How Natalie Jahangiry Made Her Open-Plan Kitchen Feel Warm and Inviting

Open-plan kitchens are often the hardest-working rooms in the house, bringing together cooking, dining, entertaining and everyday family life. For interior designer Natalie Jahangiry, creating a space that could do all of that while still feeling warm and full of character came down to the details.

In her own kitchen renovation, Natalie mixed antique brass switches and sockets with decorative wall lights, spotlights and other warm metal finishes, creating a scheme that feels cohesive without everything matching perfectly.

We caught up with Natalie to find out how she approached the lighting, why the finishing touches mattered so much, and what she’d recommend thinking about early when planning a kitchen renovation.

Open-plan kitchens need to work hard, but they can sometimes feel quite functional or showroom-like. What did you do to make yours feel warm, characterful and inviting?

To me, one of the most important things when creating any space is making sure it feels like a home. Adding personality through pieces that are unique to you… framed artwork, collected objects and playful styling details really help shape the room.

Texture also plays a huge role in making a space feel less clinical. Kitchens naturally have lots of hard, practical surfaces, so bringing in warmth through dining chairs, pattern, armchairs, throws, plants and softer, more tactile elements helps to create balance and makes the space feel lived-in and inviting.

You used several different styles of lighting throughout the room rather than choosing one matching collection. How did you make the scheme feel cohesive without making everything match?

For me, lighting is a BIG deal. It’s less about everything matching and more about creating a feeling within the space. I wanted it to feel inviting and intimate, with a real sense of atmosphere. I chose metals in similar tones (brass and bronze) across the lighting and hardware to create cohesion, while layering different styles of lighting throughout the various zones.

Each light has its own role, but together they create warmth, depth and mood. A kitchen has to be practical, but it’s also where so much life happens; cooking, dining, entertaining and late-night chats, so having different layers of light allows the mood to shift with it.

Your Bramley wall lights sit in areas that might easily have been lit by ceiling spotlights alone. What made you introduce decorative wall lighting there, and what difference does it make to how those spaces feel?

Ceiling spots are probably my least favourite lighting option, if I’m honest. They can give quite a harsh light that’s hard to control and doesn’t create much atmosphere. Apart from this they aren’t really aesthetically pleasing!

Using the Bramley wall lights is not only a beautiful addition to decorate with, it also means I can dim the lighting and change the mood in each area. They create a lovely soft glow on darker evenings, whether we’re sitting with a cocktail at the island, having dinner at the dining table or cuddling up with the kids in the armchair watching a film.

The fluted glass shades create a distinctive pattern of light on the wall. How much do you consider the effect a light produces, as well as the fitting itself, when choosing kitchen lighting?

I think about the effect a light creates just as much as the fitting itself. I love how the fluted glass on the Bramley shades creates this beautiful pattern and glow on the wall. It adds another layer of texture and interest, even though it’s through the light itself.

Those little details make such a difference to how a room feels, especially in the evening when you want the kitchen to feel softer, warmer and more atmospheric.

Antique brass appears across the decorative spotlights, switches and sockets, but the room also includes other metallic finishes. What is your advice for repeating a finish without making a kitchen feel overly coordinated?

It’s a common misconception that you have to use the same metal across every hardware fitting, but that really isn’t the case. What’s more important is how the tones and finishes work together. For example, if you’re using brushed brass, you can complement it with bronze for a softer, warmer look, or introduce black for more contrast.

Something like polished chrome wouldn’t sit quite as naturally alongside brushed brass as it has a cooler tone and a very different finish. For me, it’s about making sure the tones and finishes complement each other, rather than everything having to match. I actually prefer it when everything isn’t matching!

Switches and sockets are often selected quite late in a renovation. At what point did you choose yours, and how did their positions and finish influence the finished room?

PLEASE, choose these early! Hardware is the jewellery of a room and those finishing details are what really elevate the overall design. Leaving switches and sockets until the last minute, or cutting back on them because of cost, is often where people fall down. Quality finishes make such a difference.

I actually chose a more cost-effective kitchen, but elevated it with considered hardware, beautiful switches and sockets and a quality worktop, which made the whole kitchen feel much more high end in the overall look.

Now that you have lived with the kitchen, which lighting settings do you actually use at different points in the day – and is there anything you would plan differently next time?

We use the Bramley wall light in the kids’ area at different times throughout the day, every day. It’s the darkest corner of the room, so having the flexibility to control the light in that zone has been amazing.

The light above the bar shelving comes on in the evening, once the kids’ mayhem and clear-down is over, and it’s time for the adults to chill! And what would I change if I was doing it all again? I’d take all the ceiling spots out… ha!

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