Kitchen trends for 2026: the Wallpaper* edit

This year’s kitchen trends are brought to you by the brands at the top of their league for mixing design with culinary wizardry and gastronomic gadgetry. Every year, we search for the greatest kitchens design ideas from some of the world’s leading brands, specialists in the art of blending functionality with sleek design and expert manufacturing.

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Kitchen design: the golden rule

These ingenious and aesthetically remarkable kitchens follow the golden rule of kitchen design: creating a space that is efficient and functional. This is reflected beautifully in these modern kitchens, where storage is cleverly incorporated and easily accessible, and functions are contemplated within a controlled aesthetic.

Discover the most impactful kitchen design ideas for 2026, from luminous surfaces to unexpected materiality, from kitchen islands created to collaborate and host seamlessly, to colour delivered like never before. Come with us on a journey to discover the latest kitchen trends, blurring the boundaries between utilitarian design and aesthetic folly, creating inventive new ways to cook, prep and host.

The collaborative kitchen

black marble kitchen island

‘Cove’ by Zaha Hadid Design for Boffi

(Image credit: Photography: Piergiorgio Sorgetti. Interiors: Archie Thomson)

Monolithic kitchen islands add beauty and simplicity to a kitchen’s functionality. We particularly enjoyed Boffi’s ‘Cove’, a Zaha Hadid Design kitchen, originally conceived in 2017 as a limited-edition model, and now updated with a full-length snack counter to match its island. Zaha Hadid Design’s signature sinuous, dynamic forms offer the perfect base for a collaborative kitchen that is big enough to prep, cook and host. Also available this year are new materials and colours for its countertops, including Verde Alpi marble, and for its cabinet fronts, which can be finished in metal-effect lacquer or raw clay mixed with resin.

Silky colourwork

A modern kitchen design featuring a sleek, minimalist cabinet with a glass countertop, complemented by a stylish pendant light and open shelving displaying various kitchenware.

(Image credit: Photography: Piergiorgio Sorgetti. Interiors: Archie Thomson)

Kitchen top in light blue and green glass

(Image credit: Photography: Piergiorgio Sorgetti. Interiors: Archie Thomson)

While neutral hues are often still the way to go in the kitchen, in the past few years an increasing number of designers have been offering daring alternative to reductive palettes. This year’s superstar is Caesar’s ‘N Elle’ by the company’s R&D department, here with the super attractive ‘Nuance’ glass by Spanish studio García Cumini. Inspired by the delicate glasswork of the previous century, the silky Nuance finish aims to capture the fluid nature of frosted glass and combines translucency with depth. First applied to worktops, it can now be used to customise the kitchen in caramel, blue, green and red.

Dramatic marble

Kitchen trends 2026: a kitchen island by Modulnova

‘Blade Lab’, by Carlo Presotto and Andrea Bassanello for Modulnova

(Image credit: Photography: Piergiorgio Sorgetti. Interiors: Archie Thomson)

Marble surfaces in the kitchen are getting increasingly dramatic, and we’re here for it. Take Modulnova’s ‘Blade Lab’, by Carlo Presotto and Andrea Bassanello: the result of the Italian company’s meticulous research into new materials and technologies, this kitchen uses heavy Sahara Brown marble for its countertops, units and back panels. Meanwhile, its 1.5cm-thick doors, hollowed out and lightened to allow for easier opening, are paired with glass and aluminium cabinets coated in Bronze Dust, while a full-height bookcase offers a transitional element towards the living area.

Luminous warmth

A modern kitchen featuring wooden cabinetry, a dark stone countertop, and illuminated glass-front cabinets, showcasing a minimalist design.

‘Archigraphica’, by Gabriele Centazzo for Valcucine

(Image credit: Photography: Piergiorgio Sorgetti. Interiors: Archie Thomson)

stone kitchen with backlit wooden cabinets

‘Archigraphica’ by Valcucine

(Image credit: Photography: Piergiorgio Sorgetti. Interiors: Archie Thomson)

Unexpected materiality

Black stone kitchen

(Image credit: Photography: Piergiorgio Sorgetti. Interiors: Archie Thomson)

We are seeing an increasing desire to shake up the kitchen materiality, with some brands leading the way in terms of experimentation and innovation in how materials are used in this functional space.

Henrytimi has been at the forefront of this movement, describing its collections as functional works of art and prioritising the use of natural materials like wood and stone to produce kitchens with a geometric purity and a minimalist aesthetic. Forged in black clay and Nero Fossil stone, the ‘Arca’ features textured curved cabinet doors, behind which are a series of practical drawers, while the raised backdrop not only hides any mess from view, but also works as a bar counter.

Three kitchen islands on wheels

‘Orbita’ by 70 Materia

(Image credit: Courtesy 70Materia)

Elsewhere, this experimental project by 70 Materia aims to create new elements to complement ‘Satellite’, its modular kitchen system, with the help of emerging designers. It also explores the potential of the brand’s 70 Materia, a material made with cement, water and either sand or gravel, and available in three different mixes. The series includes the ‘G Rover’ table by Cara\Davide, whose ‘off-road castors open up unexplored paths within the domestic landscape’. Equally eye-catching are a totem-like tower by Finemateria and a drawer module with bold display shelves by Groovido.

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