What makes a cosy kitchen?

[MadamMooch]

If you’ve ever felt really comfortable in someone’s kitchen, what made it feel like that?
The kitchen in our new house is fairly big, but modern and cold. I want to make a comfy space where friends and family can feel at ease (post-Covid).
For me, the nearest thing was at an old friend’s who had a fairly shabby farmhouse kitchen, but her table was massive, chairs didn’t match, but all had a squishy cushion. Stone floor, cluttered shelves but not dusty. Everything felt well-scrubbed. Fresh flowers and plants on the sill. Big range, so was warm.
Can’t remember colour or tiling or anything.

A heater.

I know that sounds sarcastic, but our kitchen looks great but has no heater, so unless you are cooking, it is freezing in the winter.

I agree with PP. so many of these large kitchen/diner/living spaces are so big and, as a result, can be cold.
Flowers to make a difference, too. And green plants.

I love that lived in look but it’s been consciously styled in that way. I love modern farmhouse mix of textures and fresh flowers are a must. I also love a cushion on the chairs round the table, makes it feel like a place where you can sit and catch up. I love to bake so usually have something on my cake stand which I think makes it feel homely.

Somewhere to sit while chatting to whoever is cooking is crucial. So stools or a sofa? Pics on walls of family. Natural materials - shiny chrome and glass are not cosy, brick and wicker and cotton /linen are. Think about lighting - task lighting and lamps are better than overhead.

Dresser full of interesting things - but all used, not just for decoration. Armchair in the corner. Comfy cushions. Lots of wood. Lack of cold surfaces like marble or glass, lots of warm ones like wood and fabric. Colourful pictures on the walls. Plants.

Comfy seating so you can easily chat while cooking or pottering or whatever.

People are what makes a cosy kitchen. Sit about and chat with your loved ones and it’s cosy. I need to do more of this myself.

Adding some natural materials - wood, cane baskets, potted herbs, a hanging plant, fruit in a bowl. Pottery or stoneware on display.

Having an openly set up coffee/tea making area makes a kitchen feel lived in and inviting to me, like you can grab a mug anytime.

Somewhere to sit, even if it's just a tall stool in the corner that you might perch on to read a book while something bakes, gives more of the impression that this is a room people like to be in.

it needs to be big but warm, large table with a table cloth, fresh or faux flowers.
I like to think my kitchen is like this, people certainly gravitate towards it and have to be shepherded to the lounge sometimes, but that's a good thing.

Some amazing ideas here, thanks. Have enjoyed reading!

We have a sofa, chair and bookshelf in our kitchen which is a lovely place to have a cuppa and we often sit there when we have friends over. The biggest thing that made our kitchen cosy was rugs! We have one in the “sitting” area and another in the “dining” area and I think they really make the space.

We have these ones from ikea and they have survived weaning a baby! www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/lohals-rug-flatwoven-natural-00277395/

Underfloor heating and a battered leather sofa under the stairs, beneath a shelf with all my cookery books and a reading light. My kitchen isn't massive (4m x 4.5m) but I was determined to fit a sofa in there.

I like farmhouse/ shabby style- so mismatched, distressed furniture.
Wooden, ceramic decor.
Fresh flowers.
Rag rugs.
Fall scented candles- like ginger bread, spiced apple.

Kitchen should feel cosy, warm, little cluttered and comfy in my opinion.🌼

A bookshelf - they make kitchens
And some pictures up.
Some soft /natural materials
And flowers

Oh and wicker baskets.

Not like my former neighbours' in a midlands village -- they had literally nothing on any surfaces in their kitchen, not to much as a fruit bowl, vase or plant.

When they invited us for a cup of tea soon after we moved in, we thought they had also just moved in because the place felt so uninhabited, until we saw them getting out a kettle from a drawer. The toaster lived in another drawer, likewise the coffee machine, radio, bread bin, knife block etc. Everything was dismantled, cooled down or washed and packed away again before we had left, to our fascination.

They were very nice, but I always felt I was making their kitchen untidy simply by sitting visibly in it, and not being invisibly put away in a drawer or cupboard.

An Aga!

I have quite a minimal kitchen (lockdown project!) but I still think my kitchen is welcoming.

I've got a few houseplants and a shelf with framed photos and ornaments on it. My table is wooden farmhouse style with cushioned seats. I've also got a lamp on the table which looks a little odd but does make it cosy in the evenings rather than the big light. I've got some festoon lights up round the dining area too

XSnowballer or an Everhot or a very old Rayburn. We had the Rayburn but have had a new kitchen two years ago and the Everhot has made the room. We have a big pine table with a runner my daughter made. A dresser full of beautiful things(clutter) and painting and pictures on the wall. Mine isn’t big enough for a sofa but I had a friend who had an enormous kitchen before it became ‘a thing’ had an old squishy sofa with lots of cushions. I loved going there. Her house was huge think big old country house but she made it feel really homely. She made lots of the furnishings herself. They have downsized now another family have the house but I haven’t been in it.

Oh I’ve found my people! There is another thread going at moment about what do you keep on your kitchen counters.

The majority of the people on the thread seem to be kettle in the cupboard types. It was making me feel sad about (what I thought) was a clean and tidy but ‘homely’ kitchen!

Quite apart from me finding those types of kitchens a bit sterile and clinical looking, I am honestly agog at the thought of putting a toaster and kettle into a cupboard after use. I cannot get my head around the faff that would involve! (Or maybe I just make too many cups of tea.)

Looking around my kitchen - light, warmth, a large ash chopping board & a bottle of cooking red in front of the bread bin. A fruit bowl full of plums, apples and satsumas.

Orange habitat chairs to brighten up grey floor tiles. A Chagall print of a man sitting on a roof, playing a violin. And a nice cooking smell courtesy of the slow cooker and tonight's supper.

Aga
Somewhere comfortable to sit
Underfloor hearing or a rug under the table if stone floor

I posted on the other thread, I will never be a toaster in a cupboard type. Our kitchen is too small for a sofa or even an armchair unfortunately but we have a medium amount of clutter on our surfaces and a table and chairs, photos on the fridge, stuff on hooks instead of hidden away. We are planning to redo it next year and cosy/homely is what I want it to be, definitely not glossy/minimalistic.

Ilen- my DH would love a kitchen like that! Sadly he married badly (😁) and ended up with me as a spouse, so in a good day gets “homely” instread!

I have an antique wooden bench in my kitchen .People always gravitate to it and when the kids were younger there was always a fight about who got to sit /lie on it.It really does make my otherwise white/wood modern kitchen cosy.