchen accentuates the creative flooring decision. Rivaling the floor for the most original contribution, opposite the sink, a mini vertical garden brings greenery and fresh herbal fragrances inside. The countertop is made of welded stainless steel, matching the vent and appliances.

Two rooms, one bench by COCI studio, Geneva, Switzerland

This two-tone Swiss kitchen is offset by a glass divider atop the eponymous built-in bench that separates the space from the living room. Countertops run the length of one wall and the other is filled with teal cabinets, a chromatic and textural contrast to the opposing brass backsplash. In compositional accordance with the rule of thirds, two lamps and a brass hood punctuate the kitchen wall. Four wine glasses hang from a small rack above the sink, a thoughtful nod to the oenophile owner of the apartment.

Summer apartment by DDAANN, Prague, Czechia

The renovation of a tourist rental apartment in the Czech capital respected the building’s historic nature, with stripped walls and black and white tiles left intact. Owing to this sensitivity, new blue and yellow cabinets in the kitchen inject brightness into the space. To make dish-ware accessible to short-term guests, one cabinet section is left uncovered. Similar modular cabinetry is applied in the living room as a television stand and for the washbasins in the bathrooms.

Loft in Bratislava by RULES architects, Bratislava, Slovakia

RULES architects designed this loft in Bratislava around the principles of ease, casualness and space. The kitchen is similarly unpretentious, with a functional screen to hide an appliance cabinet and spice rack. Behind the stove, tiles in a colorful 3D cube design cover the space behind the vent. The dining table runs parallel to the kitchen countertop. The industrial vibe of the apartment is evident in the black steel beams that span the kitchen ceiling and support a half-level floor on the other side of the loft.

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