Our kitchen and dining areas are always at the centre of preparing and celebrating Christmas. It’s a place and a time to relax and enjoy great food in great company and bring the whole household together.

As the festive season fast approaches and we long await to re-connect and share the day with our loved ones, we teamed up with The Design Buzz, founded by luxury interior designer Shalini Misra and a host of other kitchen partners and London artisans to inspire a closer Christmas in your kitchen and dining space.

With so much to catch up this year, it has to be all about ease, enjoyment and utter indulgence.

So when it came to styling the ideal Christmas in the kitchen, we focused on creating a relaxed atmosphere but also beautiful design which encourages conversation – in an environment that keeps you connected and allows for movement as the mood of the day changes.

All luxury décor is exclusively handpicked and can be found at The Design Buzz.

Flowers by Blume Studio, Appliances and Food by Siemens Home Uk, drinks by The Cocktail Service. Photography Beth Crockatt. Videography Paul Hines.

Setting the scene:

Naturally, Christmas fills any room with colour and joy. So to create a relaxed, luxury atmosphere we took an understated ‘clean-luxe’ approach, with warm tones, and a focus on fine materials and rich, layered textures throughout.

Echoing the monotone and metallic tones of the kitchen setting, we kept our palette colours quite neutral. Largely focusing on white and green as our predominant colours.

We also chose to add accents of marble to bring a sense of elegance and opulence to the styling, paired with gold cutlery for a metallic element to tie it all together. The florals - again in a simplistic dark palette - bring an organic feel to the room design, adding a final layer of texture, movement, and a big luxe statement.

Design to encourage conversation:

With the overarching intent to encourage connection and conversation, we created statement focal pieces designed as talking points throughout the space.

From the big statements; including extra-tall statement candles creating ambiance around the table, the huge central champagne bucket, and the big floral hanging installation adorned with mistletoe to connect the kitchen and dining spaces - the ultimate symbol of ‘coming together’.

To the smaller statement details; the crisp, handcrafted porcelain ornaments providing a modern, almost undulating winter-scape, the finest luxury linen, and the hand-made wooden soldiers on each place setting.

Lastly, we laid a variety of cut branches to bring the setting to life and then came the fun part… layering it up. We added berries, cones and dried fruits to give it an added textural interest. 

Connect your layout:

When it comes to encouraging togetherness in your kitchen-dining space, it’s important to think about connecting the different zones.

Open kitchen-dining layouts are perfect for not only bringing everyone together in one space but also for joining different functions. This particular kitchen has its main cooking zone facing outward to the seating area to keep the conversation flowing and everyone involved. Having a kitchen-bar area placed close by also helps to keep everyone together and everything in easy reach.

It can also be quite practical to offer different seating options for your guests. Such as formal seating for dining, and bar stools for casual conversation and a different place to rest. This keeps everything upbeat and allows movement as the mood of the day changes – but crucially all staying together in one space.

Here, we layered an abundance of bite-size food at each end of the table. Not only is it easy to share over conversation, but it connects everyone at both ends. We also created a fun games station on the peninsular with additional grazing platters and warm mulled wine simmering on the hob - another reason and place for guests to gather.

How you can prepare your kitchen/dining space for the festive season:

1. Bring out the decor you’ve been saving for special entertainment occasions.

2. Remove the clutter, a kitchen in its purest state is enough to bring the Christmas cheer.

3. Invest in statement tableware and think about how you can use deign to promote interest and conversation. 

4. Whatever the nature of your space - think of ways to use it to encourage sharing and reasons for your guests to gather. 

However you celebrate the festive season at home, we wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Read More: Discover how to create time saving festive food which brings you closer to your guests.