WOOD ACCESSORIES
If you want to go all out with the wooden theme to your kitchen you needn't stop with the cabinet, surfaces and floors. Wooden kitchen pans, cutlery and other equipment is all widely available and will add to the natural theme. It's best to have timbers that are different to your surfaces though, so if you have a light countertop dark cutlery will work best and vice versa.
Wooden cutlery is often associated with picnics, but wooden handled cutlery is the height of style, often coming with metal crafted finishes. They went out of fashion for a while due to practicalities: wood can not be placed in the dishwasher, but for those prepared to hand wash their cutlery these are an excellent compliment to a wooden kitchen.
Pans often have wooden handles precisely because wood, like plastic, is a bad conductor of heat. Have you ever noticed if you pick up a metal pan handle how hot it can get? Wooden pan handles never burn so are perfect for kitchens. They work well with wooden fittings, although sadly aren't dishwasher friendly.
One wooden accessory which works well whether it matches or contrasts with the wood countertop is the chopping board. These have really come back into vogue as plastic ones are now generally considered uncultured, although you do pay for having a good quality large and thick wooden chopping board the length of its usable life will more than make up for the large initial outlay. If you've gone to the expense of creating a luxury bespoke wooden kitchen then why spoil the feel by chopping on plastic.
Wooden plates are also available and increasingly hand turned ones are showing up at expensive department and home stores. They'll typically be coated in a surface to make them easy to clean while maintaining their natural feel. They're great for young families as like plastic they won't shatter but they've got as much style as ceramic ones and are also more scratch resistant than plastic. The best of all worlds. The styles really vary, but our personal favour is Zebrawood/Zebrano which offers a grain of distinctive black grain lines going through a much lighter wood.
Wooden jars are a great way of storing all the common ingredients found on kitchen counters, from coffee and tea to flour and sugar. They often work well with cloths under their lids giving a classic feel and also protecting the contents inside.
Of course if you've gone to the expense of having an expensive wooden kitchen created then you need to ensure the other furniture in the room matches. Wooden tables and chairs are essential, as are wooden barstools which should typically be the same colour as the cabinets rather than the countertops. If your kitchen is part of a wider living area then try to match the timber of other items, for instance sideboards and reading chairs to the timber used in the cabinets of the kitchen for the best consistent style throughout the room.