Kitchen Wallpaper: Is It for You?
When I ask people if they like wallpaper, the answer is either a resounding yes or an emphatic no. I’ve yet to find anyone who feels lukewarm when it comes to the subject of papering the walls of their home. Designers are predicting a growing trend back to wallpapered walls and today I’m sharing examples of kitchen wallpaper to see what Town and Country Living readers think.
A soft, patterned wallpaper lines the walls of this neutral kitchen. Far from boring, fun geometric fabrics grace the chairs and bar stools. This is a wallpaper I could live with.
Another soft wallpaper pattern is seen in this traditional kitchen with custom cabinetry.
Photo by Caitlin Wilson Design
If you like a bolder look, you might enjoy this bold graphic pattern in a white kitchen. The floor tile reminds me of mine, except my kitchen floor is green.
A contemporary-style kitchen makes great use of pattern. Thin stripes on the range hood mimic the lines of the cabinet doors. Circles add softness on the kitchen wallpaper and a fun touch of blue colors the ceiling.
Soft yellow wallpaper covers the walls of this shabby chic kitchen with its rustic pendant lighting.
Photo by Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic Couture
Contemporary, leafy wallpaper meets traditional styling in this pretty kitchen. The kitchen wallpaper is relegated to the entry area, which is a great option if you don’t want to feel overwhelmed by pattern.
Photo by Dura Supreme Cabinetry
Calling all blue-lovers! The patterned kitchen wallpaper is toned down with lots of white trim and a mostly-solid blue floor. What do you think of the geometric floor border?
Photo by Benjamin Moore
Another way to add wallpaper to any room without making a huge commitment is to line one wall with a soft pattern, like this Nordic-style kitchen. It contains enough colors that you can swap out accessories and still have them match.
Neutral-toned wallpapers always look great with wood trim, as evidenced in this Victorian kitchen.
Finally, consider adding wallpaper to the kitchen ceiling, or just a portion of it. You’ll satisfy your love for wallpaper without having to do a lot of work.
Photo by Adams + Beasley Associates
What do you think? Are you a fan of wallpaper and would you ever add it to your kitchen? I wallpapered our kitchen with a grapevine pattern shortly after we moved in, but eventually removed it and replaced it with bead board and paint. But I still enjoy a pretty wallpaper!
See More Wallpaper Decorating Ideas:
Wallpaper Inspiration for Your Home
Wallpaper Decorating Ideas: The Bedroom
White Beach Style Kitchen with Blue Wallpaper
Wallpapered Craftsman Dining Room
Decorating with Wallpaper: 13 Ideas
Wallpapers are fun and exciting – to look at. But they grow tiresome after a short time. Wouldn’t use them again, even in a small area. If I want pattern, I’ll stencil. Faster, less expensive, easily changed and no comparative mess. I admit to seeing some rooms with wallpapers that I LOVE, but I wouldn’t want to have to live with them. They just get to be too much, too soon.
Just took off the last wallpaper in my house: border in a bedroom. Love wallpaper but changing it is difficult. That being said, the blue Benjamin Moore room was my favorite.
Ummmm, no. None of those appealed to me, but no one can deny that it is time, on the clock of design, for wallpaper to “come back.” Done right, it will be refreshing and wonderful.
I did notice the tiled floors. NOT as beautiful as yours! 🙂
I really, really like paper.
BUT, don’t forget it has to come off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will admire it in others’ homes, but NO MORE for US
PS Not sure the kitchen is a practical place to use paper with all the fumes and grease from cooking
These were all very pretty but NOPE I’d never do it in my home. That ship sailed when I had to strip it in our first home. Just becomes dated and I would think that would be especially true with the way things change today in the decorating world.
Love the blue & white kitchen! Wallpaper has always been something I’ve loved, even when it was out of fashion. I wish I were brave enough to wallpaper my kitchen but the walls are knotty pine which I hate, Many,many times I have thought about removing or even painting the knotty pine but something holds me back. My Dad installed the knotty pine back in the late 50’s & whenever I think of changing it something pulls at my heart & so it stays.
Nope to wallpaper. Because when we moved in there was wallpaper, ugly old wallpaper in every room and I removed it all.
My girls remember and say if I ever put wallpaper up they will call a Dr! LOL
Anyway….are you planning on putting paper up?? Remember to use paper that can be in a kitchen….one that has a coating.
Nancy
wildoakdesigns.blogspot.com
It’s alright if it’s on just one wall or i did like that one on the ceiling. Some of those might make me a little tipsy, just looking at them. lol!
Wallpaper is great until you get tired of it and you have to take it down ???? I’m happiest with paint and beadboard but I love looking at wallpapered walls!
Love the wallpaper…..do I have any?? Nope!!! Especially not in a kitchen, too difficult to keep clean unless you do not cook or bake!!! I’ll take paint any day, the walls can be washed and touched up and change color very easily.
I’ve used wallpaper somewhere off and on for the past 40 years – although it has to be soft in pattern and color. And now, thanks to the invention Gods, we have wallpaper that uses NO paste (not even prepasted) and is movable while hanging and removable when you’re tired it it – just strip it off the walls – no scraping, no wetting, no mess. It’s great for renters and for those of us who want the look without all the labor we’ve had to deal with for so many years. Check it out – it’s amazing!
I agree, I love wallpaper…I have taken all of mine down but I’m considering redoing my stairway with a white floral on a white background and I think it will be amazing….now just to get the time to do it…
Have you tried the peel and stick? I have not but definitely want to give it a go. I have a small area that can use a punch 🤜🏻 of colour and think I’ll give the P&S a try.
It will be a cold day in hell before I allow an inch of wallpaper on one of my walls!
Nope, been there and done that. Some are really pretty but limits your decorating options.
I like it until it is time to take it off. What a chore. Unless it is one of those easy to peel off types I will pass on this trend.
Some of it is very pretty, but like the rest of the readers it’s a chore to remove it when you tire of it or it begins to look dated. The last time I had to strip it from walls that had not been properly sized before it was applied to the wall took hours of steaming, spraying, scraping and scratching to get it off. I would think twice about even buying a home with wallpaper for that reason. I will not put it in my home.
Oh, 100% yes on wallpaper! I only have 1 accent wall of wallpaper currently in my home but I think in special applications it should never be considered passe. The problem with it was, everyone did every room.
Wow so very amazed at all the NO NO NO… That said “NO” well it may not make a very promissing come back I am thinking…
Not a good time to ask me * * * I am sanding the walls where I had wallpaper in the hall & foyer…… Ask me later! But I do love the White on White for the dining room or foyer ~ Will mull it over…
I have always loved wallpaper. Used to re-wallpaper all my rooms at least once year when wallpaper was inexpensive! I was sooooo bad though. I never took the old stuff down. Just kept going over the top. My rooms kept getting smaller. I feel bad for all the people that bought my houses and wanted to remove the wallpaper. They must have been cursing me. I’m sure I’ve wallpapered at least 100 times in my houses. I’ve had the itch to do it again lately.
That is hilarious!!! I would never thought of doing that. I painted over wallpaper once. It was an epic fail!! I too felt sorry for the people that bought that house! Lol
Well, because of my great love for wallpaper, I have now wallpapered 4 rooms in my house. Just one wall in three of the rooms (including the kitchen, and it isn’t on a wall where I actually cook, but it is a vinyl William Morris print. I put it up on all the walls of my bedroom in a very light, airy damask because I tired very quickly of the walls I had painted black less than a year ago. In the past 50 years, I have always used pre-pasted paper. In this last year and a half, I have used that, wallpaper I had to paste and peel and stick. I really don’t like the peel and stick. I think it’s got too much static and sticks to itselr while trying to hang it. Give me the other two kinds any day. The one lesson I have definitely learned is to size the walls before I wallpaper for easy removal. I won’t be that cruel to myself or anyone else again! Nothing warms up a space like wallpaper!!!!!
Suzie, what did you wash your wallpaper down with before you put up the new layer of wallpaper?
I love wallpaper, especially when it’s removable. I will definitely consider using it again but I wish you would post more pictures of kitchens with wood color cabinets. So tired of everyone posting nothing but white kitchens or kitchens with unusualy colored cabinets. I love the warmth that my wood cabinets bring to my kitchen. Not all of us painted our wood cabinets white. LOL
I’m really loving the resurgence of wallpaper and the mix of patterns in that first photo is intriguing…not only the wallpaper, but the window covering and the barstool upholstery and that on the chairs. Of the others, despite the blue!, I like the entire kitchen with the striped range hood and the one pictured in the last photo with the wallpaper ceiling inset. Both very French it seems to me…the perfect settings in which to whip up a batch of macarons!
Wow I am so surprised by everyone’s response to wallpaper. There are a lot of resounding no’s!! It’s so popular in magazines right now I thought for sure more people would be on the bandwagon. I have it on the stairway walls going up to my bedrooms. I absolutely love it. It’s been there for 8 years and I get compliments on it constantly. I won’t mind the time when it eventually comes down…I’ll hire someone to do it. Lol. I had one wall in master bedroom done and I tired of it in a short time. Again, I had someone else remove it for me. I have a very old house with plaster walls and it was quite a mess. Perhaps if I had to do the job myself I’d think differently about it…I love my hired handy man. Right now I’m voting on the yes side to wallpaper. Great post! Lots of feedback.
no, no, no wallpaper! It get too dirty to fast and it is miserable to take down…i have five layers of it to take down in my kitchen and living room dread it! The kitchrn
is no place for it either…..it gets covered in kitchen grease and looks terrible in a short time.
Honestly, wallpaper in a kitchen! Yuk. Anywhere else a big yes but in an area with smells and grease, etc like a kitchen or excessive moisture like a bathroom, absolutely not.
I’m a ‘yes’ to wallpaper in general but like everything else in life there are some ugly ones, to my eyes at least, on the market. Peel and stick is very popular here in Australia. I would like to do a wall but having a very open plan house I am short of walls to do anything with. Have recently considered papering the wall behind the bed in the master bedroom. Jury is still out on that one. I had two rooms papered in another house back in the 1970s and did like it. I think the trick is to choose something that is a soft neutral, subtle and not overpowering.
In a kitchen a few years ago I had a wide yellow & white striped wallpaper & loved it. Would do it again as I love wallpaper!!