23 Mid-Century Modern Kitchen Ideas (Photos)

You gotta love the sleek and nostalgic mid-century style. I sure do and that's why I had so much fun putting together this sleek collection of mid-century modern kitchen designs.

Welcome to our collection of mid-century modern kitchen designs. Check out various kitchens found in fabulous mid-century modern houses below.

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Photos

Galley kitchen with hardwood floors, dark brown cabinets, clean white walls, recessed lighting, and a stainless steel kitchen hood.

Spacious Midcentury Modern kitchen with wooden beam ceiling accents, wooden breakfast island, stainless steel appliances, and huge windows.

Wide residential kitchen with wooden cabinets, recessed ceiling lights, stainless steel appliances, and a kitchen island.

Midcentury Modern kitchen with rustic wooden cabinets, kitchen island, wall mounted lighting, hanging glass and wood cabinets, and wooden beam ceiling.

Polished white kitchen with white enamel custom cabinets, breakfast island, stainless steel appliances, and recessed ceiling lights.

Decorative dine-in kitchen in polished white and blue accents, breakfast island, stainless steel appliances, and a playful combination of pendant and wall mounted lights.

Sleek white kitchen with stainless steel appliances, breakfast island, white tiled floors, brought to life by interesting wall art pieces.

Galley kitchen with rustic wooden cabinets, stainless steel appliances, white countertops, floating wooden shelves, and a combination of pendant and recessed lighting.

Simple galley kitchen with wooden cabinets, stainless steel appliances, floating wooden shelves, and recessed lighting.

Galley kitchen with rustic wooden cabinets, stainless steel appliances, breakfast island, floating wooden shelves, and a combination of pendant and recessed lighting.

Galley kitchen with textured brick walls on one side, wooden custom cabinets, grouped pendant lights, and tiled floors.

Spacious U-kitchen with a huge stainless steel refrigerator, breakfast island, wooden cabinets, floating shelves, and pendant lights.

Stylish kitchen with polished blue accents, hardwood floors, breakfast island, white countertops, white custom cabinets, and stainless steel appliances.

Modern palette L-shaped kitchen with gray drawers, breakfast island, black tiles floors, and glass sliding doors.

Single wall dine-in kitchen with polished white drawers, recessed lighting, and hardwood floors.

Spacious white kitchen with polished white cabinets and drawers, kitchen island, recessed lighting, and hardwood floors.

Neutral palette kitchen with light gray textured drawers, recessed lighting, hardwood floors, and a huge window allowing a lot of sunlight.

A touch of tropical vibe, this kitchen has hues of yellow and green, white cabinets, white drawers, kitchen island, and two sinks.

Elegant residential kitchen with hardwood floors, breakfast island, wooden drawers, stainless steel appliances, and recessed lights.

Chic white kitchen with white custom cabinets, white floor, kitchen island, and recessed lights.

Brown themed U-shaped kitchen with wooden cabinets, wooden drawers, breakfast island in a marble countertop, hardwood floors, a combination of recessed lighting and grouped pendant lights.

This is a close look at the kitchen with dark wood cabinetry that matches with the kitchen island contrasted by the beige countertop, walls and ceiling.

See more of this home here.

This is a simple kitchen only a few steps from the stairs and the dining area. It has a large wooden kitchen island that matches the tone of the wooden cabinetry on the far wall as well as the stools of the breakfast bar. These make the stainless steel appliances of the kitchen stand out.

See more of this home here.

Mid-century modern designs allowed interior designers and furniture makers to be creative in their use of material and color. Their designs were considered futuristic at the time and may have been heavily influenced by science fiction novels and movies, which were very popular during the mid-1900s. Here are some of the mid-century kitchen ideas you can use in your home.

Mid-Century Designs

Mid-century interior designs become popular around the late 1930s to the mid-1960s. The design style features clean lines, geometric shapes, and a mixture of organic and synthetic materials. As more synthetics were invented by chemical companies, they became widely used in furnishings and construction materials during the mid-20^th century.

Mid-Century Materials

Even though wood was still a popular material for construction and furnishings, the development of synthetics like nylon, polypropylene, and plastic laminate changed how things were made. Formica, which is a brand name for plastic laminate, began using it to build counter and tabletops. Chrome dining sets with Formica tabletops and vinyl covered chairs are typical of mid-century designs.

Some people use laminate in their kitchens today, but it isn’t very popular. In a recent kitchen survey, only 15, 919 kitchens 616, 632 had laminate in them. This lack of use is reflective of the use of mid-century designs since only 0.77% of over 1.78 million kitchens have this design style.

Organic wood furniture is reflective of the mid-century as most furnishings were created from oak, walnut, rosewood, and teak. Its style is very distinctive because many of the wood pieces were boxy.

This shape was in juxtaposition to many chairs, light shades, and other accessories, which were curvy, or rounded. Chairs were often made from curvy metal or plastic frames, padded seating and metal bases.

Warm Earth Tones

To further imitate mid-century designs, a variety of color should be instrumental in the kitchen. White and black kitchens are reflective of mid-century kitchens, but warm citrus colors like warm yellow, orange, olive green, and chartreuse are found in mid-century homes.

Minimalistic Style

Mid-century designs are also well-known for their minimalist appearance. Everything always appears clean, neat, and there is very little clutter on counters, tables, and minimal art or decorations on the walls.

Some of the fun of decorating in a mid-century style is finding vintage or retro-style pieces in antique or second-hand stores for your kitchen.

Return to all mid-century modern homes.

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