Modern kitchens in Tenerife

Modern kitchens in Tenerife follow the same rules as anywhere else, but the climate and the type of home change the materials and the layout. A flat in central Santa Cruz, where the kitchen is usually closed and narrow, is a very different job from a home in Adeje or Los Cristianos with the kitchen open to the terrace and the afternoon sun pouring in.

What makes a kitchen modern

A kitchen is modern when the cabinetry reads as one clean volume, with no mouldings or handles breaking up the lines. You get there with three decisions: how the doors open, how the appliances are integrated and how continuous the materials are.

There are three ways to open the units. A handleless rail (often called gola) is an aluminium profile that creates a horizontal channel for your fingers; it is the most hard-wearing option for daily use. A J-pull is machined into the door itself and looks more discreet, although the edge collects a bit more dirt. Push-to-open leaves the door completely flat, but it is best avoided on heavy drawers and on the dishwasher, because it ends up failing or opening with a nudge.

Materials that work on the island

Good-quality laminate doors, compact or board-backed laminate and matt lacquer are the finishes that stand up best to daily use in a modern kitchen. In coastal areas, with humidity and salt in the air, what matters is what you cannot see: moisture-resistant board in the base units, sealed edges and hinges and runners that will not rust. In the south, where the sun streams in through large windows and sliding doors, it is worth avoiding finishes that yellow or change colour under strong light.

For the worktop, a modern kitchen leans towards continuous, slim surfaces. Quartz, porcelain and sintered stone can all be made in thin thicknesses and can also clad the end of an island in the same material. If you are torn between them, our comparison of Silestone, Dekton, granite and porcelain explains how each one copes with heat, knocks and stains.

Mistakes worth avoiding

Copying a magazine photo without checking your real measurements is the first mistake to avoid. An island looks stunning in a 30 square metre room, but in a 9 square metre kitchen it leaves you no room to move. Before you fall for a layout, check whether an island kitchen really fits or whether a peninsula would suit you better.

Other common slip-ups:

• Going high-gloss everywhere and finding that every fingerprint shows.
• Hiding so much away that there is no clear worktop left next to the hob.
• Leaving sockets off the worktop because they “look ugly” and ending up with extension leads.
• Choosing a ceiling extractor without working out how much extraction you actually need.

How to stop it dating

The modern kitchens that age well pair a neutral backdrop with a single standout feature. That might be the worktop, an island in a different colour or a run of timber doors. If everything has character at once, within a few years the kitchen gives away the year it was fitted.

Natural wood or convincing wood effects, warm greys, off-white and muted greens are safe bets. To see how they work together, our guide to kitchen cabinet colours explains it with examples.

How we approach made-to-measure design

We measure the kitchen at your home, check the services and show you a 3D proposal with the real finishes. That way you see how they look across the whole kitchen before deciding. If you would rather start on your own, our kitchen planner lets you try out layouts and colours before you speak to us.