This kitchen while modern and updated still has rustic elements (bar for example). Pendants provide a great lighting for the countertop, whille making a bold architectural statement in the kitchen. We love the modern but classic red cabinets. While this cabin is small in square footage. The dining/kitchen/family room open up to each other. The windows help to flood in natural lighting, while providing beautiful views to the majestic mountains just right outside. Photographer: Jason Dewey

Modern pergola on Chicago rooftop deck. Minimal materials used and clean lines define the space and pergola. Lounge seating under retractable mesh shade panels on a track system. Roof deck materials are composite and built on frame system. Contemporary rooftop deck. Bradley Foto, Chris Bradley

This country kitchen is accented with detailed tiles, brass light fixtures and a large butcher block. Greg Premru Photography
Example of a mid-sized cottage u-shaped dark wood floor and brown floor kitchen design in Boston with a drop-in sink, shaker cabinets, white cabinets, white backsplash, subway tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances, an island and tile countertops

Photo Credit: Mary Prince
Trendy kitchen photo in Boston

A large open-plan kitchen is given a clean, modern look with the abundance of white and pale yellows. We used a new green material for the countertops, which is a man-made porcelain slab, which adds a smooth and seamless design to the large space. Complementing the countertops are the sleek white cabinets, white globe pendant lights, and a pale yellow accent wall, which keeps the room light and cheery while adding a touch of color. We added a pop-up outlet in the countertop, which plugs into a hidden GFCI, allowing for outlets to be readily available and indecipherable on the countertop. An assisted pop-up shelf has also been installed, providing the perfect space for a toaster, coffee machine, and other small machinery that may take up wanted counter space. And lastly, for additional storage, we designed the top row shelves to be open and continuous (not sectioned off), creating space for larger items that the homeowners want to store. Home located in Chicago's North Side. Designed by Chi Renovations & Design who serve Chicago and it's surrounding suburbs, with an emphasis on the North Side and North Shore. You'll find their work from the Loop through Humboldt Park, Lincoln Park, Skokie, Evanston, Wilmette, and all of the way up to Lake Forest.

Using the home’s Victorian architecture and existing mill-work as inspiration we remodeled an antique home to its vintage roots. First focus was to restore the kitchen, but an addition seemed to be in order as the homeowners wanted a cheery breakfast room. The Client dreamt of a built-in buffet to house their many collections and a wet bar for casual entertaining. Using Pavilion Raised inset doorstyle cabinetry, we provided a hutch with plenty of storage, mullioned glass doors for displaying antique glassware and period details such as chamfers, wainscot panels and valances. To the right we accommodated a wet bar complete with two under-counter refrigerator units, a vessel sink, and reclaimed wood shelves. The rustic hand painted dining table with its colorful mix of chairs, the owner’s collection of colorful accessories and whimsical light fixtures, plus a bay window seat complete the room. The mullioned glass door display cabinets have a specialty cottage red beadboard interior to tie in with the red furniture accents. The backsplash features a framed panel with Wood-Mode’s scalloped inserts at the buffet (sized to compliment the cabinetry above) and tin tiles at the bar. The hutch’s light valance features a curved corner detail and edge bead integrated right into the cabinets’ bottom rail. Also note the decorative integrated panels on the under-counter refrigerator drawers. Also, the client wanted to have a small TV somewhere, so we placed it in the center of the hutch, behind doors. The inset hinges allow the doors to swing fully open when the TV is on; the rest of the time no one would know it was there.

Example of a 1960s u-shaped open concept kitchen design in Seattle with an undermount sink, flat-panel cabinets, medium tone wood cabinets, white backsplash, subway tile backsplash and stainless steel appliances

Huge re-model including taking ceiling from a flat ceiling to a complete transformation. Bamboo custom cabinetry was given a grey stain, mixed with walnut strip on the bar and the island given a different stain. Huge amounts of storage from deep pan corner drawers, roll out trash, coffee station, built in refrigerator, wine and alcohol storage, appliance garage, pantry and appliance storage, the amounts go on and on. Floating shelves with a back that just grabs the eye takes this kitchen to another level. The clients are thrilled with this huge difference from their original space.

Huge re-model including taking ceiling from a flat ceiling to a complete transformation. Bamboo custom cabinetry was given a grey stain, mixed with walnut strip on the bar and the island given a different stain. Huge amounts of storage from deep pan corner drawers, roll out trash, coffee station, built in refrigerator, wine and alcohol storage, appliance garage, pantry and appliance storage, the amounts go on and on. Floating shelves with a back that just grabs the eye takes this kitchen to another level. The clients are thrilled with this huge difference from their original space.

A truly contemporary kitchen that stays true to the integrity of the ranch style home, with both sleek and natural elements. Dark brown Quarter-Sawn oak cabinets were used on the perimeter and the island, while wired gloss cabinets were used for the walls and tall cabinets. A large island houses a microwave drawer, dishwasher drawers and peg boards in deep drawers for plate organization. A breakfast bar with waterfall edges in Neolith material adds a striking focal point to the large space. Refrigerator panels cover the doors of the Sub Zero refrigerator and freezer to fully integrate the panels into the design. Learn more about different materials and wood species on our website! http://www.gkandb.com/wood-species/ DESIGNER: JANIS MANACSA PHOTOGRAPHY: TREVE JOHNSON CABINETS: DURA SUPREME CABINETRY COUNTERTOP ISLAND: CAMBRIA BELLINGHAM COUNTERTOP BREAKFAST BAR: NEOLITH IRON ORE COUNTERTOP PERIMETER: CAESARSTONE OCEAN FOAM

Ask a kitchen designer in Chicago which countertop question comes up most and you will hear the same answer: white or off-white quartz, and which shade. Homeowners walk into showrooms with a photo saved on their phone, usually a bright, veined slab from a magazine spread, and leave an hour later realizing there are a dozen versions of that same look. The confusion is not about taste. It is about the fact that "white quartz" covers a huge range of patterns, undertones, and price points, and nobody explains the differences before the sale. Older bungalows and newer builds alike are getting stripped of their dated laminate and butcher block in favor of quartz, and the reasons are practical rather than trendy. Quartz does not need sealing, resists the kind of staining that granite can suffer over decades, and holds up to the freeze-thaw humidity swings that Chicago basements and kitchens go through every year. Once a homeowner commits to quartz, though, the real decision starts: which white, and does the pattern justify the difference in cost. This piece walks through three specific slabs that keep showing up in Chicago renovation projects, why designers reach for them in different rooms, and what actually separates a flat white surface from one with real depth. None of this requires a design background to follow. It is mostly about paying attention to how a slab behaves under kitchen lighting, how busy the vending gets, and how it photographs versus how it looks in person. Why White Quartz Took Over Chicago Kitchens Ten years ago, granite dominated Chicago kitchen remodels almost by default. It was durable, it looked expensive, and every fabricator in the metro area carried a wide range of colors. Quartz has since taken over that position, and the shift happened faster than most contractors expected. Engineered stone gave homeowners a more predictable surface, since natural granite varies slab to slab while quartz is manufactured to a consistent pattern batch after batch. The other driver is light. Chicago winters are long and gray, and a lot of kitchens, especially in older two-flats and courtyard buildings, do not get much direct sun. A dark granite countertop in a dim kitchen can make the whole room feel smaller. White and light-toned quartz reflects what little natural light comes through the windows, and it makes a galley kitchen or a north-facing space feel noticeably brighter without touching the cabinetry or the layout. There is also a resale argument that local real estate agents bring up constantly. White quartz photographs well for listings, reads as updated and low-maintenance to buyers touring in person, and does not compete visually with whatever cabinet color the next owner might prefer. It is a safer bet than a bold veined marble look or a colored quartz that might feel dated in five years. Arctic White and the Cost Question Among the flatter, more uniform whites, arctic white quartz price comes up constantly in budget conversations because the slab sits at a more approachable point than the heavily veined Italian-marble-inspired patterns. It reads as clean and bright without the busy movement that some homeowners find overwhelming in a small kitchen. Fabricators in the Chicago area tend to keep it in stock precisely because demand stays steady across both new construction and remodel projects. Part of what keeps this slab affordable relative to its heavily patterned cousins comes down to manufacturing complexity. A quartz surface with minimal veining and a consistent white base is simpler to produce at scale than one that mimics the irregular, high-contrast movement of natural Calacatta marble. That production difference shows up directly in what a homeowner pays per square foot, and it is worth asking a fabricator to walk through that pricing before assuming every white quartz costs the same. Homeowners planning a full kitchen, including an island, backsplash, and perimeter counters, often use a flatter white like this specifically because it lets other elements carry the visual interest. A patterned tile backsplash or a bold cabinet color reads more clearly against a calm countertop than against one already fighting for attention with heavy veining. Designers frequently pair simpler whites with statement lighting fixtures for exactly this reason. What Makes Calacatta Patterns Different Calacatta refers to a family of marble originally quarried in Italy, known for a bright white background broken up by bold, often gold-toned veining that moves in thick, dramatic streaks rather than thin gray lines. Natural Calacatta marble is soft, porous, and expensive to maintain, which is exactly why quartz manufacturers spent years developing engineered versions that replicate the look without the upkeep headaches. The challenge with any Calacatta-style quartz is getting the veining to look organic instead of printed. Early generations of engineered stone struggled with repetitive patterns that gave away the fact the slab was manufactured rather than cut from actual marble. Modern digital printing and layering techniques have closed that gap considerably, and the better Calacatta-inspired quartz lines now vary the veining across each slab batch so two counters in the same kitchen do not look identical. Chicago designers gravitate toward Calacatta patterns for kitchens that function as the visual centerpiece of an open floor plan, which describes a large share of the gut renovations happening in neighborhoods like Lincoln Park, Roscoe Village, and the North Shore suburbs. When the kitchen island is visible from the living room and dining area, a dramatic veined surface becomes part of the home's overall design language rather than a purely functional work surface. Calacatta Arno Under Kitchen Lighting One of the more popular options in this category, calacatta arno quartz, balances a warm white base with soft gray and gold veining that avoids looking too stark under the cooler LED lighting common in newer Chicago builds. Homeowners touring showrooms sometimes make the mistake of judging a slab entirely under warm incandescent lighting, then get surprised when the same surface looks slightly different once installed under their kitchen's actual fixtures. What separates this particular pattern from flatter competitors is how the veining clusters rather than spreading evenly across the slab. That clustering mimics the way real quarried marble forms, with denser mineral deposits in some sections and cleaner stretches in others. Fabricators cutting a large island slab from a single piece will often orient the pattern intentionally so the busiest veining lands somewhere visually interesting rather than getting cut off at an edge. Because the background reads warmer than a stark white, this pattern tends to pair well with brass or matte gold hardware, a combination that has been showing up repeatedly in Chicago kitchen remodels over the past few renovation seasons. Cabinet painters report a similar trend, with more clients requesting warm white or greige cabinet colors specifically because they complement this kind of veined quartz better than a cooler, blue-toned white would. Silestone's Version of the Calacatta Look Manufacturers compete directly in this Calacatta-inspired category, and silestone eternal calacatta gold represents one brand's specific take on the pattern, distinguished by richer gold veining set against a brighter white base than some competing slabs in the same family. Silestone has built a reputation around anti-bacterial surface treatments in addition to the standard quartz durability, a detail some homeowners specifically ask about for kitchens used heavily by families with young children. The veining in this particular slab tends to run in longer, more continuous lines compared to the clustered pattern found in some other Calacatta-style options, which gives large island surfaces a sense of visual flow from one end to the other. Fabricators working with bigger islands, the kind increasingly common in open-concept Chicago remodels, often favor patterns like this because there is less need to worry about seams interrupting a busy, disconnected pattern. Price positioning for this slab tends to sit toward the upper end of the engineered quartz category, reflecting both the brand's manufacturing process and the complexity of replicating that continuous gold veining consistently across production batches. Homeowners weighing this option against other Calacatta-style quartz should ask their fabricator directly about batch availability, since premium patterns sometimes have longer lead times than standard stock colors. Living With Quartz Day to Day Beyond how a slab looks in a showroom or a listing photo, the daily experience of owning quartz countertops matters more once the renovation dust settles. Quartz resists scratching far better than laminate and holds up to the acidic spills, hot pans, and general abuse of an active kitchen without the sealing maintenance that natural stone requires every year or two. That low-maintenance reputation is a large part of why quartz overtook granite in the first place. Heat resistance is a detail that gets less attention than it should. While quartz handles moderate heat well, manufacturers generally recommend using a trivet or pad for very hot pots straight off the stove, since sudden temperature shock can occasionally cause stress marks in the resin binder that holds the engineered stone together. This is a minor precaution rather than a major limitation, but it is worth mentioning to anyone assuming quartz is entirely indestructible. Cleaning routines stay simple across almost every pattern in this category. A damp cloth and mild soap handle daily messes, and the nonporous surface means wine, coffee, and tomato-based sauces do not soak in the way they can with unsealed granite or marble. Homeowners moving from an older stone counter often mention how much less they worry about everyday spills once quartz is installed, which is a quality-of-life change that rarely makes it into the initial design conversation. Choosing Between the Three There is no single correct answer among these three slabs, and that is exactly why they keep coming up together in the same design conversations across Chicago renovation projects. A flatter white with minimal veining suits kitchens where other elements need to carry the visual interest, while a bolder Calacatta-inspired pattern makes sense when the countertop itself is meant to be the centerpiece of an open floor plan. Budget matters too, and it is worth having a direct conversation with a fabricator about where each option lands before falling in love with a specific slab in a showroom. Lighting, cabinet color, and how the kitchen connects to the rest of the home all play into which pattern will actually look right once installation is finished rather than just in a photo. Whatever direction a homeowner leans, seeing a full slab in person under actual kitchen lighting remains the single most useful step before signing off. Photos only go so far once the countertop is sitting in the room it will live in for years.

Paul Dyer Photography
Inspiration for a transitional galley dark wood floor open concept kitchen remodel in San Francisco with an undermount sink, shaker cabinets, white cabinets, white backsplash, subway tile backsplash and an island

Design by Joanna Hartman Photography by Ryann Ford Styling by Adam Fortner The kitchen features 3cm Bianco Carrara Marble counters, hardware salvaged from original kitchen, a mixture of new and old oak flooring, Rittenhouse 3x6 white gloss tile for the backsplash, Benjamin Moore "Simply White" paint on the ceiling, "Revere Pewter" on the walls by the same, and a clear Shades of Light Teardrop Seeded Pendant above the island.

The original kitchen was dark, dingy and dated! With the criteria given, we transformed this space into a bright uplifting and family friendly space. We retained the original kitchen footprint and kept plumbing and electrical in the same locations for budgetary considerations. The kitchen was redesigned with entertaining in mind. From custom two-toned cabinetry to sophisticated banquette seating, we re-imagined a bright space with a new personality reaping the benefits of the influx of natural light from the double height windows in the adjacent great room. From the calcutta marble tile backsplash, caesarstone counter tops and porcelain tile floors, this updated kitchen provided my clients with their dream kitchen …a bright white entertainers delight. Photo Credit: Bethany Nauert

Designed by Krista Watterworth Alterman of Krista Watterworth Design Studio in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Photos by Jessica Glynn. In the Evergrene gated community. A mix of rustic and contemporary materials makes this Florida kitchen and family room warm and inviting.

In this project Lazar has created another of his hyper-livable top floors—half indoors, half outdoors—that could arguably be the beating heart of the home. A sunny gathering space and gourmet kitchen are gathered under an elevated ceiling. Lined with windows and stocked with gleaming counters, the big room opens onto an equally spacious ocean-view deck that could morph either way: as everyday living space or party central. Thoughtfully designed by Steve Lazar design+build by South Swell. designbuildbysouthswell.com Photography by Laura Hull

Removing a wall between the kitchen and living room brings light and usability to a once closed off, secluded kitchen. Mealtimes become a favorite family time now with a large island with seating for four. The homeowners wanted a more modern feel with a classic touch, and this was achieved with classic white cabinetry topped with leathered granite on the surround and a showstopping Quartz for the island that is a work of art. Playing on textures and finishes, the beveled marble backsplash draws the eyes to the focal point of the room, the mantle style vent hood. Keeping symmetry the star, two Circa Lighting pendants command attention. Not letting style get all the attention, this kitchen lacks no modern conveniences such as a water dispensing station, beverage center, and top of the line appliances. This stunning new kitchen breathes new life to this beautiful home and will grow with this sweet young family.

This 5687 sf home was a major renovation including significant modifications to exterior and interior structural components, walls and foundations. Included were the addition of several multi slide exterior doors, windows, new patio cover structure with master deck, climate controlled wine room, master bath steam shower, 4 new gas fireplace appliances and the center piece- a cantilever structural steel staircase with custom wood handrail and treads. A complete demo down to drywall of all areas was performed excluding only the secondary baths, game room and laundry room where only the existing cabinets were kept and refinished. Some of the interior structural and partition walls were removed. All flooring, counter tops, shower walls, shower pans and tubs were removed and replaced. New cabinets in kitchen and main bar by Mid Continent. All other cabinetry was custom fabricated and some existing cabinets refinished. Counter tops consist of Quartz, granite and marble. Flooring is porcelain tile and marble throughout. Wall surfaces are porcelain tile, natural stacked stone and custom wood throughout. All drywall surfaces are floated to smooth wall finish. Many electrical upgrades including LED recessed can lighting, LED strip lighting under cabinets and ceiling tray lighting throughout. The front and rear yard was completely re landscaped including 2 gas fire features in the rear and a built in BBQ. The pool tile and plaster was refinished including all new concrete decking.

Example of a large trendy galley light wood floor eat-in kitchen design in Calgary with white cabinets, quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances, a double-bowl sink, recessed-panel cabinets, white backsplash, subway tile backsplash and an island