How to Make Your Kitchen Feel Like It s in the French Countryside

This French farmhouse-inspired kitchen from Mindy Laven Home is decorated with elegant details like lantern-style pendant lights and scattered paintings with gilded frames on the walls that contrast with the wood beams, cabinetry, and flooring.

28 Chic and Timeless French Country Style Kitchens

Kristin Hohenadel has written on design for publications including the New York Times, Interior Design, Slate, Fast Company, and the international editions of Elle Decor.

The decorating aesthetic known in the English-speaking world as French country style is an homage to the charms of the French countryside. While it may be hard to replicate the beauty of the surrounding landscape or the aged patina of a Provençal farmhouse, a rustic thatched cottage in Normandy, or a provincial chateau, architects, interior designers, and home decorators around the world have long sought to transport a bit of the charm and elegance of the French countryside to their own backyards.

The resulting mashup known as French country decor emphasizes an easy take on rustic but refined aesthetics and natural materials, and an embrace of timeless everyday objects. Much of what we think of as traditional or farmhouse style interiors that are so ubiquitous today have roots in French country aesthetics, which can add character to a modern interior, easily translating to any room in the house from the living room to the bedroom or bathroom.

Adding some French country-inspired decor to your own kitchen can help you to add a sense of history, timelessness, and simple beauty to your home, no matter where you live. Check out these interiors that demonstrate how to borrow a bit of French style to make your own kitchen design into the warm, charming, effortlessly chic gathering space it was meant to be.

Use Gilded Finishes

This French farmhouse-inspired kitchen from Mindy Laven Home is decorated with elegant details like lantern-style pendant lights and scattered paintings with gilded frames on the walls that contrast with the wood beams, cabinetry, and flooring.

How to Make Your Kitchen Feel Like It’s in the French Countryside

Whether we’re talking about fashion, food, or interior design, French style is simply iconic. French country kitchens, in particular, make us feel some kind of way. With colors taken straight out of the Provençal landscape, rustic accents, and that general je ne sais quoi, French country kitchens boast effortless elegance. Plus, if you emulate their style in your own home, every day will feel like a vacation in the South of France. Well, maybe not quite, but it’s a close second. So take a mental vacation with these 27 French country–style kitchen tips.

Plenty of Blooms

Maura McEvoy

Fill the room with flowers and opt for antique, classic vases for a French-country look. This geometric floor design personalizes the long, narrow galley kitchen.

Limewashed Cabinets

Emily Followill

Custom limewashed poplar cabinetry and paneling, along with an imperial Danby marble backsplash, create an elegant atmosphere in the open kitchen cabinets in this eat-in kitchen designed by Jeffrey Dungan. The dining area brings in just enough contrast and looks contemporary while still channeling the French countryside.