This labor of love turned out to be a mid-century masterpiece, thanks to Robert Maurer's expert eye for color and interior design
Kitchen - mid-century modern kitchen idea in Sacramento with dark wood cabinets, green backsplash, ceramic backsplash and an island

© Deborah Scannell Photography
Small transitional u-shaped eat-in kitchen photo in Charlotte with a single-bowl sink, raised-panel cabinets, white cabinets, granite countertops, brown backsplash, ceramic backsplash and stainless steel appliances

Inspiration for a contemporary single-wall kitchen remodel in New York with flat-panel cabinets, white cabinets, paneled appliances, white walls and wood countertops

Eric Rorer
Inspiration for a contemporary kitchen remodel in San Francisco

I built this on my property for my aging father who has some health issues. Handicap accessibility was a factor in design. His dream has always been to try retire to a cabin in the woods. This is what he got. It is a 1 bedroom, 1 bath with a great room. It is 600 sqft of AC space. The footprint is 40' x 26' overall. The site was the former home of our pig pen. I only had to take 1 tree to make this work and I planted 3 in its place. The axis is set from root ball to root ball. The rear center is aligned with mean sunset and is visible across a wetland. The goal was to make the home feel like it was floating in the palms. The geometry had to simple and I didn't want it feeling heavy on the land so I cantilevered the structure beyond exposed foundation walls. My barn is nearby and it features old 1950's "S" corrugated metal panel walls. I used the same panel profile for my siding. I ran it vertical to match the barn, but also to balance the length of the structure and stretch the high point into the canopy, visually. The wood is all Southern Yellow Pine. This material came from clearing at the Babcock Ranch Development site. I ran it through the structure, end to end and horizontally, to create a seamless feel and to stretch the space. It worked. It feels MUCH bigger than it is. I milled the material to specific sizes in specific areas to create precise alignments. Floor starters align with base. Wall tops adjoin ceiling starters to create the illusion of a seamless board. All light fixtures, HVAC supports, cabinets, switches, outlets, are set specifically to wood joints. The front and rear porch wood has three different milling profiles so the hypotenuse on the ceilings, align with the walls, and yield an aligned deck board below. Yes, I over did it. It is spectacular in its detailing. That's the benefit of small spaces. Concrete counters and IKEA cabinets round out the conversation. For those who cannot live tiny, I offer the Tiny-ish House. Photos by Ryan Gamma Staging by iStage Homes Design Assistance Jimmy Thornton

Removing the wall between the kitchen and dining room visually enlarged and integrated both spaces.
Inspiration for a mid-sized contemporary galley medium tone wood floor eat-in kitchen remodel in DC Metro with an undermount sink, multicolored backsplash, stainless steel appliances, an island, shaker cabinets, gray cabinets, granite countertops and stone tile backsplash

New Kitchen with added backsplash windows to let in morning light, clean contemporary cabinet detailing and ample countertops. Kitchen Design and Construction by Clayton Nelson. Interior finishes by Erin Crain, H Interiors, San Jose

Mariko Reed
Mid-century modern patio photo in San Francisco

Yep, that's right - this home has TWO kitchens! Think you don't entertain enough to have a home with two kitchens - think how nice this space will be when you come in from shopping and can unload everything here? When the kids want to practice their chef skills? Complete with washer and dryer, this room is "command central" for the lucky owners of this home!

When a family living in Singapore decided to purchase a New York City pied-à-terre, they settled on the historic Langham Place, a 60-floor building along 5th Ave which features a mixture of permanent residencies and 5-star hotel suites. Immediately after purchasing the condo, they reached out to Decor Aid, and tasked us with designing a home that would reflect their jet-setting lifestyle and chic sensibility. Book Your Free In-Home Consultation Connecting to the historic Tiffany Building at 404 5th Ave, the exterior of Langham Place is a combination of highly contemporary architecture and 1920’s art deco design. And with this highly unique architecture, came highly angular, outward leaning floor-to-ceiling windows, which would prove to be our biggest design challenge. One of the apartment’s quirks was negotiating an uneven balance of natural light throughout the space. Parts of the apartment, such one of the kids’ bedrooms, feature floor-to-ceiling windows and an abundance of natural light, while other areas, such as one corner of the living room, receive little natural light. By sourcing a combination of contemporary, low-profile furniture pieces and metallic accents, we were able to compensate for apartment’s pockets of darkness. A low-profile beige sectional from Room & Board was an obvious choice, which we complemented with a lucite console and a bronze Riverstone coffee table from Mitchell Gold+Bob Williams. Circular tables were placed throughout the apartment in order to establish a design scheme that would be easy to walk through. A marble tulip table from Sit Down New York provides an opulent dining room space, without crowding the floor plan. The finishing touches include a sumptuous swivel chair from Safavieh, to create a sleek, welcoming vacation home for this international client.

Example of a transitional galley eat-in kitchen design in Birmingham with an undermount sink, flat-panel cabinets, white cabinets, wood countertops and paneled appliances

Nothing like rustic accessories to add to the your kitchen design.
Mountain style kitchen photo in New York

Modern, farm, farmhouse, vintage, industrial, coastal, clean, simple, kitchen, traditional, transitional, kitchen remodel, honed black pearl slab granite with eased edge, white subway tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances, cutting board, kitchen island, antique office desk, refinished painted 20 year old cabinets in Benjamin Moore's Tapestry Beige, cream, cast iron cup pulls and knob hardware, Bosch 5 burner gas stove, separate KitchenAid wall oven, Broan hood, hand scraped distressed maple hardwood floors, microwave on countertop, french door refrigerator, single basin deep sink, Hampton Bay Altura ceiling fan, tall arched window mirrors.

A tray divider cabinet located in the kitchen island. - Village Home Stores
Large elegant l-shaped medium tone wood floor open concept kitchen photo in Chicago with an undermount sink, raised-panel cabinets, medium tone wood cabinets, quartz countertops, beige backsplash, subway tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances and an island

Inspiration for a mid-sized farmhouse porcelain tile and brown floor kitchen pantry remodel with open cabinets, white cabinets, wood countertops and brown countertops

The Yin-Yang House is a net-zero energy single-family home in a quiet Venice, CA neighborhood. The design objective was to create a space for a large and growing family with several children, which would create a calm, relaxed and organized environment that emphasizes public family space. The home also serves as a place to entertain, and a welcoming space for teenagers as they seek social space with friends. The home is organized around a series of courtyards and other outdoor spaces that integrate with the interior of the house. Facing the street the house appears to be solid. However, behind the steel entry door is a courtyard, which reveals the indoor-outdoor nature of the house behind the solid exterior. From the entry courtyard, the entire space to the rear garden wall can be seen; the first clue of the home’s spatial connection between inside and out. These spaces are designed for entertainment, and the 40 foot sliding glass door to the living room enhances the harmonic relationship of the main room, allowing the owners to host many guests without the feeling of being overburdened. The tensions of the house’s exterior are subtly underscored by a 12-inch steel band that hews close to, but sometimes rises above or falls below the floor line of the second floor – a continuous loop moving inside and out like a pen that is never lifted from the page, but reinforces the intent to spatially weave together the indoors with the outside as a single space. Scale manipulation also plays a formal role in the design of the structure. From the rear, the house appears to be a single-story volume. The large master bedroom window and the outdoor steps are scaled to support this illusion. It is only when the steps are animated with people that one realizes the true scale of the house is two stories. The kitchen is the heart of the house, with an open working area that allows the owner, an accomplished chef, to converse with friends while cooking. Bedrooms are intentionally designed to be very small and simple; allowing for larger public spaces, emphasizing the family over individual domains. The breakfast room looks across an outdoor courtyard to the guest room/kids playroom, establishing a visual connection while defining the separation of uses. The children can play outdoors while under adult supervision from the dining area or the office, or do homework in the office while adults occupy the adjacent outdoor or indoor space. Many of the materials used, including the bamboo interior, composite stone and tile countertops and bathroom finishes are recycled, and reinforce the environmental DNA of the house, which also has a green roof. Blown-in cellulose insulation, radiant heating and a host of other sustainable features aids in the performance of the building’s heating and cooling. The active systems in the home include a 12 KW solar photovoltaic panel system, the largest such residential system available on the market. The solar panels also provide shade from the sun, preventing the house from becoming overheated. The owners have been in the home for over nine months and have yet to receive a power bill.

Drawing from one of the owner's experience as a chef, the kitchen is inspired by a commercial kitchen. Walls of durable metal pegboard embody the project's authentic approach in which the tools of everyday life are displayed as objects, while simultaneously making kitchen utensils convenient to use. Photo by Scott Norsworthy

Classic Shaker Kitchen In A Small Space. Design by Mari Kushino Design, Cabinets by South Shore Cabinetry, Photography by Tony Colangelo Photography.