Trendy open concept family room photo in Austin with white walls and a two-sided fireplace

Custom gas fireplace. The slightly tinted glass runs around the entire enclosure and all the way to the ceiling.
Example of a trendy formal and open concept dark wood floor living room design in Boston with white walls and a two-sided fireplace

Clear Select Walnut - Artisan Inset Frame - Custom Stain - Shaker style - Spice roll out - Floating shelves - Knife block roll out
Inspiration for a timeless u-shaped medium tone wood floor and brown floor kitchen remodel in Denver with a farmhouse sink, shaker cabinets, medium tone wood cabinets, stainless steel appliances and an island

The interiors of this new hunting lodge were created with reclaimed materials and furnishing to evoke a rustic, yet luxurious 18th Century retreat. Photographs: Erik Kvalsvik

Make no mistake: Heidi’s passion was the basis of the project. Heidi loves to cook. Given a choice, she might live full-time in the kitchen. She revels in creating culinary delights for family and friends. She lives to entertain. Her kitchen is her castle. It has to be just right. But, it wasn’t. For starters, she wanted a different stove. Looking around, other things jumped out. This wasn’t the cooking mecca she envisioned. There were better options available. The ball started rolling. “I needed a bigger island and a bigger stove,” Heidi said. “That led to ‘We need a bigger kitchen.’” This wasn’t a new revelation. She had been researching kitchens for some time. She didn’t have all the details, but she had a plan. “My vision was to have it very clean and simple, but I wanted some artistic flair,” she explained. Our task was to design the kitchen her passion demanded. It needed more countertop space. It needed more storage space. It needed functional elements that were big, bold and suited to the needs of an active, passionate user. So, first things first. We started with a Viking Professional stove and oven that would make Julia Child proud. “I told Kevin (her husband) it’s coming with us if we move,” Heidi said. The custom stove hood was custom-made on site of wood and dual-color Venetian plaster, with a Ventahood exhaust inside. Two corbels accent its artistic look and feel, hewing to Heidi’s desire to make the kitchen both fully functional and pleasing to the eye. When working at the deluxe Viking unit, Heidi doesn’t have to go far for pots and pans, either. The new island has three large base drawers built into it directly across from the range. She can literally turn around, take what she needs from the drawers, and go right back to work. We nearly doubled the cabinet space in the kitchen, offering many more storage and organizational options. The drawers are all soft-close, full-extension design. The doors are soft-close. The upper cabinet above the refrigerator has vertical tray dividers, easing the sometimes arduous task of sorting trays and cookie sheets. Heidi sought an antique look for her cabinetry. To achieve this, we utilized maple cabinets with a mink wash treatment and ancient bronze hardware. We ordered matching panels for the dishwasher and refrigerator doors, creating a seamless look with the cabinetry. We maintained visual interest by staggering the heights of the different cabinets. Upper cabinets feature double-stack crown moldings. Some cabinets have rain glass inserts to display decorative items within. Meanwhile, the entire area was brightened with a plethora of new lighting. Eight recessed lights in the 9-foot ceiling illuminate the counter space. Undercabinet lights brighten any food preparation work. In-cabinet lighting spotlights decorative items within glass-door cabinetry. Above-cabinet lights offer just the right ambiance to complete the scene. Above the island hang two distinctive, eye-catching chandeliers that definitely set off the kitchen’s mix of antiquity and artistry. Heidi simply would not be denied these fixtures, with their oil-rubbed bronze finish and Renaissance-era feel. “Everybody doubted me on them,” she said. “My kitchen’s not that big. I had to have these big, beautiful, glamorous lights. They make the room extra special.” The island itself took a bit of doing. Ultimately, we created a two-tier structure that provided invaluable food preparation and staging space, plus a dining area that allowed the owners to get rid of a kitchen table that had fallen out of favor. The 120-inch length of the island allows it to meet these dual needs. The island offers plenty of room for people to gather around during parties, with wide open spaces that offer guests ready access to food and drink. The increased seating space offers Heidi’s family a comfortable dining table, with more than enough room for plates and serving dishes. She bought accompanying chairs that blend with the island’s cherry base and the granite countertop’s multicolored brown hues. Two corbels built into posts on the island base give it a sturdy, dignified look. Heidi selected the white tumbled travertine subway field tile that makes up the backsplash ringing the main kitchen area. During its installation, she personally directed the placement of floral bronze metal accent pieces scattered into the backsplash. She helped create a six-tile decorative mural insert above the expansive range of her new Viking range. We put in a farmer’s sink with space galore for food, dishes or whatever Heidi desired. The structure and decorative feet of the sink, plus the mounted corbels above, create a furniture resemblance. “I just love my sink,” she said. “It’s big, it’s nice, and my family just loves it because they can help with the dishes and can easily reach into it.” Space wasn’t necessarily the final frontier in Heidi’s kitchen, but she definitely wanted more. We removed a wall from a pantry, transforming its small dark space into additional cabinets and counter area. Heidi keeps small appliances on the new counter and prepares her daughters’ lunches there. The rest of the former pantry was converted into a laundry area and new mudroom. By stacking the washer and dryer in the laundry area, space was freed up next to it to add new storage cabinets and a countertop for laundry sorting. On the other side of the mudroom, we opened and renovated a previous cramped closet for greater functionality and efficiency. By adding shelving and hanging hooks near the top, and storage drawers at the bottom, the variety and quantity of items it can accommodate was multiplied several times. This allowed the closet space to be narrowed by 18 inches, widening an adjacent hallway to the dining room. The top of the drawers doubles as a bench, further enhancing the area’s usability. The entire mudroom area can be closed off to the kitchen via a pocket door built into the reworked closet. The door has full-view etched glass, allowing light into the mudroom and visibility from the kitchen. The flooring in the kitchen and new mudroom – formerly engineered hardwood – was replaced with stonefire noce ceramic tile. Its color was chosen to blend in with the family room carpet, now a true neighbor after we took out a wall between the two rooms. The remainder of the living room wall was converted into two pillars that were custom-built on site and resemble the posts on the island. Removing the wall was a last-minute call by the owners. After living with the results for just a short time, Heidi called it “the best decision ever.” It’s not hard to see why – both the newly-remodeled kitchen and the family room seem larger, with a smarter and more efficient traffic flow. Accenting the freshly-opened space is a new sliding patio door whose color matches its casings. Its grid design matches those in nearby windows. The door casings bear the literal touch of the homeowners, who saved thousands of dollars by painting many parts of the project. Heidi personally painted the walls, window casings, base molding, shoe molding, pocket door and mudroom. She applied many coats of Venetian plaster to the stove range hood to create its soft, velvety look. We saved the homeowners at least $500 by researching the corbels used in the kitchen. After learning the steep price charged for corbels by the cabinet manufacturer, we found an online catalog that offered them for substantially less. Heidi gladly chose from the catalog, and this decorative touch was added at a great savings. In addition, we worked to keep the project within budget by providing Heidi with material allowances for the countertops, plumbing fixtures and all tiles. She had no problem working within these parameters – a win-win situation for all concerned. When all is said and done, the greatest achievement is hearing Heidi talk about the joy her new kitchen has brought her, and how it has benefited her family. “It’s exactly what I wanted,” she said, standing in front of the kitchen and spreading her arms wide to take in the expanse. “My vision is this right here.”

Andrew McKinney Photography Not every kitchen on houzz is enormous! Here's a 10' x 10' kitchen. It seems that painted white kitchens never go out of favor. While the cabinets, faucets and hardware lean toward a more traditional look, that look is tempered by the modern lines of grey glass tile and the chimney hood. And instead of carrara marble counter tops, the client opted for quartz for a similar look (Cambria's "Torquay").

Professionally Staged by Ambience at Home http://ambiance-athome.com/ Professionally Photographed by SpaceCrafting http://spacecrafting.com

This porch features stunning views of the lake and running trails. The furniture in the space is a mix of old and new, and designer furniture and custom made furniture. We used navy blue flooring material on the ceiling to add interest, color and texture. A new Waverton Cambria top sits on an antique Weiman lacquer table base. Mark Ehlen Photography.

Donovan Roberts Witmer
Inspiration for a timeless kitchen remodel in Philadelphia with glass-front cabinets, white cabinets, quartz countertops, stone tile backsplash and multicolored backsplash

Foley Fiore Architecture
Example of a classic kitchen design in Boston with recessed-panel cabinets, a farmhouse sink, wood countertops, beige cabinets and brown countertops

A new Tudor bay added to the front of an existing red brick home using new stone to integrate the base with the existing stone base. Fir windows and cedar trim are stained complementary colors. The darker window color draws out the dark "clinker" bricks. The roof is Certainteed Grand Manor asphalt shingles designed to appear as slate. The gutters and downspouts are copper. The paint of the stucco is Benjamin Moore Exterior low luster in color: “Briarwood”. Hoachlander Davis Photography

Master bath in a private home in Brooklyn New York, apartment designed by Eric Safyan, Architect, with Green Mountain Construction & Design
Example of a classic walk-in shower design in New York with a pedestal sink

A beautiful home was surrounded by an old and poorly laid out landscape before our firm was called in to evaluate ways to re-organize the spaces and pull the whole look together for the rich and refined tastes of this client. Today they are proud to entertain at poolside where there is now enough space to have over-flowing parties. A vine covered custom wood lattice arbor successfully hides the side of the garage while creating a stunning focal point at the shallow end of the pool. An intimate courtyard garden is just a step outside the Master Bedroom where the sounds of the central water fountain can be heard throughout the house and lush plantings, cobblestone paving and low iron rail accents transport you to New Orleans. The front yard and stone entry now truly reflect this home’s incredible interior and a charming rose garden, that was once an unused lawn area, leads to a secret garden.

This beautiful 2 story kitchen remodel was created by removing an unwanted bedroom. The increased ceiling height was conceived by adding some structural columns and a triple barrel arch, creating a usable balcony that connects to the original back stairwell and overlooks the Kitchen as well as the Greatroom. This dramatic renovation took place without disturbing the original 100yr. old stone exterior and maintaining the original french doors above the balcony.

Example of a mid-sized classic gray two-story stone gable roof design in Minneapolis

Townhouse renovation in Brooklyn: We redesigned the rear end of the house as an expanded family kitchen with a back door to the deck. We also added a new connection from the entrance hall to the kitchen and fit a small powder room under the stairs. The old windows and doors were replaced with new, larger ones, and the entire kitchen was gutted and refitted with new cabinetry and a banquette dining area. The space was designed to take advantage of the bright southern exposure, with lots of white materials, grounded by the dark base cabinets. Photos by Maletz Design

This 3 sided shower is not only very nice looking but it uses space very efficiently as well! The high end frameless wall gives a luxury look
Mid-sized transitional master doorless shower photo in Cleveland

The oversized concrete table top under the quatrefoil chandelier is supported by a hearty custom steel base. A Bonisolli Photography
Example of a large tuscan limestone floor kitchen/dining room combo design in Atlanta with beige walls and no fireplace

*The Dining room doors were custom designed by LDa and made by Blue Anchor Woodworks Inc in Marblehead, MA. The floors are constructed of a baked white oak surface-treated with an ebony analine dye. Chandelier: Restoration Hardware | Milos Chandelier Floor Lamp: Aqua Creations | Morning Glory Floor Lamp BASE TRIM Benjamin Moore White Z-235-01 Satin Impervo Alkyd low Luster Enamel DOOR TRIM Benjamin Moore White Z-235-01 Satin Impervo Alkyd low Luster Enamel WINDOW TRIM Benjamin Moore White Z-235-01 Satin Impervo Alkyd low Luster Enamel WALLS Benjamin Moore White Eggshell CEILING Benjamin Moore Ceiling White Flat Finish Credit: Sam Gray Photography