Cocina (Kitchen)

The kitchen features a checkerboard cement-tile floor, green countertops, and integrated appliances.

The kitchen features a marigold yellow zellige tile-clad island, the color of which was inspired by yellow desert flowers spotted during a rammed earth workshop in Arizona. The bar chairs are vintage Jeanneret.

New custom stair runners can be found throughout the residence.

The kitchen cabinets are from Ikea, with fronts made by Friso. They are painted green with linseed oil paint.

After: The Kitchen

After: The Kitchen

The new entrance was moved toward the south of the house to create a larger kitchen and bathroom and place all of the private spaces toward the south. Zander came up with the idea to place a litter box and fan within the custom cherry millwork. A T.M. Cobb front door and Zia terrazzo tile in Alexander surround it.

The homeowners agreed to include a floating staircase—suspended from structural steel to avoid tree roots—which allows visitors to access the second-floor terrace and bedroom from the courtyard.

Niki and Gustavo splurged on more permanent finishes and budgeted on items, like faucets and shelves, that could be easily upgraded over time.

"We like quartzite because it has the movement of marble but is more resilient,

The backsplash is covered in G120 Lemon Ice tile by Heath Ceramics.

Nicole Boone stands in the kitchen of her renovated ranch house in the View Park section of Los Angeles. A finance executive with an eye for art and design, Nicole enlisted the help of Max Kuo and Danielle Wagner of architectural studio AllThatIsSolid to open up the home’s 1920s layout and bring her love of art, color, and nature to the 1,563-square-foot space. Like many ranches in the hilly neighborhood, the house steps gently down the street, creating three interior levels.

For the sake of affordability and durability, the architect employed vinyl flooring for $5,980 throughout the ADU. In the open-plan kitchen/dining/living area, a vaulted ceiling lends a feeling of luxury and spaciousness.

In the open-plan kitchen, Knight combined green Ikea cabinets with an affordable leathered granite, along with Samsung appliances and Lumens sconces. “Having ample space for day-to-day activities was important, but so was having space that flows,” he says.

A Bosch stove is now where the sink used to be. The fixtures are by Hansgrohe, rift-sawn red oak cabinetry by GLN, and countertops by Caesarstone.