Model Worthy
The true test of a kitchen’s mettle is not how it looks brand-new, but how it looks after a decade of wear and tear from heaving cleavers and spilling sauce.
Though it may be unfairly maligned as a decade, the 1970s have a few things to answer for, such as kitchens that imprisoned their occupants in a dark hole of greasy cabinetry whilst family and guests cavorted out of sight.
When Nilus De Matran renovated this developer’s special overlooking San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district almost ten years ago for a couple who frequently entertain, he liberated the kitchen by knocking down walls and opening up the view across the newly created great room. When the peaked roof was flattened out, three new skylights let the sunshine in.
The kitchen that De Matran started with was cramped and completely outdated.
“I treated the kitchen, the fireplace wall, and the closet with dark walnut, so these big floating objects relate to one another across the space,” says De Matran, who recently designed a modern American kitchen system for Design Within Reach. White terrazzo flooring further unifies the room, standing up to the four resident pugs while melting into the Carrara marble–clad island. Cabinets on either side conceal pots and dishware.
Though the island was designed to be wide enough for group cooking and hanging out, it recently doubled as a catwalk during a shoe designer’s trunk show. “I’m happy to say there were no casualties,” reports De Matran, “neither the marble nor the models.”
Articles
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101: Kitchens
From IKEA-mania and back to the farm, we wonder if the perfect kitchen might be an oxymoron.
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101 Kitchen Design
No matter how cozy your living room or den, the kitchen is usually the heart of a home. Whether you use yours to reenact Iron Chef or simply to zap a TV dinner, you'll find helpful how-tos and…
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101 Product Design
We’re surrounded by legions of products, most of them unremittingly lousy. What separates the good from the bad from the ugly? Take out your well-designed pencils for Product Design 101.
Products
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Model L
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Henrybuilt Kitchen
Simple lines, rich materials, and elegant craftsmanship are the hallmarks of Seattle’s premier custom kitchen shop, Henrybuilt. Made with FSC-certified wood by the 20 craftspeople in the…
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Model 33 Flatware
The flat handle features an ever-so-slight dip that rests effortlessly in your dinner-time grasp. Five-tined forks and a generous, round bowl on the spoon show an admirable appreciation for…
Dwell Collections
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Kitchen Accessories for Foodies
Nothing says the holidays like the smell of tasty treats baking in the oven. Though there certainly can be too many cooks in the kitchen, there can never be too much cookware. So whether you're…
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A Look at Kitchen Renovations
A collection of some of our favorite kitchen renovations from our archives.
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The Intelligent Kitchen
Tips
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Stainless-Steel Kitchen Islands: Ideal for Small Kitchens
When the Stonorovs set out to design their 400-square-foot house in Oakland for themselves and their young toddler, the kitchen required particular attention. They found a kitchen…
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Inexpensive Art for Kitchen Splash
Paint (art of your choice) on the back of matte-finish plastic panels with Alkyd paint. Then roller the whole back to fill any clear background left (again with Alkyd paint). Take color samples…
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What Lies Beneath...the Cabinets
We needed a cheap way to update our 1970s kitchen cabinets, so we turned the cabinets inside-out to use the simple frame of the interior instead of the elaborate curvy countryish look of the…
Videos
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The Model Architect: Bart Prince
In our newest video series, The Model Architect, we explore the design process through the art of model-making. We begin in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the studio and residence of Bart Prince, a…
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The Intelligent Kitchen: Francine Besselaar
A Manhattan transplant, architect Francine Besselaar and her partner Canan Akyuz, built her Princeton, New Jersey, home to showcase open, airy spaces and a kitchen that fosters conversation.
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The Intelligent Kitchen: Jeffrey Beers
Architect, homeowner, and culinary guru Jeffery Beers shares his personal tenets on kitchen design, and why it’s important for the most social room in house to know its chef.
Events
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Bauhaus Model Exhibition
For the first time, the three German Bauhaus institutions are uniting to present a comprehensive exhibition about the Bauhaus, the influential school for art, design and architecture of the 20th…
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Zephyr Inspire My Kitchen Design Contest
Zephyr is hosting the Inspire My Kitchen Design Contest (IMKDC), open to homeowners, architects and designers, and remodelers. Entries must show a Zephyr range hood in a new-construction or…
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Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen
Counter Space explores the twentieth-century transformation of the kitchen and highlights MoMA’s recent acquisition of an unusually complete example of the iconic “Frankfurt…
Table of Contents
- 101 Kitchen Design
- An Introduction to Kitchen Design
- Open Kitchen
- Model Worthy
- Lunch Boxes
- Daniel Patterson on Kitchens of the Future
- Johnny Grey on Kitchens of the Future
- Cardenio Petrucci on Kitchens of the Future
- Christine Rosen on Kitchens of the Future
- Antonio Citterio on Kitchens of the Future
- Scott Hudson on Kitchens of the Future
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Related Products
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Model L
The one thing that this one does that the others…
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Henrybuilt Kitchen
Simple lines, rich materials, and elegant…
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Model 33 Flatware
The flat handle features an ever-so-slight dip…
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Dwell
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Jay-Z on the importance of weighty flatware: http://t.co/ynVmXIRs #interiordesign #forksneedtobeheavy
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Old-school #transportation http://t.co/0uXuKbK5
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A bit out of date, but spotted in Stockholm none the less! #travel http://t.co/3UTJ3N13
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Our overage of the Stockholm Design Week continues with a look at a few especially haute seats: http://t.co/AI8RmEdw #furnituredesign
The dark wood on the drawers and area framing the stove creates a great contrast against the light marble. Really nice, clean, coordinated space!
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