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.

This all-white kitchen is freshened up with light lime green cabinet interiors, colorful pendant lighting and vibrant floral roman shades. The window treatment fabric matches the drapery fabric in the adjoining family room helping to connect the two spaces. The wood butcher block island adds a sense of warmth to the overall space. Photography: Vivian Johnson

The perfect amount of space to get the laundry done! We love the color of the cabinets with the reclaimed wood (tractor trailer floor) counter tops...and again, that floor just brings everything together!

Kimberly Gavin
Inspiration for a farmhouse u-shaped dark wood floor enclosed kitchen remodel in Denver with a farmhouse sink, granite countertops, white backsplash, subway tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances, a peninsula, white cabinets and shaker cabinets

Example of a mid-sized transitional single-wall medium tone wood floor and brown floor eat-in kitchen design in Columbus with an undermount sink, recessed-panel cabinets, gray cabinets, quartz countertops, white backsplash, ceramic backsplash, stainless steel appliances and white countertops

The original house was demolished to make way for a two-story house on the sloping lot, with an accessory dwelling unit below. The upper level of the house, at street level, has three bedrooms, a kitchen and living room. The “great room” opens onto an ocean-view deck through two large pocket doors. The master bedroom can look through the living room to the same view. The owners, acting as their own interior designers, incorporated lots of color with wallpaper accent walls in each bedroom, and brilliant tiles in the bathrooms, kitchen, and at the fireplace tiles in the bathrooms, kitchen, and at the fireplace. Architect: Thompson Naylor Architects Photographs: Jim Bartsch Photographer

This Mediterranean-inspired kitchen blends warm wood cabinetry, natural stone accents, and hand-crafted architectural details to create a space rich in texture and Old-World charm. The custom cabinets feature deep, luxurious stain tones that pair beautifully with the stone hood surround and arched cooking niche—signature elements often found in high-end Mediterranean kitchen design. Wide-plank flooring and softly curved ceiling lines add warmth and authenticity, making the kitchen feel inviting and timeless. A large center island anchors the layout, offering both prep space and comfortable seating for casual dining. Decorative corbels, carved posts, and wrought-iron touches elevate the handcrafted aesthetic while modern appliances blend seamlessly into the design. This luxury Mediterranean kitchen remodel balances elegance and functionality, giving homeowners a warm, character-filled space perfect for entertaining, cooking, and gathering. Text us at (484) 278-1764 or Call us (215) 482-0700 to get more info about Design, Design-Build and other ways we can help you make your dream a reality!

Brantley Photography
Kitchen - transitional ceramic tile kitchen idea in Miami with an undermount sink, recessed-panel cabinets, white cabinets, granite countertops, beige backsplash, matchstick tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances and an island

Trendy u-shaped light wood floor kitchen photo in Denver with flat-panel cabinets, white cabinets, multicolored backsplash, stainless steel appliances and an island

Light gray walls with a slate blue accent wall is punched up with this colorful patterned stair runner. Photo by Cinematic Homes
Example of a mid-sized transitional painted l-shaped staircase design in Columbus with painted risers

Whit Preston
Example of a mid-sized trendy l-shaped light wood floor open concept kitchen design in Austin with an undermount sink, flat-panel cabinets, gray cabinets, soapstone countertops, blue backsplash, matchstick tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances, an island and gray countertops

Elegant l-shaped medium tone wood floor eat-in kitchen photo in Philadelphia with an undermount sink, raised-panel cabinets, white cabinets, white backsplash, stainless steel appliances and an island

2019 Addition/Remodel by Steven Allen Designs, LLC - Featuring Clean Subtle lines + 42" Front Door + 48" Italian Tiles + Quartz Countertops + Custom Shaker Cabinets + Oak Slat Wall and Trim Accents + Design Fixtures + Artistic Tiles + Wild Wallpaper + Top of Line Appliances

Our clients came to us wanting to update and open up their kitchen, breakfast nook, wet bar, and den. They wanted a cleaner look without clutter but didn’t want to go with an all-white kitchen, fearing it’s too trendy. Their kitchen was not utilized well and was not aesthetically appealing; it was very ornate and dark. The cooktop was too far back in the kitchen towards the butler’s pantry, making it awkward when cooking, so they knew they wanted that moved. The rest was left up to our designer to overcome these obstacles and give them their dream kitchen. We gutted the kitchen cabinets, including the built-in china cabinet and all finishes. The pony wall that once separated the kitchen from the den (and also housed the sink, dishwasher, and ice maker) was removed, and those appliances were relocated to the new large island, which had a ton of storage and a 15” overhang for bar seating. Beautiful aged brass Quebec 6-light pendants were hung above the island. All cabinets were replaced and drawers were designed to maximize storage. The Eclipse “Greensboro” cabinetry was painted gray with satin brass Emtek Mod Hex “Urban Modern” pulls. A large banquet seating area was added where the stand-alone kitchen table once sat. The main wall was covered with 20x20 white Golwoo tile. The backsplash in the kitchen and the banquette accent tile was a contemporary coordinating Tempesta Neve polished Wheaton mosaic marble. In the wet bar, they wanted to completely gut and replace everything! The overhang was useless and it was closed off with a large bar that they wanted to be opened up, so we leveled out the ceilings and filled in the original doorway into the bar in order for the flow into the kitchen and living room more natural. We gutted all cabinets, plumbing, appliances, light fixtures, and the pass-through pony wall. A beautiful backsplash was installed using Nova Hex Graphite ceramic mosaic 5x5 tile. A 15” overhang was added at the counter for bar seating. In the den, they hated the brick fireplace and wanted a less rustic look. The original mantel was very bulky and dark, whereas they preferred a more rectangular firebox opening, if possible. We removed the fireplace and surrounding hearth, brick, and trim, as well as the built-in cabinets. The new fireplace was flush with the wall and surrounded with Tempesta Neve Polished Marble 8x20 installed in a Herringbone pattern. The TV was hung above the fireplace and floating shelves were added to the surrounding walls for photographs and artwork. They wanted to completely gut and replace everything in the powder bath, so we started by adding blocking in the wall for the new floating cabinet and a white vessel sink. Black Boardwalk Charcoal Hex Porcelain mosaic 2x2 tile was used on the bathroom floor; coordinating with a contemporary “Cleopatra Silver Amalfi” black glass 2x4 mosaic wall tile. Two Schoolhouse Electric “Isaac” short arm brass sconces were added above the aged brass metal framed hexagon mirror. The countertops used in here, as well as the kitchen and bar, were Elements quartz “White Lightning.” We refinished all existing wood floors downstairs with hand scraped with the grain. Our clients absolutely love their new space with its ease of organization and functionality.

Repainting builder grade oak cabinets.
Inspiration for a timeless kitchen remodel in DC Metro

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

Cati Teague Photography
Inspiration for a mid-sized eclectic built-in desk medium tone wood floor and brown floor study room remodel in Atlanta with blue walls

Example of a large transitional u-shaped medium tone wood floor and brown floor eat-in kitchen design in Salt Lake City with white backsplash, stainless steel appliances, an undermount sink, shaker cabinets, white cabinets, quartz countertops and an island

Ground Up - New Construction Design. From all details on the exterior, including doors, windows, siding, lighting, the house numbers, and mailbox; to all interior finishes including tile, stone, paints, cabinet design, and much more. We added fun color elements using paint and tile to modernise the farmhouse feel of this family home. The home also features beautiful wood and gold/brass elements to contrast matte black finishes and bring in earth elements.