Ideas for Perth kitchen windows that cope with steam, sun and splashback
– from cafe curtains to easy-clean blinds
The kitchen is the hardest room in the house to dress — and the one you spend the most waking hours in. Steam rises, cooking leaves its film on everything, the window is usually parked behind a sink or a bench, and Perth sun arrives hard through east-facing glass right at breakfast time. Plenty of window treatments simply can’t live there. But some genuinely can, and a kitchen window done well lifts the whole room. Here are the kitchen curtains and blinds we actually recommend — from a workroom that sews curtains and Roman blinds, and sells the practical blinds for the spots where fabric shouldn’t go.
Before the ideas, the honest constraints. A kitchen puts three things onto a window treatment that no other room does: humidity from cooking and the kettle, an airborne film of cooking residue that settles on fabric over months, and water — splashes from the sink, condensation on the glass. Add the practical matter of clearance, because most kitchen windows sit behind a bench or sink where anything long or full is in the way of taps and elbows.
So the rules of thumb are simple: anything near the cooktop or sink should be wipeable or fully raisable; any fabric in the room should be washable; and length matters — kitchen treatments end at the sill, not the floor. Get those three right and you have far more freedom than the “kitchens can’t have curtains” crowd would tell you.
Cafe curtains cover the lower half of the window only — privacy where you stand, daylight and sky above. They’re the oldest kitchen curtain idea there is, and in the right window they’re still the most charming: a casual window away from the cooktop, a character home, a kitchen that looks onto a neighbour’s fence at eye level but sky above it.
Their virtues are practical, not just pretty. Half-height means half the fabric in harm’s way; a simple rod means they slide off for the washing machine in seconds; and because they don’t reach the bench, they never dangle into the toast. Washable cottons and linens are the natural choice — patterned if the kitchen can carry it, plain if the window should whisper. Browse the fabric range with “will it wash” as your first question and you won’t go wrong.
Their limits are just as honest: they’re not for the splash zone directly behind a sink tap, and they suit casual kitchens far better than sleek minimal ones. For a fuller treatment in an open, safer position, custom made curtains at sill length remain fair game in kitchens with generous, dry windows.
If the kitchen deserves real fabric but the window can’t host a curtain, this is the answer we reach for most. A sewn Roman blind — made from proper curtain fabric with structure and lining, as ours are — brings colour, texture and softness to the kitchen in a tailored format that raises completely clear of benches, taps and steam when you need it out of the way.
That raisability is the kitchen superpower. Cooking a storm? Blind up, fabric safe. Evening settling in? Blind down, and the room instantly warms. Choose a practical, tightly woven fabric — busy patterns also forgive the odd mark better than pale plains — and a Roman will serve a kitchen for years.
Modern kitchens increasingly aren’t rooms at all — they’re one end of an open living space. Where the kitchen’s glass belongs as much to the dining table or sofa as to the benches, treat it as living space: full-height sheer curtains on a track carry the softness of the living zone right through, filtering Perth’s hard light into something you can sit in.
The placement rule still applies — sheers belong on the glass away from the work zone, sliders and picture windows rather than the pane behind the cooktop. Used that way, they’re the single quickest fix for an open-plan room that feels hard-edged.
And then there’s the window directly over the sink, or beside the cooktop — the splash zone. We’ll be straight: that’s not fabric territory, and we say so as people who sew fabric for a living. A roller blind in a sunscreen or light-filtering fabric is the sensible answer there — it cuts glare while keeping your garden view, shrugs off moisture, and cleans with a wipe. We sell them precisely because sometimes they’re simply the right call, and a kitchen that mixes a roller at the sink with fabric elsewhere gets the best of both.
If a blind is the right answer for your kitchen, our guide to kitchen blinds works through which one belongs on which window.
Rarely fabric, and we say that as people who sew it for a living. The window over the sink takes the worst of everything — steam off the kettle, splashes from the tap, and a fine film that settles on anything woven. A wipeable roller in sunscreen or light-filtering fabric is the sensible default: clear of the taps, easy to clean, and it cuts the glare without taking your view of the garden. A sewn Roman blind is the alternative where the window deserves something softer, as long as it raises fully clear of the water. Cafe curtains belong on a casual window away from the sink, not this one — and whatever you choose here, finish at the sill.
Clearance decides everything. A roller in wipeable fabric is the default; a sewn Roman works if it raises fully clear of the taps. Anything that hangs into the water’s reach is a decision you’ll regret by the second wash-up.
Treat it as living space, not kitchen: sheers on tracks, continuity with whatever dresses the living zone, and the work-zone windows handled separately. If you’re weighing fabric against blinds across the whole space, our guide to curtains or blinds walks the decision room by room.
After decades of Perth kitchens, Annie’s shortcut runs: keep fabric out of the splash zone, make every kitchen fabric washable, and stop everything at the sill — then be as charming as you like with what’s left. The kitchen that follows those three rules can carry almost any idea on this page.
The best kitchen window treatment depends on your actual window — where the sink sits, which way the light comes, how the room is used at 7am and 7pm. That’s what a free in-home consultation settles: Annie will stand at your kitchen window, tell you straight what will survive there, and bring fabric samples you can see in your own light. She fits curtains and blinds across Perth, from Cottesloe kitchens taking the full afternoon sun to renovated cottages in North Perth where the window over the sink is the only one in the room. No obligation — and no pretending fabric belongs where it doesn’t.
Yes — in the right position and the right fabric. Keep them away from the cooktop and sink, choose washable cottons or linens, and finish at the sill. Cafe curtains and sewn Roman blinds are the kitchen-friendly formats; splash-zone windows are better served by a wipeable blind.
Curtains that cover only the lower half of a window, giving privacy at standing height while daylight pours in above. They’re a classic for casual kitchen windows and character homes, easiest to love in simple washable fabrics on a slim rod — off and into the machine in seconds.
A roller blind in a wipeable sunscreen or light-filtering fabric — it sits clear of taps, handles steam and splashes, and cleans with a wipe while keeping your view. A sewn Roman blind also works well, provided it raises fully clear of the water.
Ideally, yes. Kitchens put humidity and a fine film of cooking residue onto fabric over time, so machine-washable cottons, linens and blends keep the window fresh — and any treatment too near the action should be wipeable rather than washable.
