How to Create a Natural Connection Between Kitchen and Garden, According to a Designer
A great way to create a natural link between the kitchen and outside world is to select quality raw materials that blend seamlessly with their surroundings. By extending the style and finish of your kitchen cabinetry, work surfaces, and flooring into a garden’s hard landscaping elements, it’ll create a smoother, more fluid transition between inside and out, which is coordinated and nurturing.
Popular for its exceptional aesthetic versatility, timeless appeal, and renewable qualities, wood continues to create a sense of belonging. Known for naturally inducing high dopamine levels, wood can leverage the biophilic effect in your kitchen so you can experience complete sensory immersion from sunrise to sunset.
Natural stone is also a beautiful way to bring the outside in. Sourcing individual slabs of granite or quartzite introduces something unique and special into your design, transforming the material palette into one that feels more natural, organic, and timeless. Taking inspiration from Europe, large format tiles are a practical choice as they can be used for both interior and exterior applications.
Classic French doors or sliding doors are a great more cost effective option to bifolding doors whilst maintaining wall space for your kitchen cabinetry yet still provide access to the garden using a large, glazed entrance way. For a modern look, why not incorporate low profile picture windows so you can enjoy your garden at eye level or introduce sky lights to add more natural light and enhance the connection between inside and outside.
A fully glazed glass façade or curtain wall will help to reduce your reliance on artificial light sources in the home, while softening the visual barrier between your indoor cooking space and outdoors. By creating unrestricted sight lines from the kitchen to the garden, you’ll be able to flood the main living space in natural daylight to better connect with the natural world. The introduction of sky lights will add more natural light and enhance the connection between inside and outside.
Personally, we love a fully glazed glass exterior as not only does it remove visual boundaries but also physical ones by replacing solid materials with clear glass. to increase natural light, improve ventilation, and create a more user-friendly, efficient layout.
Lighting plays a central role in shaping atmosphere within a kitchen, particularly when it moves beyond function into layers of mood and emphasis. It is no longer only about visibility, but about how a space is experienced at different moments throughout the day.
Designer at Et Lorem, Jade Jones, recently designed a luxury kitchen with a strong connection to the outdoors, inspired by the property’s riverside location and large garden, which is completely immersed in nature. She recommends:
Start with the architecture, inside and out. Consider not only the character of your home, but also its relationship with the landscape beyond. The strongest kitchens feel like a natural extension of both the building and its surroundings, creating a seamless connection between interior and exterior spaces.
Think carefully about light and orientation. The direction your kitchen faces, and the quality of natural light will influence how the space is experienced throughout the day. Roof lights, glazing and thoughtful positioning can transform the atmosphere, allowing the outside world to shape the feeling of the room from morning to evening.
Let the outside world influence the forms within. Shapes, proportions and details inspired by the surrounding landscape and architecture can create a natural sense of flow between inside and out. Whether referencing a nearby bridge, the rhythm of the water or the character of the building itself, these subtle connections help a kitchen feel rooted in its environment.
Choose materials that reflect how you live. Natural stone introduces individuality, depth and the beauty of nature into a kitchen, but it is important to consider the practicalities of everyday life. For those seeking a lower maintenance option, there are many engineered surfaces that capture the character of natural stone while offering greater durability.
Design around the people who will use the space. A connection to nature is about more than views alone. Think about how you want to cook, gather and spend time together, and how those moments can be enhanced by the outdoors. The most successful kitchens create an atmosphere that encourages people to slow down, connect and enjoy their surroundings.
Images courtesy of Et Lorem
