One single element can bring a room to life, and your kitchen is no exception. Whether it is an avant-garde solution to appliances, or a funky approach to exposed storage for plates and flatware, choosing the right individual piece will make your kitchen’s theme come alive. With a conscientious focus on what your kitchen design theme will be, and what your color palette will entail, you can allow yourself some creative expression in locating just the right item.
Where to look
Start your search for that unique element by looking in the least likely of places- your own home. Check the attic for boxes of college items put away twenty years ago. You might stumble across that old clay sculpture or oil painting you did while in Art 101, or come across a funky nightstand from your first apartment. Look also for quilts and blankets that can be repurposed with a little DIY panache, taking the item and fastening it to a piece of plywood and batting for a three-dimensional bohemian wall hanging.
Scour the basement as well for pieces of stored furniture that might go well in a breakfast nook or for additional seating around a small table. Vases, collectible cookbooks, and floor lamps are all good candidates. This isn’t an opportunity to empty everything at once and try to find a home for it, but only one or two pieces. The rest you can keep in storage or haul off to the thrift shop.
Choosing color 
Repainting the walls in seven different colors is definitely not the way to go here, but a section of wall with some offsetting color can truly bring personality to a kitchen space. Try hand painted tiles with lots of color as a mosaic backsplash for your stovetop, or get creative and paint a mural on a smaller section of wall passing between your dining room and living room. Choose colors that complement the base tones that identify your kitchen space, but make them stand out with an eye catching flare.
You can also add texture to your walls with different painting applications. Try sponge-dabbing paint to a wall, or perhaps laying down a thick layer and using putty knives to lightly sketch in a relief mural. You can also utilize stencils to splash color where it is needed, with kitchen-appropriate images such as fruit and vegetable silhouettes.
Appliances
Stainless steel is all the rage, even with its difficulty to keep clean. But manufacturers also have a wide selection of retro-appearance models for your consideration. Just as avocado Kenmore’s were all the rage back in the 1960s, the style is being revitalized and re-engineered with energy saving components. It may not look fantastic standing alone, but the design can fit well in a kitchen going for an eye-catching retro theme. Match your refrigerator and dishwasher to the style for your triangulation requirement. The eye will be drawn from one to another before seeking a complimentary object elsewhere in the room such as an avocado green pottery vase or hanging display platter.
Storage in the open
If you have the capability, you can remove your cabinet doors and leave the space open for a full view of the items stored within for a creative touch. This depends, of course, on whether or not you wish your dishes to be inspected by everyone passing through the kitchen. You can also cut out the center panels and replace with chicken wire for a festive, farm yard feel. Beveled and frosted glass can be a nice touch as well, just be sure to install safety glass in case of any accidents.
Your kitchen can become a colorful expression of who you are, with eclectic objects and unique approaches to appliances. But before you begin, as with any interior design project, make sure you have a full concept before starting in order to complete a desired look. Otherwise, you are in danger of placing a bunch of odds and ends, making your kitchen appear chaotic.
