Create a Victorian Kitchen with Old-Money Style
Monday, 27th January 11:15am 2025
On the deck of a chartered yacht, a tanned, young couple with honey-coloured hair laugh, her in a floaty sarong and sun hat, him at the helm in a carelessly buttoned shirt and oddly formal trousers for a holiday. You know the type: old money. Those with a Victorian kitchen and an Aston Martin at home.
Where are they going? Exploring? What’s the source of their wealth? Fine art? Nobody really knows. What we do know is that everyone wants that old-money aesthetic – their wardrobe, cars, even kitchens. Well, look no further on that final one. At Masterclass Kitchens, we have you covered.
While you might lack their trust-fund money, you can still replicate their style, which has ballooned in popularity due to TV shows like Bridgerton, The Crown and Downton Abbey. Read on to discover a framework our world-class designers have created to give homeowners a beautiful Victorian kitchen.
A Hardwick New Forest and Highland Stone range by ASE Kitchens
Use Vintage Kitchen Styles
Step one: have a Victorian house. Just kidding! You can actually add Victorian interior design to any room, from a relatively similar French country kitchen to a vastly different new-build apartment. The key is to start with traditional-looking kitchen doors – either ones with a Shaker or classic design.
A Clifton Light Grey range and an Ashbourne Highland Stone range by Sigma 3 Abergavenny
How long has this been in vogue? 300 years and counting, across multiple continents. So, rest assured, it’ll never go out of style, even if you switch from modern Victorian décor to French kitchen décor. Either way, this backdrop will make it appear like the details were always baked into the design.
Pro Tip!
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Look beyond the old-money outfits of a period drama and you’ll often find a scullery maid stocking an ornate storage feature. Indeed, Victorian kitchen furniture was robust but also more customisable than modern kitchen cabinets because people cooked more meals at home.
A Hawksmoor Ivory range and a Hathaway pantry by Sigma 3 Abergavenny
Cooks used more ingredients and needed drawers, shelves and wine-bottle pigeonholes as a result. Hence, if you want to create a kitchen that mirrors your old-money fashion style, you need more than just vintage décor. Try our luxury Hathaway or Lansbury pantries – ideal for every nook!
Embrace Period Kitchen Colours
Once your plans include authentic doors and Victorian storage features, it’s time to consider your colour scheme. Did Victorians go for outlandish colours? No, but modern Victorian homeowners are choosing combinations of colours to enhance a traditional Victorian home aesthetic.
A Hatfield Highland Stone and Graphite range by Ratford Bridge
Dark green Victorian kitchens are proving popular. However, it’s possible to defuse strong colours by containing them to certain features. Take, for example, a blue Victorian kitchen island, which makes a creative statement. Or, if you’d prefer, you could go dark and model a black Victorian kitchen.
Add Old-Money Kitchen Features
Influencers with a Victorian house style love the term “cottagecore” on Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok. Converging with old-money interior design, this term typifies an aesthetic that idealises rural European life – particularly the food, drink, textiles and other artifacts that represent the culture.
A wine drawer in Portland Oak in a Hardwick Highland Stone range by Stratton Studios
If you want the old-money style then achieving cottagecore is vital, but relics alone have minimal impact. You need showstopper furniture to maximise the effect. Our wine drawers are ideal for this purpose, enabling you to show off the finest bottles in your old-money collection.
Include Dark Academia Kitchen Decor
One of the Regency era’s great writers, Jane Austen was famed for her prose’s beauty. Perhaps her greatest strength, however, was her ability to create meaning by leaving gaps in characters’ dialogue for readers to fill with their own inferences. She turned voids into art – and so should you.
A VelaBin and an Amalfi Onyx and Madoc Reclaimed Oak range by Sigma 3 Newport
Maintaining “dark academia” – or “Victoriancore” (a darker cousin of cottagecore) – requires similar omission. For instance, modern food packaging can destroy a Victorian house’s style. Integrate hidden bins like our VelaBins, though, and you can hide any plastic.
Get Your Old-Money Aesthetic
If you feel inspired to remodel your kitchen with an old-money upgrade reminiscent of the Victorian kitchen aesthetic, find your nearest Masterclass showroom and visit us, or become a Masterclass Insider for free. As an Insider, you’ll get design guides to help you up your interior-design game.
