Luxury Kitchen Designs: Tile Inspiration For Backsplashes and Ceilings

I am designing a kitchen right now for interior design clients of mine here in Midland, Texas and have been researching beautiful tiles for them. Today, on Hadley Court, I’m sharing with you some of the inspirational images I’ve found in hopes that it will inspire you to seek the best tile resources and design solutions for your own kitchens, too.

By far, the most beautiful handcrafted tiles I’ve seen are made by New Ravenna. The picture above, and the the three below, are from their collection. Wherever you live, I urge you to seek out a kitchen designer in your local area who can help you source luxury kitchen design tiles from this beautiful line.

As many of you know, I love chinoiserie and this new design of theirs, named CHINOISERIE, made of hand cut jewel glass, marcasite, pewter and mica with a quartz finished sea glass background from their Delft Collection, introduced last year,  is high on my list of what I love most in handmade, luxury tiles. Readers, do you love this as much as I do? This isn’t right for my current client, but I hope to be able to use it soon.

Many of my interior design clients here in Midland, Texas tend towards a comfortable, familiar palette of taupes and browns, richly carved, beautifully finished woods and antiques and this New Ravenna tile, another recent introduction with the gorgeous colorations of tortoiseshell goes well with copper fixtures – a metal finish that is becoming increasingly popular again in luxury kitchen designs.

And now, I’d like to share a few of the luxury kitchen designs that are inspiring me for my current project.

First are these two kitchens, both designed by Barry Darr Dixon of Barry Darr Dixon Interiors. I like the way Barry incorporated two different colorations of the same tile in this kitchen and how the band of darker tile close to the ceiling grounds the kitchen and ties it into the custom bar top’s edge and color. Notice how he also used it underneath the window to tie it into another level.

You will see a video with Barry on my blog, soon, explaining his concept of gracious living, as his design work has always inspired me, ever since I first knew of his work. Barry is the author of numerous design books and I’m looking forward to seeing his latest designs for Tomlinson Lambeth at High Point Market when I attend again in the Spring. If you haven’t seen his designs for them yet, please click to see some of them used in rooms here, in fellow designer Amy Vermillion’s beautiful post about Barry.

I couldn’t resist showing you, while I’m writing about him, my favorite chair design of Barry’s for Tomlinson Lambeth, the OATLAND, used in this beautiful dining room he designed in Nashville. I would easily use this, also, covered in a Sunbrella fabric or Ultrasuede in an eat-in kitchen alcove.  Make sure, if you’re a luxury designer, too, to see this gorgeous showroom when you’re at High Point Market.

Back to another kitchen of Barry’s that’s inspiring me. The client I’m designing for now has a low ceiling in their kitchen and the downlights that were used to light this kitchen as well as to wash the magnificent custom designed hood gave me an idea. I also like how Barry painted the ceiling, too. The right lighting is so important in a kitchen and not an easy one to get right, especially when the architecture can’t be changed -although a low ceiling can be dropped a bit to accomodate the height of down lights if that’s the only option.

Another designer whose work has always inspired me is Architectural Digest Top 100 designer Suzanne Tucker of Tucker and Marks. I love this kitchen she designed, and the way she incorporated beams into the ceiling -that go into the hood – and how the tile she selected reflects the light coming in from the window to give a sheen to this room designed with mostly matte materials and the way she carried the tile underneath the window. I wrote about Suzanne’s lovely book, The Romance of Design, last year, here. {  don’t miss the bathroom on this post if you love glamorous ones like I do! }

Lastly, this beautiful design by my real life friend, designer Lisa Kahn of the Kahn Design Group in Naples, Florida is inspiring me. I shared this kitchen once before on my post, here, about a different topic, but her beautiful, tiled, barrel vaulted ceiling takes my breath away as do the inset tile panels above the range – both inspiring me for my current project now. Does it do the same for you, readers?

I hope you’ve enjoyed these beautiful luxury kitchen designs today and that you’ve found tile, ceiling and lighting inspiration for your own kitchens. Thank you for stopping by – I appreciate your time – and don’t take it for granted – and invite you to subscribe to my blog and to follow Hadley Court on Pinterest here, G + here, Facebook, here and Twitter, here.

Have a blessed day ~

Leslie Hendrix Wood
Founder

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Gracious Living. Timeless Design. Family Traditions.