From the series “Kitchens and Appliances — Trends for 2026”
The kitchen is no longer just a utility space for preparing meals. In residential, hotel, and office designs, it is increasingly becoming the heart of the home—a space for gatherings and spending time together. What direction are kitchen trends heading in 2026? How does De'Longhi fit into modern kitchen design?
De'Longhi – Italian Design in Everyday Rituals
The De'Longhi brand was founded in 1974, though the roots of this family-owned company date back to the early 20th century. Over time, its product line expanded to include various categories of small appliances, with coffee-making and meal-preparation appliances becoming one of its core areas of focus. The brand’s products combine functional solutions with a design that remains timeless despite changing trends.
De’Longhi’s interpretation of Italian design demonstrates that even appliances used for simple tasks can contribute to the character of a space. A kettle and toaster are usually left out on the countertop, so their color, proportions, and finish influence the overall look of the kitchen. In open-concept spaces, it’s not just their front view that matters, but also how they look from different angles.
© De’Longhi
De’Longhi Eclettica – a kettle and toaster that form a cohesive collection
The name Eclettica refers to the free combination of various inspirations. The collection blends modern, streamlined lines with details drawn from traditional design. The kettle and toaster share rounded metal bodies, a glossy finish, and distinctive decorative elements. When placed side by side, the appliances create a complete breakfast area, rather than giving the impression of randomly selected items.
The De’Longhi Eclettica collection is available in two color options. Whimsical White is a soft white that brings a sense of lightness to the interior. Bold Black more strongly emphasizes the contours of the units and allows for a striking contrast. This color palette makes it easy to incorporate the products into both bright, natural kitchens and designs featuring dark cabinet fronts, stone, or metal accents.
The De'Longhi Eclettica kettle comes in two versions: the standard model and the Eclettica SpecialTea. The latter model will particularly appeal to lovers of various types of tea, coffee, and other hot beverages. The Eclettica SpecialTea offers as many as 9 temperature settings ranging from 40 to 100°C, allowing you to precisely adjust the water parameters to suit the beverage you’re preparing. An additional benefit is the 30-minute keep-warm function, which enhances comfort during gatherings, work, or quiet moments spent enjoying home rituals.
The De’Longhi Ecletticatoaster features a similar, streamlined design, so both products form a cohesive visual whole. The collection demonstrates that small appliances can be treated as interior design elements—with attention to proportion, color, and detail
© De’Longhi
What kitchen trends are in style right now?
The latest kitchen trends do not lead to a single dominant style. A kitchen should be consistent with the interior architecture, but it does not have to remain neutral or devoid of individuality. For designers, this means the overall composition takes on greater importance. It’s no longer just the layout of the cabinetry that matters, but also the relationship between the furniture, countertop surfaces, lighting, and visible appliances.
The Trendiest Kitchen Furniture of 2026—Simple Cabinets and Distinctive Structure
The trendiest kitchen furniture features clean, organized forms but isn’t entirely devoid of decoration. Smooth, handle-less fronts that create uniform surfaces remain popular, but they are increasingly complemented by subtle milling, grooving, and veneers with visible wood grain.
Kitchen cabinetry is also beginning to resemble living room furniture. Display cabinets, open shelves, backlit niches, and tall cabinets with rhythmic divisions are used. This allows for a smoother transition between the kitchen and the living area, especially in apartments, hotel kitchenettes, and prestigious office spaces.
In larger-scale designs, the straight lines of the cabinets are broken up by rounded islands or peninsulas. Their sides can be finished with grooved wood, veneer, or stone with a bold pattern. This gives the central element of the kitchen a more sculptural, almost freestanding character.
© De’Longhi
Rounded forms soften the interior’s geometry
Curves remain one of the most important design trends of 2026. They appear in the edges of countertops, islands, cabinet corners, handles, and lighting. Soft lines temper the impression of technical austerity and allow the kitchen to blend more naturally with the living area.
This trend doesn’t have to mean completely abandoning straight lines. The most interesting results come from combining geometric cabinetry with individual elements featuring fluid lines. These could include a rounded island, a spherical lamp, a streamlined chair, or small appliances with sculptural forms.
© De’Longhi
Warm colors instead of cool anonymity
The 2026 kitchen color palette remains subdued but becomes significantly warmer. Creams, sandy beiges, taupe, shades of clay, natural browns, and muted greens take center stage. White takes on a softer tone, while black is used sparingly to emphasize contours and create depth.
Tonal composition is becoming increasingly important in design. Cabinet fronts, walls, and countertops can share similar shades but differ in texture and the way they reflect light. Matte cabinetry is paired with glossy accents, raw stone with smooth metal, and light wood with smoked glass.
© De’Longhi
Natural Materials and Decorative Textures
The contemporary kitchen makes an impact not only through color but also through texture. Visible wood grain, grooved surfaces, brushed metal, matte glass, and stone with a natural pattern are replacing perfectly smooth, uniform surfaces. Light falling on varied textures creates depth even in designs based on a limited color palette.
There is also a growing interest in details inspired by craftsmanship. They don’t have to dominate the interior—often, a small element is enough to break up the mass-produced character of the cabinetry.
Small Appliances as Part of the Countertop Composition
In an open kitchen, the countertop remains part of the view of the entire interior. It’s difficult to hide the appliances used daily inside the cabinetry every time. Instead of treating them as a necessary technical element, you can incorporate them into the design from the start.
What matters is the scale of the appliances, the amount of space left around them, and how they relate to the countertop material and the background. A set consisting of a kettle and a toaster can define a breakfast area, and repeating the same color in the fixtures, lamps, or display cabinet frames helps bring order to the entire composition.
This approach is particularly important in rental apartments, hotels, and offices. A cohesive set of small appliances reinforces the impression of a refined standard, looks good in photos, and makes it easier to maintain a consistent style of furnishings across multiple rooms.
© De’Longhi
Eclettica in 2026 Kitchen Designs
Japandi, modern classic, soft loft, and modern retro can coexist. They are united by soft shapes, more natural colors, a greater emphasis on textures, and attention to the items left on display.
Appliances from the De’Longhi Eclettica series do not require an interior design scheme limited to a single style. The kettle and toaster in Whimsical White can complement bright interiors with a calm, tonal palette, while Bold Black works well as a graphic accent in designs featuring wood, stone, and dark metal. The modern design of the appliances harmonizes with simple cabinetry, while the decorative teapot saucers introduce an element reminiscent of traditional craftsmanship.
The De’Longhi Eclettica collection can serve as a ready-made theme for creating a distinctive breakfast area. The color consistency, decorative form, and versatility of the products across various styles make it easy to refine the design even on a smaller scale. In the kitchen of 2026, it is precisely these carefully selected details that increasingly determine the character of the entire space.
For more information, visit the De'Longhi Polska Sp. z o.o. website on the PdA portal.
