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Lemon and artichoke kitchen prints tend to land in the one place they should not go: right above the hob. Grease finds them within a season. Most kitchens have only two or three walls that will take art, and each one is a different shape. Here are four layouts that fit them, measured for the walls kitchens actually have.
TL;DRHang kitchen prints at least a metre (about 3 ft) from the hob, behind glass, in oak rather than black frames. A lemon and artichoke pair needs roughly 90 cm of wall, and a trio with the olive branch about 140 cm.
Key Facts
Find the wall before you choose the prints
Start by ruling walls out. Everything within about a metre, roughly 3 ft, of the hob is a grease zone. Grease travels and settles, and it does not lift off unglazed paper. The splashback is rarely tall enough for a frame, and it takes splashes from the sink as well.
What remains is usually one of four walls. One is the strip above open shelving, and another is the narrow panel beside a window. The others are the end of a run of cabinets and the far wall beyond the table. Lemon and artichoke kitchen prints work on any of them, as long as the layout fits. Measure the one you have before choosing anything. The layout follows the wall, not the other way round.
This guide works with two plates and their companions. The full six-plate palette for the room, from lemon to cherry tomato, is set out on the Mediterranean kitchen wall art page.
Why lemon and artichoke kitchen prints work as a pair
A good pair needs one light subject and one heavy one. The lemon is the light one: a round, glossy fruit in hard citrus yellow. The artichoke is the heavy one, a tight head of overlapping bracts in silvery green, tinged purple at the tips. Side by side, each makes the other read more clearly. That contrast is what makes lemon and artichoke kitchen prints such a dependable starting point.
Both belong to the same food culture, so the pair never looks arbitrary. The globe artichoke is a cultivated form of the cardoon, Cynara cardunculus, though it is still often listed as Cynara scolymus. Its partner reached Mediterranean kitchens by a much longer road, set out in the history of lemons.
Four layouts for lemon and artichoke kitchen prints
Each layout starts from lemon and artichoke kitchen prints and adds companions as the wall grows. The widths assume slim frames of about 2.5 cm (1 in) on each side. For the hung layouts, keep the group’s centres at about 150 cm (59 in) from the floor. Above a worktop or a banquette, leave at least 25 cm (10 in) clear under the bottom edges.
The pair: about 90 cm of wall
Two 36 × 51 cm (14 × 20 in) prints, set portrait with an 8 cm (3 in) gap, fill roughly 90 cm. This is the layout for the panel beside a window or the end of a cabinet run. Hang the lemon on the side nearer the light, because the yellow carries further than the green.
The trio: about 140 cm of wall
Set the olive branch between the two. Its pale grey-green leaf separates the yellow from the green, so the three read as one sequence rather than three pictures. Three 36 × 51 cm prints with 8 cm gaps need about 140 cm. That suits the wall above a kitchen table or a banquette. The same logic, scaled up for a dining room, is set out in the guide to Mediterranean restaurant art.
The column: about 60 × 76 cm
Four 22 × 30 cm (9 × 12 in) prints in a two-by-two grid, with 6 cm gaps, fit a narrow panel. Put the lemon and the artichoke on one diagonal. Fill the other two places with the fig and the pot marigold. The fig brings ochre, and the marigold brings orange.
The shelf lean
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Open shelving takes a looser arrangement, as the basil and cherry tomato show here. Lean two or three 22 × 30 cm frames at the back of a shelf, overlapping slightly, among jars and boards. Nothing is fixed to the wall, so the plates can change with the season.
Frames, glazing and terracotta
Lemon and artichoke kitchen prints need glass more than most art, because they hang where food is cooked. Frame them, and glaze them. The glass is a sacrificial layer: it takes the grease, and a cloth takes it off. Unglazed canvas is the wrong choice here. That is the reverse of the bathroom advice, where glass traps condensation.
Oak or a warm mid-brown suits this palette better than black, which goes hard against the ochre of the fig. Keep a white or cream mat of about 5 cm (2 in) on every frame. On a terracotta wall that mat does real work, separating the cream ground of each plate from the clay behind it.
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This is a tasting room rather than a kitchen, but the wall is the lesson. The artichoke holds its own against terracotta, where a paler subject would sink. If your kitchen has clay tiles or a terracotta plaster wall, add the pot marigold. Its orange belongs to the same family of warm earth colours as the clay. The flower’s long life in painting is traced in calendula in art.
What This Means for the Work
Each of these plates began on a table, with the specimen in front of me. The lemon was drawn with its leaves still attached, because a lemon cut from its leaf is only a yellow shape. The artichoke plate records the cut structure of the specimen, down to the spines of the choke beneath the outer bracts. That is why the two hold a kitchen wall. They are records of food rather than pictures of it.
Every plate is a hand-drawn digital illustration made from a specimen. Fiurdelin’s catalogue holds more than 50 published plates, and the studio is a member of the Association of Botanical Artists.
FAQ
Where should prints hang in a kitchen?
Outside the grease zone, which reaches about a metre, roughly 3 ft, around the hob. The strip above open shelving, a panel beside a window, the end of a cabinet run and the far wall all work. Grease does not lift off unglazed paper.
Should kitchen prints be framed behind glass?
Yes. The glass takes the grease and wipes clean, and the print behind it stays untouched. A slim oak frame with a cream mat suits the Mediterranean palette best.
What goes with lemon and artichoke kitchen prints?
The olive branch first, since its grey-green sits between the two colours. The fig adds ochre and the pot marigold adds orange. For a quieter green, the sweet basil fits the same palette.
What size prints suit a kitchen wall?
Use 22 × 30 cm (9 × 12 in) for columns, shelves and close viewing. Choose 36 × 51 cm (14 × 20 in) for pairs and trios. Keep larger sizes for a far wall seen from across the room.
How is this botanical art printed and shipped?
The plates are produced and shipped through the studio’s own print rail at prints.botanical.art. Each is an archival fine-art giclée on paper or canvas, framed or unframed. The catalogue comes in sizes from small prints to over 150 cm (60 inches). Each plate’s own page shows its largest size. Orders ship worldwide.
Choosing Your Kitchen Plates
Start with the wall you have, then choose the plates that fit it. For most kitchens, lemon and artichoke kitchen prints are the simplest place to begin. The lemon and the artichoke have shared the Mediterranean table for centuries, and on a wall they still balance each other. I drew both from the specimen, which is the only honest way to draw food. Every plate in this guide sits on the Mediterranean Table page, among the full twelve. Prefer to print them yourself? The digital files for the lemon and the artichoke are on Etsy.
