Kitchen Wallpaper Ideas: How to Bring Pattern to the Heart of the Home
The Kitchen Deserves Some Character
The kitchen is the heart of the home, yet it's so often left as bare units and blank walls. Wallpaper is the quickest way to give it soul — to turn a functional room into a warm, characterful space you actually want to gather in. From a soft floral above a dresser to a cheerful gingham in a breakfast nook, the right design brings a kitchen personality without a full renovation. Here's how to do it well.
At Claret & Key, every design is drawn in-house and printed to order in your chosen colour way, so your kitchen feels exactly as characterful as you'd like, made especially for you in our Cheshire studio.
Where wallpaper works in a kitchen
The trick is choosing the right walls. Wallpaper is happiest away from the wettest, hottest zones — so rather than directly behind the hob or sink, think about a dining end, a breakfast nook, a chimney breast, a chunk of wall above a dresser, or a pantry and utility. In these spots, pattern brings warmth and character while staying well away from splashes and steam. Behind a glass splashback, a design can even sit safely near a worktop.
Designs that suit a kitchen
Kitchens love a cheerful, homely pattern. A soft floral brings country-kitchen warmth. Fruit and orchard designs feel appetising and characterful. A gingham or check is fresh and classic. And a botanical or a fine stripe keeps things calm and considered. Because we print to order, you can match the colour to your cabinetry and worktops exactly, rather than settling for the nearest shade.
Choose a hard-wearing finish
Kitchens are busy, so the finish matters. Our Heavy-Grade paper (300gsm) is a vinyl-coated non-woven, which makes it tougher and more wipeable — the sensible choice for a hard-working kitchen wall. Traditional (150gsm, super-matte) suits calmer dining ends and pantries, and Removable peel-and-stick (180gsm) is ideal for renters. All are printed to order on FSC-approved, PVC- and VOC-free paper.
Order a sample and hold it against your cabinets and worktop before you commit.
Frequently Asked Questions About Kitchen Wallpaper
Can you use wallpaper in a kitchen?
Yes — the key is choosing the right walls. Wallpaper works beautifully away from the wettest, hottest zones: a dining end, breakfast nook, chimney breast, above a dresser, or in a pantry. A hard-wearing, wipeable finish makes it even more practical.
Where should you not put wallpaper in a kitchen?
Avoid papering directly behind the hob or sink, where heat, steam and splashes are greatest — unless it sits behind a glass splashback. Everywhere else, from dining ends to pantries, is fair game.
What is the best wallpaper finish for a kitchen?
Our Heavy-Grade paper (300gsm) is a vinyl-coated non-woven, which makes it tougher and more wipeable — the sensible choice for a busy kitchen wall. Traditional paper suits calmer dining ends and pantries.
What wallpaper designs suit a kitchen?
Cheerful, homely patterns work best — soft florals, fruit and orchard designs, gingham and check, botanicals and fine stripes. Because we print to order, you can match the colour to your cabinetry exactly.
Can I get kitchen wallpaper in a custom colour?
Yes — every design is printed to order in your chosen colour way and scale, so it suits your kitchen exactly, made especially for you
I love how everything turned out and the price point was great. It was a bit challenging to piece together. Being from the USA, it was kind of a challenge to convert all the measurements to figure out how many rolls I needed and then where to cut the rolls to line up the images based on the design repetition. Luckily, I had plenty of wallpaper to work with on the roll.
Absolutely beautiful design and texture. Got the heavy duty wallpaper and put it up without any previous wallpaper experience and it went up very easily and beautifully. Definitely recommend.
Extremely helpful and supportive when I needed advice on measurements, with fast delivery too. The quality of the wallpaper is excellent, and I’m really pleased with the overall service. Highly recommended!
Gorgeous wallpaper, but the measuring option on the website left us short by 1 roll. Had to order another one but when it came the colour match was perfect. Thankfully I wasn’t paying for a decorator, otherwise would have been disappointed in having to pay for them to return. Otherwise great quality wallpaper and design compared to other similar products available.
First purchase from claret and key and truly impressed. Beautiful quality wallpaper. Pretty yet not too fussy. Easy to hang, cut and match. Would work in any room
Good tracking and delivery service too.
Definitely recommend and would reuse for future projects.
Everything went really good. Apart from the quality of the wallpaper which is fantastic, the staff were exemplary in their communications, friendliness and professionalism. They really did go the extra mile to help me.
A great experience all round.
Thank you.
Patrick
Lovely pattern and paper quality.
However, I wish that I had paid more attention to the roll width measurement.
For some strange reason your paper is narrower than a standard roll. This caused me a great deal of problems when papering my lobby, a small area but that made it more difficult because I was left with a narrow space to fill on 3 walls with a very long drop.
Although I love the paper I probably wouldn't use it again just for this reason.
Why you would produce paper not of a standard width is for you to know and me to wonder but it has made my small project very difficult.
Used this paper to make a dark study cosier. Absolutely loved the colour - the background is a perfect match to our existing panelling painted in Farrow and Ball Old White. First time using paste the wall and it was a revelation so easy and much less mess. Quality of the paper is great but noted the rolls are slightly narrower than most wallpapers. Loved the pattern match which meant little waste what we had left we used to recover some old box files which was easy. I thoroughly recommend.
Great quality wallpaper! The print is beautiful, the wallpaper is thick, and fairly easy to install. Our small area took about an hour and a half because we had a lot of of awkward cuts.
Will definitely be using this brand again!
The paper was just hung and we are thrilled.
The quality of the paper, ease of working with it, (per the paper hangers), your customer service, all were exceptional. We will be ordering again. Thank you!!
Fabulous wallpaper and excellent customer service. This Bronte wallpaper has given my kitchen a new lease of life. Will definitely buy from here again.
