Open concept kitchen - transitional galley medium tone wood floor and brown floor open concept kitchen idea in Boston with shaker cabinets, white cabinets, gray backsplash, stainless steel appliances and an island

THE SETUP Client Background: Our clients, a couple who have transitioned into the empty nest phase, have cherished their home for over three decades without undergoing any significant renovations. With a newfound desire to adapt their living space to better suit their current lifestyle, they’ve embarked on a journey to reimagine their kitchen — the heart of their home. Their aspiration is to cultivate a serene, neutral-toned sanctuary on the first floor that seamlessly merges with their family room, ensuring a harmonious and inviting environment. Design Inspiration: The renovation is inspired by the couple’s penchant for soft, calming neutrals, using their cherished family room and the kitchen’s existing tile flooring as the cornerstone for the color scheme. This approach aims to foster a sense of warmth and tranquility throughout. Design Objectives: Harmonize the kitchen with the family room by adopting a soothing, neutral color scheme, ensuring a seamless flow across the first floor. Enhance kitchen functionality with thoughtfully designed cabinetry, providing a designated place for every item and maximizing storage efficiency. Cultivate an inviting and comfortable atmosphere that reflects the homeowners’ desire for a calm and relaxing space. Design Challenges: The homeowners wish to retain the existing kitchen tile flooring and integrate it into a refreshed, modern design. Accommodating a dining area spacious enough for family visits without compromising the kitchen’s open feel or functional layout. Despite liking the current placement of plumbing and appliances, the homeowners aspire for a more open floor plan to facilitate better movement and interaction. The need to amplify natural light in the kitchen, especially around the sink area, where existing lighting is insufficient. Preserving the half-wall between the kitchen and family room, a feature the homeowners want to keep, while ensuring it complements the new design. THE RENEWED SPACE Design Solutions: By choosing a neutral color palette that complements the existing tile, the design unifies the kitchen with the adjacent spaces. The tile’s grout was cleaned and restored, enhancing the floor’s appearance and integrating it seamlessly with the new kitchen aesthetic. The inclusion of a larger island with seating for two, alongside maintaining a substantial dining table, was achieved by optimizing the spatial layout. This allowed for a sociable yet functional kitchen, accommodating large family gatherings without feeling crowded. Minor adjustments to the kitchen’s layout maintained the preferred locations for plumbing and appliances while introducing an ‘open’ design concept. Strategic modifications, such as angling the pantry wall, improved the flow and accessibility within the space. Replacing the garden window with a broader, standard window significantly increased natural light, transforming the sink area into a bright, welcoming space with enhanced views of the outdoors. The decision to keep the half-wall was ingeniously leveraged to define the dining area while maintaining an open connection to the family room. This feature not only serves as a visual separator but also ties the two spaces together through the shared color scheme and design elements. The homeowners are thrilled with their newly remodeled kitchen, which has become a hub of warmth and hospitality. Hosting a wedding shower and a birthday party, they have shared their renewed space with friends and family, who have been equally enamored. This remodel has not only met their functional and aesthetic desires but has also enriched their home with a fresh sense of serenity and joy. The upstairs part of the home is shaping up nicely. Here’s their newly remodeled primary bathroom.

Photo: Camille Simmons © 2014 Houzz
Kitchen - eclectic kitchen idea in San Francisco

Example of a transitional single-wall medium tone wood floor kitchen design in New York with flat-panel cabinets, white cabinets, white appliances, an island and glass tile backsplash

Inspiration for a transitional kitchen remodel in Seattle

Kitchen - contemporary kitchen idea in Houston with glass-front cabinets, dark wood cabinets, glass countertops, multicolored backsplash, matchstick tile backsplash, paneled appliances and green countertops

Mid-sized mountain style medium tone wood floor and brown floor enclosed kitchen photo in Minneapolis with a farmhouse sink, glass-front cabinets, medium tone wood cabinets, wood backsplash, an island, quartz countertops, brown backsplash and stainless steel appliances

Kitchen - large country l-shaped dark wood floor and brown floor kitchen idea in Columbus with a farmhouse sink, shaker cabinets, white cabinets, white backsplash, subway tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances, an island, white countertops and quartz countertops

Looking at this home today, you would never know that the project began as a poorly maintained duplex. Luckily, the homeowners saw past the worn façade and engaged our team to uncover and update the Victorian gem that lay underneath. Taking special care to preserve the historical integrity of the 100-year-old floor plan, we returned the home back to its original glory as a grand, single family home. The project included many renovations, both small and large, including the addition of a a wraparound porch to bring the façade closer to the street, a gable with custom scrollwork to accent the new front door, and a more substantial balustrade. Windows were added to bring in more light and some interior walls were removed to open up the public spaces to accommodate the family’s lifestyle. You can read more about the transformation of this home in Old House Journal: http://www.cummingsarchitects.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Old-House-Journal-Dec.-2009.pdf Photo Credit: Eric Roth

These terrific clients turned a boring 80's kitchen into a modern, Asian-inspired chef's dream kitchen, with two tone cabinetry and professional grade appliances. An over-sized island provides comfortable seating for four. Custom Half-wall bookcases divide the kitchen from the family room without impeding sight lines into the inviting space. Photography: Stacy Zarin Goldberg

Thse clients came to me for a kitchen refresh. Keeping the existing floor plan but updating as much as possible. After explaining my thoughts, they chose to go with a much larger project. The wall to the garage wash pushed bach 12" to allow for the island to happen. This almost couldn't happen as there is a support post in the garage we had to keep. I designed the last pantry area as on 10" deep, allowing us to conceal that behind the cabinets. Then, we opend up the wall to the dining room to make the rooms one large space. The wall to the family room was also openend up, leaving the half wall to allow for the kitchen eating area. They wanted to incorporate a bar area, without it feeling like a "bar" The fabulous tall custom unit houses their wine collection and then half of the dining room buffet area holds glassware and other bar items. I helped the clients with all of the design choices.We all wanted to keep the space classic, war, functional and with mixed materials. I chose to use the same countertop material for the backsplash, to keep the space feeling as large as possible.

Kitchen - small contemporary single-wall kitchen idea in New York

Our clients loved the location of their duplex home with its peak-a-boo ocean view, but their existing kitchen was not suited for their growing family. They wanted a kitchen with a coastal vibe, plenty of storage space, and an eat-in area. We started by bringing the far wall into the kitchen space to accommodate a large panty and communication center for the family. Doing this allowed us to move the refrigerator out of the main traffic area and doubled the amount of storage space. Several new windows were added to bring in natural light. A half wall was moved to allow more countertop area and open up sight lines. The previously awkwardly shaped island was slimmed down to create better flow. There were a few venting challenges to overcome; gas lines and plumbing had to be re-routed without disturbing the unit below. To open up sight lines, soffits were eliminated which allowed the extension of cabinets to the ceiling. To stay within the homeowner’s budget, we match existing scraped flooring by lacing in and repairing patches. The old dining area was too small for table, so we designed and built a custom banquette to maximize the space and take advantage of the outdoor views. The overall space works for family meals as well as entertaining. A light summer palette was used to reflect the shades of the sand, sea and sky. Even though the new kitchen is actually smaller than the original space, its now far more functional and open.

Eichler in Marinwood - The primary organizational element of the interior is the kitchen. Embedded within the simple post and beam structure, the kitchen was conceived as a programmatic block from which we would carve in order to contribute to both sense of function and organization. photo: scott hargis

Sara Essex Bradley
Example of a small eclectic single-wall dark wood floor eat-in kitchen design in New Orleans with a farmhouse sink

Stacy Zarin-Goldberg
Example of a small trendy u-shaped light wood floor and beige floor eat-in kitchen design in Other with an undermount sink, flat-panel cabinets, light wood cabinets, blue backsplash, stainless steel appliances and a peninsula

Photo by Kip Dawkins
Large minimalist l-shaped medium tone wood floor and beige floor eat-in kitchen photo in Richmond with an undermount sink, flat-panel cabinets, white cabinets, marble countertops, gray backsplash, marble backsplash, stainless steel appliances and an island

Peter Vanderwarker
Mid-sized mountain style single-wall light wood floor and beige floor open concept kitchen photo in Boston with flat-panel cabinets, dark wood cabinets, paneled appliances and an island

Photography by Jennifer Hughes
Transitional medium tone wood floor kitchen photo in Baltimore with a farmhouse sink, shaker cabinets, black cabinets, marble countertops, stainless steel appliances, marble backsplash and white countertops