How Strips of Wood Can Enhance Your Kitchen Designs

Incorporating mouldings & millwork into your kitchen designs is a great way to differentiate your designs.

There are many ways to do that so, let’s have a look at how strips of wood can enhance your Kitchen Designs!

Wall Treatments

Wood wall treatments are a great way to enhance a design.

Shiplap is product that lends itself well to full wall installations.

Shiplap is defined as wooden sheathing in which the boards are rabbeted so that the edges of each board lap over the edges of adjacent boards to make a flush joint.

Historically this product was installed horizontally on walls in post and beam constructed homes.

This type of wall treatment works well in Farmhouse styled spaces.

For a rustic look choose stained wood shiplap and for classic Farmhouse paint it white.

This type of treatment adds texture that a drywalled wall could not.

Wainscoting

Another way to install strips of wood is vertically.

As a wall treatment a vertical application lends its self well to a wainscot treatment.

You can specify wide or narrow wood planks for this application.

Look for shiplap as well as tongue & groove and beadboard products to produce this look.

Tongue & groove is wooden planking in which adjacent boards are joined by means of interlocking ridges and grooves down their sides while beadboard is wooden boards with a bead or ridge running their length.

Installing the boards from the floor part way up the wall will protect the wall from furniture bumps and allow a more delicate wallpaper or paint to be applied above it.

To customize your Kitchen Design even more, consider painting or staining wainscoting in an accent color.

Depending on the color chosen the whole look of the room can be transformed.

Wood Ceiling Treatments

Applying wood strips to the ceiling in a kitchen can define the space and add texture to the fifth wall.

Again shiplap, beadboard or tongue & groove wood are great choices.

Painting or staining the wood can provide the final look needed to enhance the Kitchen decor style.

Wood Strips as a Backsplash

As an alternative to tile you could specify your client’s Kitchen backsplash to be strips of wood.

Vertical strips in the standard 18″ backsplash area can be a cost effective way to finish this space.

You can also get a dramatic look by specifying boards from the counter to the ceiling in areas where there is no upper cabinetry planned.

Horizontal installations are another option you could consider for a wood strip backsplash treatment.

These long lineal lines produce a classic look and are great for full wall installations as well.

In any case you should have the wood sealed to allow for easy cleaning in this location.

To Protect Walls

Wood strips placed behind Kitchen storage is a great way to protect the wall surface.

The example above shows wood strips behind a collection of copper pots protecting the wall and adding style.

Cabinet End Panels

Rather than leaving the end panels on cabinetry plain, you can add detail with wood strips made into paneling.

Choose widths that work proportionately with the size of the gable and enhance the style of the room.

Kitchen Island

The back or ends of an island is the perfect place to specify a wood strip detail.

With this area typically visible, it should be embellished.

Vertical beadbead board is appropriate for classic and country styled Kitchen Designs.

Horizontal boards can evoke a Farmhouse or a Contemporary aesthetic.

Traditional shiplap boards or even wood flooring boards can be used for this application.

Another great bonus for specifying wood strips as the island bar backing is protection.

When stools are placed in this location the wood strips protect the cabinetry from diners kicking the bar backing.

As you can see, the simple wood strip can really enhance your Kitchen Designs.

I encourage you to experiment with this product and would love to hear about your results. Please leave me a comment below.