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Shoes Off The McDonalds wanted a comfortable place for people to remove their shoes, so the architects built a niche for a bench. The McDonalds hired local case-goods maker James Dean to craft a floating flitch-cut slab of black walnut—what Bardt calls “the affordable Nakashima moment.”

White tile and black fixtures form a striking contrast in another bath.

This bathroom, tiled in bright blue mosaic to offset the home’s limited materials and color palette, calls for a simple vanity. The sinks, toilets, and tubs are by Villeroy & Boch, while the faucets and towel rails are by Grohe and Avenir, respectively.

A Carrara marble backsplash adds cool contrast and a sense of drama when set against the custom oiled-steel black cabinetry in the renovation of the kitchen in this A. Quincy Jones home in Los Angeles.

In this kitchen with matte black cabinets, elegant Perini Monroe ceramic tiles line the kitchen backsplash.

A translucent glass backsplash in the kitchen lets light into the bedroom.

The owners of this home selected a geometric-patterned glass tile backsplash by Island Stone. The glass tile keeps the space bright, and the pattern adds interest.

“One large room is overrated, and a bedroom opening off a great room doesn’t work well if someone sleeps in or goes to bed early,” Jones says. “So there are halls, which I think need to make a comeback.” Quartz countertops and Douglas fir cabinets surround the kitchen sink and faucet by BLANCO Canada.

Top designers give their advice about how to choose a stylish, functional faucet and what it will cost. Hint: it’s more than you may think.

Reilly slotted a utility room behind the kitchen to house the oven, an extra fridge, pantry cabinets, and the laundry. A Navajo rug that Reilly found at a local yard sale adds a touch of color. The countertop and backsplash are stainless steel. She found the counter stools at a local thrift shop. “I scour every secondhand shop and go to ever yard sale in the Hamptons,” she says. “Each piece is the result of weeks of searching.”

Emilie Bédard and Maria Rosa Di Ioia of EM Architecture gave Erik Rydingsvärd’s top-floor apartment in a Montreal triplex a subdued, modern look that evokes his native Denmark. The range hood and satin-finished teak cabinets are by Kastella. The floors are Douglas fir and the walls are spruce, painted white.

"Shane enjoys both cooking and entertaining so we maximized the counter space to make meal prep and hosting easy," Priftaj says. "It was also very important that the kitchen include a gas grill so he could quickly and conveniently grill without having to climb up five flights of stairs to use the bbq on the patio." Priftaj selected high-gloss acrylic white cabinets from bulthaup's b3 line with an aluminum backsplash and b3 prism drawer system to keep things tidy. A Wolf hood and gas cooktop with chargrill give Carslake the flexibility he desired for indoor grilling. The counters are polished white quartz.

The orange-painted MDF cabinets add a pop of color to the sun-washed kitchen.

The kitchen features cabinets from Bulthaup’s B3 line and a hearth made of ironspot brick. Evans and his wife, Susan Wilson, bought the wall clock at Habitat in London.

Lin specified the String shelving across the walnut panel wall and had it surround a restored Paul McCobb credenza that the couple found at a garage sale twenty years ago. “Almost everything in our apartment has a story,” says Kitty.

Helgerson selected white Savoy 1”x4” stacked tiles from Ann Sacks for both the kitchen and bathroom.

Get the whole family involved in the kitchen, whether it be teaching young ones a tried-and-true recipe or exploring a new dish together.

Minimalist design can sometimes be a mystery, like modern kitchen cabinets that have no visible hardware. However, a quick little push on the edge of a cabinet can reveal an interior spring mechanism that holds the doors closed.

For this kitchen, the architects paired slate-gray HPL (high-pressure laminate) cabinets by Henrybuilt, cool Basaltina countertops, with custom shelving and a white Corian backsplash.