Top 5 Kitchen Window Treatments

The kitchen—the center of family gatherings and where parties always seem to end up—is one of the most highly trafficked rooms in the home. And while it’s a given that this space needs to be ultra-functional, it also needs to be inviting.

Stylish window treatments can help amp up a kitchen’s aesthetic, as well as provide light control when you need it and privacy when you want it.

But before you choose your kitchen window treatments, you need to take into account where your windows are located. If they're near the sink, stove or other food-prep areas where your shades may come into contact with water, steam or grease splatters, you might consider faux wood blinds, faux wood shutters or vinyl roller shades because they're very durable and easy to clean with a damp cloth.

If your kitchen windows are located away from food prep areas, you could also look at window treatments like Roman shades, roller shades (in any fabric) and woven wood shades, as well as energy-efficient cellular shades.

1. Cellular Shades

Duette^® Honeycomb Shades—the original cellular shades—are specifically designed to provide extra insulation at the window. Their unique honeycomb design traps air in distinct pockets, keeping a room cooler when temps heat up outdoors and warmer when temps are cold. (For maximum energy efficiency, look to Duette^® Architella^® shades, which have a honeycomb-within-a-honeycomb design.)

Duette shades are available in numerous fabrics, colors and textures, and in a variety of pleat sizes and opacities, so they'll complement any kitchen décor. They're also available with different features, such as the Duolite^® system, which combines a light-filtering and a room-darkening fabric into a single shade, for flexible light control. Have sliding glass doors in your kitchen? Duette with the Vertiglide^™ system gives you the flexibility to use either one shade to cover the entire expanse of the door or two shades that operate independently.

Duette^® Honeycomb Shades Fabric: Architella^® Alexa Color: Desert Sands

Duette^® Honeycomb Shades Fabric: Architella^® Elan^® Color: Birch Bark

2. Modern Roman Shades

Roman shades soften a kitchen in a way that hard surfaces can't, and modern Roman shades keep that softness tidy. Their fabric wraps fully around the headrail and falls in consistent folds whether the shade is raised or lowered, so it holds its look in a room where the window treatment gets adjusted several times a day.

Vignette^® Modern Roman Shades, for instance, are available in a wide range of luxurious fabrics, even down to the fabric-wrapped hardware. And like Duette shades, you have the option of combining two separate fabrics with two different opacities into a single roller with the Duolite^® system.

Vignette^® Modern Roman Shades Fabric: Jewelstone Color: Carnelian

Vignette^® Modern Roman Shades Fabric: Leela Color: Escape

Vignette^® Modern Roman Shades Fabric: Leela Color: Escape

3. Sheer Shadings

Sheer shadings magically transform the sun’s harsh rays into a gorgeous glow, which helps soften the look of a kitchen’s hard surfaces.

Silhouette^® Window Shadings feature S-shaped fabric vanes that "float" between sheers, so you can enjoy filtered light and a daytime view while maintaining your privacy. For even more light control, Silhouette shadings are also available with the Duolite^® option that lets you pair a sheer shading with a room-darkening roller shade behind it.

Pirouette^® Window Shadings are designed with beautifully contoured fabric vanes that gracefully open and close along a single sheer backing. With two vane sizes, and semi-opaque and room-darkening fabrics in numerous colors, textures and patterns, Pirouette shadings will work well in any kitchen.

Silhouette^® Window Shadings Fabric: Radiant  Color: White

Silhouette^® Window Shadings Fabric: Originale^™ Color: Honey Beige

Pirouette^® Window Shadings Fabric: Satin Color: Luxe

4. Woven Wood Shades

A great kitchen window treatment for softening the look of stainless steel and kitchen appliances, woven wood shades are made from natural materials, such as bamboo, grasses, reeds and jute. Nice thing, if you get a lot of sun in your kitchen, woven wood shades are durable and can hold their shape over time. In fact, Provenance^® Woven Wood Shades are designed specifically to minimize stretching, bowing, breaking and fading.

You can use woven wood shades alone or with a room-darkening liner. A liner will not only increase your privacy but can beautifully contrast with the natural fibers of your shade, highlighting its texture. With Provenance shades, you can even get a light-filtering or room-darkening liner that operates independently from the front-facing fabric, for flexible light control.

Provenance^® Woven Wood Shades Fabric: Mindanao Color: Maragusan

Provenance^® Woven Wood Shades Fabric: Minerals Color: Amber

5. Faux Wood Blinds and Shutters

Near the sink or the stove, faux wood blinds and shutters are the most practical thing you can hang. They take heat, steam and grease without warping, and they wipe clean with a damp cloth, which is more than most of the fabrics in this article will do.

EverWood^® Alternative Wood Blinds, for example, have the luxurious look of real wood blinds without the risk of warping in a room that fills with steam and heat.

Made with a UV-resistant Polysatin compound, Palm Beach^™ Polysatin^™ Vinyl Shutters are also guaranteed never to warp, crack, fade, chip, peel or discolor, even in extreme heat or moisture. And while your guests might mistake them for finely painted shutters, they're much more resilient to stains than genuine hardwood.

Palm Beach^™ Polysatin^™ Shutters Color: Bright White

Everwood^® Alternative Wood Blinds Material: Distinctions Color: Salt Box

Palm Beach^™ Polysatin^™ Shutters Color: White Silk