Interior-design experts share 12 kitchen trends they think you'll regret in a few years

Interior designer Kelly Taylor, owner of Kelly Taylor Interior Design, told Insider that kitchen floors aren't ideal for incorporating detailed patterns, such as checkered flooring.

"Just don't do it! If you want a pattern on the floor, change up the wood to a herringbone, or choose a stone with a tone-on-tone pattern (like a water-jet mosaic)," Taylor advised. 

Bold flooring patterns can be costly to replace when they go out of style.

Concrete kitchen countertops are on the rise amongst their marble, quartz, and granite counterparts. But Taylor said it's important to remember that concrete countertops are expensive and hard to maintain.

"Counters are expensive. Even if the concrete countertop trend continues to persist, concrete is going to be wrecked so fast that you'll want to replace it in two years," Taylor told Insider. "It is incredibly porous and just not going to look like anything but a mess, trendy or not."

Interior designer Reya Duena of Reya Duena Designs cautioned against the popular built-in-booth trend. 

"While they look nice now, the fabrics will get dirty, wear, and start to look dated. They have to be well designed in order to pull this off," Duena told Insider.

Consider fabric and material options when creating a breakfast nook or built-in booth, and choose stain-resistant, sturdy materials.

"Double islands are nice if you have the space, but also expensive and permanent. You need to commit to the layout, and there isn't room for making changes," Duena said.

Instead, Duena recommends opting for a less-permanent furniture piece instead, incorporating a large table or cabinet to add visual interest to a space.

Mixed metals can add a contemporary look to your aesthetic, but it's possible to put too many metal finishes together.

Duenas suggests sticking to two metal finishes at most, as anything more can look "uncoordinated." Also make sure your finishes are working together in harmony. 

"Be sure that brass and champagne finishes match one another. Nothing is worth than several brass tones that don't match," Duenas told Insider.

Rhea Vaflor, associate principal and director of trendcasting at Hickok Cole, told Insider that aspects of the industrial-farmhouse trend may be difficult to deal with down the road. 

In particular, the industrial-style matte-black finishes show "scratches more easily, and if the quality isn't high enough, the finish can flake off." 

Instead, Vaflor recommends leaning into polished- or brass-nickel fixtures, which tend to be more timeless and durable. 

Social media portrays the beauty and cleanliness of an all-white kitchen aesthetic, but Vaflor told Insider this trend could lead to regrets.

"White shows everything, and in the messiest room in the house, it's especially unforgiving, even more so if everything surrounding it is stark white in contrast," Vaflor said.

All-white kitchens can also be difficult to maintain over time. 

"It's incredibly challenging to match whites, so if you have to replace a cabinet door or paint a scratch, it's not likely you'll find the exact white," Valfor added. 

It may be more practical to only do white upper cabinets and colored lower cabinets or to stick with a white countertop and darker backsplashes. 

Lisa Odor, senior interior designer at MA Design, told Insider that open shelves with highly-curated items could lead to regrets down the road.

"They look great for Instagram when they are nicely organized and picturesque with your three favorite cookbooks and some cute knickknacks, but they aren't functional and will only collect dust and more things," she said.

Instead, Odor recommends capitalizing on closed storage options.

Jackie Lopey, founder of and interior designer at Wide Canvas, told Insider that complementary colors — red and green, orange and blue, purple and yellow — intensify each other and are visually appealing on our Instagram feeds but feel different when you live with them.

When the excitement wears off, replacing kitchen cabinets, countertops, and backsplashes is expensive.

Instead, Lopey recommends selecting a neutral color palette and adding a signature color to one fixed element.

Erin Davis, owner and lead designer at Mosaik Design & Remodeling, said light-colored cabinetry has been a popular trend for years but it's not the most practical one. 

"Homeowners may regret having a light color on the lower cabinetry as it can quickly show wear and tear. A great alternative is combining wood cabinetry on the base with lighter-painted uppers," Davis told Insider.

Green kitchens may be trendy, but Davis cautioned against overdoing it.

"Avoid too much green in the kitchens, especially with painted walls as they can cast a light on to your food that is unappealing," they told Insider.

Interior designer Randi Destefano said sliding doors can work in a pantry, but you might want to skip anything too rustic unless it fits your kitchen's aesthetic. 

"Rustic barn doors for pantries don't always fit the kitchen style. Some trend followers only see rustic and think they need to have it. They forget that the rest of the kitchen is not rustic," Destefano told Insider.

Before committing to a pantry door, do some research to understand the available options rather than defaulting to the popular rustic style.