A frame house ideas

An expansive, 12-foot Marvin Ultimate sliding door connects the dining room to the screened porch.

In the kitchen, blue cabinets add another captivating burst of color.

Interlocking light and dark hardwood flooring fit right in with the vintage aesthetic of this small flat in Katowice, Poland.

In the living room and kitchen, soft-but-tough Expanko cork flooring provides comfort and stands up to dings and scuffs. While the kitchen was designed primarily with Surendra and a caregiver’s needs in mind, it also accommodates the five-foot-radius of a wheelchair.

Elevation of kitchen cabinetry

The home’s kitchen features dual Miele ovens, Thermador refrigerator and freezer, and Thermador induction cooktop. A feature wall clad in natural Carrara marble sits behind sliding cabinet uppers. Paola Lenti Heron counter stools in ‘verde scuro,’ coordinate with custom cabinet fronts, accented with Spinneybeck leather pulls.

To keep vases, dishes, and small appliances handy but off the countertop, architect Tamira Sawatzky designed two niches within a wall of deep cabinets. Inset outlets supply power; butcher blocks lines all sides; and Plexiglas doors provide hits of bright orange. Plastic World, a local dealer, custom-cut the Plexiglas for the storage cubby which sits beneath a photo by artist Chris Curreri.

To complement the white-washed custom cabinetry in her kitchen, architect Julie Salles Schaffer has designed a tile backsplash to resemble "melting butter in a white pan." Daltile arranged her two-color AutoCAD design—white and off-white—onto a mesh backing for a small fee. To soften the edges of the cabinets’ drawers and doors, Schaffer requested radial edging.

The backsplash is made from the same green kit kat tiles that clad the island. The worktops are Silestone, a solid surface by Cosentino, and cost $X,XXXX. To save on overhead and profit costs—which are usually calculated by the contractor at 10% to 15%—the clients purchased tapware, kitchen appliances, and lighting themselves. The pendants in the kitchen are Muuto Rime Pendants, which retail for $XXXX for the small and $XXXX for the medium.

The den is now outfitted with custom storage for Joel’s vinyl collection. Also, this creates an area for the couple’s television out of the main living space.

Solk Architecture turned this tiny Brooklyn kitchen into a home cook’s dream, complete with an herb garden, a custom island, and cabinetry galore.

The home’s basement sits higher on the ground, which allowed the team to incorporate above-grade Marvin Elevate windows. “It gives us more light so that the basement doesn't feel like it's a subterranean space,” says builder Tom Kenny. The ground-level windows are designed to withstand the rain, snow, and ice that will pound their surface in the harsh Chicago climate. Aesthetically, the sleek profile complements the Marvin Ultimate windows elsewhere in the home. “It matches the design seamlessly,” says DeBaker. “Nobody knows that it's a different window.”

“I knew that I wanted to amp up the design within the room, because it is very open to the kitchen,” Carly says of the home’s pantry, which also doubles as a bar. “There's a built-in desk within the pantry, which you don't see very often, but it's a really great place for my boys to do their arts and crafts or their homework.”

Both eye-catching and functional, the large servery window is the home’s standout design feature. The space becomes the perfect indoor/outdoor oasis with mature trees around the property providing shade and a screened-in porch that lets air in—but keeps bugs out.

The home’s entrance features a grand vaulted foyer space with a cantilevered staircase up to the second floor. “We worked with Marvin Ultimate series to create the stair tower so we could stack windows together, and really create this kind of feeling of a wall of glass,” says DeBaker.

Taking full advantage of sweeping views of Puget Sound, Hillside Sanctuary by Hoedemaker Pfieffer is sited on a small plateau high atop a steeply sloping hillside. Winter light penetrates deep into the living spaces through a wall of glass that runs continuously across the building’s south elevation.

The material palette of Suns End Retreat includes Douglas fir that wraps the floors, walls, and ceiling. Wheeler Kearns Architects say the home's “calm, natural earth tones read quietly in concert with the natural surroundings.”