diff --git a/src/Makefile b/src/Makefile
index e30c6f2b9..6da2d7964 100644
--- a/src/Makefile
+++ b/src/Makefile
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ bindir := $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/bin
 sharedir := $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/share/kak
 docdir := $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/share/doc/kak
 
-CXXFLAGS += -std=gnu++11 -g -Wall -Wno-reorder -Wno-sign-compare -pedantic
+CXXFLAGS += -std=c++14 -g -Wall -Wno-reorder -Wno-sign-compare -pedantic
 ifneq (,$(findstring CYGWIN,$(os)))
     LDFLAGS += -rdynamic
 endif
diff --git a/src/client_manager.cc b/src/client_manager.cc
index ecade79c5..edb3251ec 100644
--- a/src/client_manager.cc
+++ b/src/client_manager.cc
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ WindowAndSelections ClientManager::get_free_window(Buffer& buffer)
                       { return &ws.window->buffer() == &buffer; });
 
     if (it == m_free_windows.rend())
-        return { make_unique<Window>(buffer), { buffer, Selection{} } };
+        return { std::make_unique<Window>(buffer), { buffer, Selection{} } };
 
     it->window->forget_timestamp();
     WindowAndSelections res = std::move(*it);
diff --git a/src/containers.hh b/src/containers.hh
index 56e5fc1f8..0f94dba7b 100644
--- a/src/containers.hh
+++ b/src/containers.hh
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ using TransformedResult = decltype(std::declval<T>()(*std::declval<I>()));
 
 template<typename Iterator, typename Transform>
 struct TransformedIterator : std::iterator<std::forward_iterator_tag,
-                                           typename std::remove_reference<TransformedResult<Iterator, Transform>>::type>
+                                           std::remove_reference_t<TransformedResult<Iterator, Transform>>>
 {
     TransformedIterator(Transform transform, Iterator it)
         : m_it(std::move(it)), m_transform(std::move(transform)) {}
diff --git a/src/flags.hh b/src/flags.hh
index 2b68751bd..f3562d953 100644
--- a/src/flags.hh
+++ b/src/flags.hh
@@ -10,21 +10,18 @@ template<typename Flags>
 struct WithBitOps : std::false_type {};
 
 template<typename Flags>
-using UnderlyingType = typename std::underlying_type<Flags>::type;
-
-template<typename Flags>
-using EnableIfWithBitOps = typename std::enable_if<WithBitOps<Flags>::value>::type;
+using EnableIfWithBitOps = std::enable_if_t<WithBitOps<Flags>::value>;
 
 template<typename Flags, typename = EnableIfWithBitOps<Flags>>
 constexpr Flags operator|(Flags lhs, Flags rhs)
 {
-    return (Flags)((UnderlyingType<Flags>) lhs | (UnderlyingType<Flags>) rhs);
+    return (Flags)((std::underlying_type_t<Flags>) lhs | (std::underlying_type_t<Flags>) rhs);
 }
 
 template<typename Flags, typename = EnableIfWithBitOps<Flags>>
 Flags& operator|=(Flags& lhs, Flags rhs)
 {
-    (UnderlyingType<Flags>&) lhs |= (UnderlyingType<Flags>) rhs;
+    (std::underlying_type_t<Flags>&) lhs |= (std::underlying_type_t<Flags>) rhs;
     return lhs;
 }
 
@@ -32,27 +29,27 @@ template<typename Flags>
 struct TestableFlags
 {
     Flags value;
-    constexpr operator bool() const { return (UnderlyingType<Flags>)value; }
+    constexpr operator bool() const { return (std::underlying_type_t<Flags>)value; }
     constexpr operator Flags() const { return value; }
 };
 
 template<typename Flags, typename = EnableIfWithBitOps<Flags>>
 constexpr TestableFlags<Flags> operator&(Flags lhs, Flags rhs)
 {
-    return { (Flags)((UnderlyingType<Flags>) lhs & (UnderlyingType<Flags>) rhs) };
+    return { (Flags)((std::underlying_type_t<Flags>) lhs & (std::underlying_type_t<Flags>) rhs) };
 }
 
 template<typename Flags, typename = EnableIfWithBitOps<Flags>>
 Flags& operator&=(Flags& lhs, Flags rhs)
 {
-    (UnderlyingType<Flags>&) lhs &= (UnderlyingType<Flags>) rhs;
+    (std::underlying_type_t<Flags>&) lhs &= (std::underlying_type_t<Flags>) rhs;
     return lhs;
 }
 
 template<typename Flags, typename = EnableIfWithBitOps<Flags>>
 constexpr Flags operator~(Flags lhs)
 {
-    return (Flags)(~(UnderlyingType<Flags>)lhs);
+    return (Flags)(~(std::underlying_type_t<Flags>)lhs);
 }
 
 }
diff --git a/src/hash.hh b/src/hash.hh
index 3fc8abd2a..232baea56 100644
--- a/src/hash.hh
+++ b/src/hash.hh
@@ -19,10 +19,10 @@ size_t hash_value(const Type&... val)
 }
 
 template<typename Type>
-typename std::enable_if<std::is_enum<Type>::value, size_t>::type
+std::enable_if_t<std::is_enum<Type>::value, size_t>
 hash_value(const Type& val)
 {
-    return hash_value((typename std::underlying_type<Type>::type)val);
+    return hash_value((std::underlying_type_t<Type>)val);
 }
 
 template<typename Type>
diff --git a/src/highlighter.hh b/src/highlighter.hh
index 4e259c510..ddd2a78bd 100644
--- a/src/highlighter.hh
+++ b/src/highlighter.hh
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ private:
 template<typename T>
 std::unique_ptr<SimpleHighlighter<T>> make_simple_highlighter(T func)
 {
-    return make_unique<SimpleHighlighter<T>>(std::move(func));
+    return std::make_unique<SimpleHighlighter<T>>(std::move(func));
 }
 
 using HighlighterParameters = ConstArrayView<String>;
diff --git a/src/highlighters.cc b/src/highlighters.cc
index 93cb0e4da..286b22c6d 100644
--- a/src/highlighters.cc
+++ b/src/highlighters.cc
@@ -272,8 +272,8 @@ public:
 
             Regex ex{params[0].begin(), params[0].end(), Regex::optimize};
 
-            return {id, make_unique<RegexHighlighter>(std::move(ex),
-                                                      std::move(faces))};
+            return {id, std::make_unique<RegexHighlighter>(std::move(ex),
+                                                           std::move(faces))};
         }
         catch (RegexError& err)
         {
@@ -447,7 +447,7 @@ template<typename RegexGetter, typename FaceGetter>
 std::unique_ptr<DynamicRegexHighlighter<RegexGetter, FaceGetter>>
 make_dynamic_regex_highlighter(RegexGetter regex_getter, FaceGetter face_getter)
 {
-    return make_unique<DynamicRegexHighlighter<RegexGetter, FaceGetter>>(
+    return std::make_unique<DynamicRegexHighlighter<RegexGetter, FaceGetter>>(
         std::move(regex_getter), std::move(face_getter));
 }
 
@@ -896,7 +896,7 @@ HighlighterAndId create_highlighter_group(HighlighterParameters params)
     if (params.size() != 1)
         throw runtime_error("wrong parameter count");
 
-    return HighlighterAndId(params[0], make_unique<HighlighterGroup>());
+    return HighlighterAndId(params[0], std::make_unique<HighlighterGroup>());
 }
 
 HighlighterAndId create_reference_highlighter(HighlighterParameters params)
@@ -1200,7 +1200,7 @@ public:
             }
 
             auto default_group = parser.get_switch("default").value_or(StringView{}).str();
-            return {parser[0], make_unique<RegionsHighlighter>(std::move(regions), default_group)};
+            return {parser[0], std::make_unique<RegionsHighlighter>(std::move(regions), default_group)};
         }
         catch (RegexError& err)
         {
diff --git a/src/main.cc b/src/main.cc
index 7b1f62f98..c8fc9d03e 100644
--- a/src/main.cc
+++ b/src/main.cc
@@ -261,7 +261,7 @@ void create_local_client(StringView init_command)
     }
 
     static Client* client = ClientManager::instance().create_client(
-        make_unique<LocalUI>(), get_env_vars(), init_command);
+        std::make_unique<LocalUI>(), get_env_vars(), init_command);
     signal(SIGHUP, [](int) {
         if (client)
             ClientManager::instance().remove_client(*client);
@@ -299,7 +299,7 @@ int run_client(StringView session, StringView init_command)
     try
     {
         EventManager event_manager;
-        RemoteClient client{session, make_unique<NCursesUI>(),
+        RemoteClient client{session, std::make_unique<NCursesUI>(),
                             get_env_vars(), init_command};
         while (true)
             event_manager.handle_next_events(EventMode::Normal);
diff --git a/src/safe_ptr.hh b/src/safe_ptr.hh
index 2e3b3d2b6..5fe894b3b 100644
--- a/src/safe_ptr.hh
+++ b/src/safe_ptr.hh
@@ -94,8 +94,7 @@ private:
 };
 
 template<typename T> using SafePtr =
-    RefPtr<T, typename std::conditional<std::is_const<T>::value,
-                                        const SafeCountable, SafeCountable>::type>;
+    RefPtr<T, std::conditional_t<std::is_const<T>::value, const SafeCountable, SafeCountable>>;
 
 }
 
diff --git a/src/string.hh b/src/string.hh
index b5ad8e5a9..e2e2d412b 100644
--- a/src/string.hh
+++ b/src/string.hh
@@ -297,10 +297,10 @@ namespace detail
 
 template<typename T> using IsString = std::is_convertible<T, StringView>;
 
-template<typename T, class = typename std::enable_if<!IsString<T>::value>::type>
+template<typename T, class = std::enable_if_t<!IsString<T>::value>>
 auto format_param(const T& val) -> decltype(to_string(val)) { return to_string(val); }
 
-template<typename T, class = typename std::enable_if<IsString<T>::value>::type>
+template<typename T, class = std::enable_if_t<IsString<T>::value>>
 StringView format_param(const T& val) { return val; }
 
 }
diff --git a/src/utils.hh b/src/utils.hh
index ee2591c04..7a7eb0711 100644
--- a/src/utils.hh
+++ b/src/utils.hh
@@ -8,34 +8,6 @@
 namespace Kakoune
 {
 
-template<typename T, typename... Args>
-std::unique_ptr<T> make_unique(Args&&... args)
-{
-    return std::unique_ptr<T>(new T(std::forward<Args>(args)...));
-}
-
-template<size_t... I>
-struct IndexSequence
-{
-    using Next = IndexSequence<I..., sizeof...(I)>;
-};
-
-template<size_t N>
-struct MakeIndexSequence
-{
-    using Type = typename MakeIndexSequence<N-1>::Type::Next;
-};
-
-template<>
-struct MakeIndexSequence<0>
-{
-    using Type = IndexSequence<>;
-};
-
-template<size_t N>
-constexpr typename MakeIndexSequence<N>::Type
-make_index_sequence() { return typename MakeIndexSequence<N>::Type{}; }
-
 // *** Singleton ***
 //
 // Singleton helper class, every singleton type T should inherit