An Arctic White Kitchen Renovation in Connecticut

When New York City architect Julie Salles Schaffer started designing a house in Connecticut for her family—her husband, Robert, and their two teenage daughters—she planned it around a central hub: the kitchen. "It’s pretty unusual for the way you design a house," Schaffer explains, "since most kitchens are tucked in the back. But I’m the one who does the cooking, and I wanted that room to be the knuckle of the layout." Reinforcing the notion of the kitchen as a focal point is its unusual aesthetic—arctic white accented by exposed wood grain and rounded details.