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Making the decision to buy a home is never easy; it’s hard to know what life will look like five or ten years down the line. But on the bright side, buying a home is exciting. The responsibility can be invigorating.

Don’t skip over the layout. “The most overlooked thing in kitchen design would be space design/planning,” says Curtis Popp of Popp Littrell Architecture. “No amount of expensive materials can compensate for a lack of foresight.”

Incorporate details that make everyday life easier. “The details of the kitchen are so often underestimated during the design phase,” says Anthony Laney of Laney LA.

As the most common type of kitchen sink, the top-mount sink is installed by inserting the sink into a pre-cut hole in the countertop. The wide rim around the sink supports it on top of the countertop, and is then caulked in place with silicone for a water-tight fit.

Pros: Wood countertops can be half the price of a lot of stone or metal options, and are soft to the touch and lend a warm, organic feel to a space. Cons: Wood requires maintenance, so you should be prepared for regular oiling and, if the wood gets scratched, sanding.

Pros: Marble is elegant, heat resistant, and comes in a range of colors. Cons: Its high price, especially for more unusual types like Calacatta marble (known for its purer white and bolder veining compared to more common marble like Carrara), means that it isn’t an option for everyone. It is also quite high maintenance, requiring regular resealing.

Hope replaced the upper wood cabinets with open shelving and painted the lower cabinets a shade of gray-green. Beneath the linoleum were wood floors that the designer refinished.

Now available to rent on Airbnb, the revamped 1950s dwelling, known as The Surf Cabin, features airy interiors with laid-back vibes for a breezy weekend getaway.

The spectacular kitchen renovation includes repurposed cabinets, almost entirely unrecognizable after their modern facelift. The original cabinets were painted (Benjamin Moore 'Onyx') and reinstalled in an updated configuration. Even the new kitchen peninsula was made from reused original cabinets.

When choosing an apartment to buy off-plan, one of the deciding factors for Jono was the size of the kitchen. "I noticed a lot of new apartments had extremely small kitchens,

After: By knocking out a wall and building a new island, the kitchen flows more cohesively into the living room and dining room. The

The kitchen island is made of poured terrazzo, balanced atop a mirrored slab and two orange posts for a playful, postmodern vibe.

and Gabi Fox—a husband-and-wife team of photographers— transformed a 1972 Airstream Overlander into a mobile live/work studio that lets them fulfill their life-long passions through an unconventional lifestyle. The Seattle-based couple run their photography business out of the renovated Airstream, traveling the country to shoot weddings and elopements.

In the kitchen, the couple found barely used appliances instead of new ones to save money. The cabinetry and butcher block counters are from Ikea.

The bath and a secondary sleeping area, equipped with bunk beds, are arranged at one end of the open-plan kitchen area.

lass door at the rear of the home ties the open-plan kitchen, dining, and living areas on the first level to a sun-drenched courtyard filled with plantings.