New Home Kitchen
Living, kitchen and dining area. The public spaces in the house are accessible right off the front of the house, with the main entry opening onto the dining-living-kitchen area. (This is the volume we saw on the right side of the exterior, closer to the street.) The large island serves as a social hub.“We were on a lean budget and kept everything simple,” Hughey says. The floors are polished sealed concrete and almost all of the walls are drywall. “Sophisticated materials like the Carrara marble, walnut butcher block and high-end appliances were the splurges, which elevated the more basic materials,” he says. “We wanted to delineate the spaces within the open floor plan,” the architect says. “The corner windows mark the dining room, the island divides it all and the fireplace faces the living room.” The fireplace surround is American Clay earth plaster, made of natural clays, recycled and reclaimed aggregates and natural pigments, and it has a troweled stucco look. To keep things unfussy, they decided not to add a mantel.
“After” photos by John ShumKitchen at a GlanceWho lives here: A young couple who recently had their first babyLocation: San Leandro, CaliforniaSize: 300 square feet (27.8 square meters)Designer: Karen Nepacena of Destination EichlerAfter the recent arrival of their first child, this fun-loving couple bought a 1940s ranch-style house. They wasted no time making it their own by starting a renovation of the whole house.Kitchen goals. The couple loves to host cooking contests and game nights with friends, so it made sense to tear down a few walls to create an open space. They also wanted to build in hosting features such as a minibar and island seating.The home had been updated within the last 10 years but was dark and closed off, with individual small spaces for laundry, living and cooking. They opened up the wall that was between the kitchen, seen here, and the dining room. It took five months for them to complete the remodel.
After. A sleek minibar, complete with a 24-inch-high wine fridge and a sink, allows the couple to easily make drinks for guests — or let them mix their own. Its placement over to the far side of the room also ensures that no one is in the way of the cook when preparing a cocktail before dinner.Pro tip: Before ordering cabinets, Nepacena measured the couple’s liquor bottles to make sure they would fit inside the new cabinetry.Browse wine fridges
After. The open room makes the dining area a bright, inviting space. To let in more light, the couple opted for no window treatments on this large window.Kitchen table. The client, who is also an engineer, designed and crafted this table himself.Chairs: Eames molded plastic dowel-leg side chair, Design Within Reach; light fixture: Alto Compass, Cedar & MossMoreRead more kitchen storiesHire a kitchen professionalFind kitchen and dining products
11. Functional lighting. Designers have been attesting to the importance of good lighting for ages, but with technology ever improving and the kitchen being such a central fixture of the home, people are embracing layered lighting in kitchens in a big way.LED undercabinet lighting and sleek recessed ceiling lights provide an even wash of light over your counters that makes the space feel larger while helping with delicate tasks like chopping. Add a few pendant lights for ambience and you’ve got a great three-point lighting scheme for a kitchen of any decor.
Don’t have a ceiling cavity that allows for recessed lighting? I face this situation often, including in this recently completed Toronto Interior Design Group project where we exposed the concrete ceilings.One option is to use a dropped ceiling over the island or even the full kitchen to allow space for potlights to tuck away. Another is to consider modern track lights. That’s right, track lighting is definitely back.Forget what you think you know about track lights based on the curvy tracks of harsh MR16 bulbs that were popular in the ’90s. Modern track lighting takes inspiration from art galleries and jewelry showrooms to deliver beautiful, functional, repositionable lighting that will be a welcome addition to any kitchen for years to come.MoreInterior Design Trends Expected to Take Hold in 2018Bathroom trends from KBIS
Blue is an especially popular choice for kitchens going into 2018, either as an all-over cabinet hue or as an accent to a more neutral scheme. It’s technically a cool hue, but it’s a cheerful color that is many people’s favorite, so it’s a natural choice for those who want to try a less-neutral painted finish without taking a wild color risk they might regret.
love the table and chairs!
like that island has wood not white
Like that the islands are perpendicular to table...don't know what it is, but i like this.
Reduce counter clutter
Not big enough but love look
don't love the glass on the fireplace, but love the wine feature.
Like the combo of wood and white
great pantry
More traditional than i'd choose, but so pretty!
A drawer with custom dividers elegantly stores skillets and sauce pans.
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