3 Fail-Safe Approaches to Mix Metals in Kitchen

With these fail-safe approaches to mix metals, you can achieve a trendy kitchen. 

If you don’t feel the need to have everything match, definitely give it a try.

Most of the kitchen appliances, such as a fridge, have a stainless steel finish. Because of that, you can think the only option is to use brushed nickel finishes for your kitchen.

The truth is stainless steel appliances are so common that our eyes are getting used to seeing them.

These appliances have become like the background of our kitchens, and you can definitely create different metal combinations without changing your devices.

It doesn’t matter if it is brass, copper, or chrome. All metals can work perfectly well with each other.

There are many techniques to mix metals. But in this article, I will share tricks to use different metals in your kitchen.

Just be sure that if you want to mix metals, keep the finishes (matte or shiny) of all the appliances the same.

One more thing to be aware of sometimes finishes (especially stainless steel) can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. So you can consider buying everything from one manufacturer.

You might be thinking that the kitchen is the costliest room of a home and you don’t want to get it wrong. I understand!

However, I am here to tell you that you can absolutely mix metals with confidence, and here is how you can nail it: 

See Also: 4 Easy Tips to Mix Metals in Bathrooms

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Decide from Purpose

This approach is about keeping all the functional metals in one finish and using decorative metals in a different finish.

What are the decorative metals in the kitchen?

Light fixtures are one of the kinds of decorative metals in your kitchen. If you have a bar stool or a dining table in your kitchen, the leg of your furnishings consider as a decorative metal (if it is a metal).

Drawer pulls, kitchen appliances, faucets, and everything else can consider functional metals.

See Also: 4 Basic Rules of Mixing Metal Finishes Throughout your Home

Everything Except One

I use this approach when mixing metals in bathrooms as well.

The only thing you need to do is change the metal in your light fixture and keep everything else the same finish.

The light fixture is often the center of the kitchen, and this makes lighting a great item to bring another metal. 

When you do that, it will feel like you mix these metals intentionally rather than accidentally. This is what we want to achieve exactly, right?

60-30-10 Split Method

For larger kitchens, this method is to create a perfect balance. You need to choose 3 different metals to use in your kitchen for a 60-30-10 split approach.

Select a dominant metal and use it in your kitchen appliances because the appliances will roughly cover 60 percent of the metals in your kitchen.

If you have built-in kitchen appliances, you can achieve 60 percent dominant metal usage by choosing all of your cabinet pulls and light fixtures in the same metal.

The second metal which will use 30 percent of your kitchen can be your faucet, furniture legs, or cabinet pulls. You decide!

The most important thing to achieve this approach is to use these percentages visually.

In this example (above), gold may look like a dominant metal. But if you look more detailed, you can realize that stainless steel finishes rule this kitchen.

Gold finishes are secondary metals with approximately 30 percent usage.

The third metal of your kitchen will appear in 1-2 items in your kitchen, and it will be enough to create this 60-30-10 split approach. You can use different metals in your kitchen shelf, hook, or kitchen rack.

You can use this approach in several ways. Just use your imagination and try to carry these percentages (roughly) in every design decision you make.

I hope these 3 guidelines have convinced you that it is a beautiful design choice to mix metal in the kitchen. 

If you have any doubt, comment below and tell me what it is.

What metals would you choose to combine in your kitchen?