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The kitchen cabinets’ MDF fronts have a serrated finish

The solid support wall was swapped out for a wood slat wall. Dunn Edwards “Revival Rose,” an update on the terracotta color, was used to define the kitchen from the rest of the home.

In this sleek kitchen renovation in San Francisco, the kitchen backsplash is an easy-to-clean glass backsplash that mimics the glossy finish of the surrounding white cabinets. Painters accomplished the high-gloss finish on the cabinets of a kitchen in San Francisco by applying a coat of paint, polishing it with very high-grit sandpaper, repeating the process for each layer, then topping it with three coats of clear varnish. "It’s like an auto body," says builder Jeff King. "It’s incredibly beautiful." The island provides shelving space and storage as well as a second sink, an is topped with pietra grigio marble.

In a modern home in the Illinois River Valley, the kitchen worktop is a seamless, stainless-steel surface with integrated sink and backsplash, custom-fit by Elkay. The sheen on the backsplash helps reflect light in the kitchen, and complements the hardware on the white cabinets.

In this urban townhouse, a Zodiaq® London Sky countertop wraps the wall behind it to become the backsplash, providing a polished backdrop for design details and vignettes. Its muted color complements dark wood cabinets and rich, metallic accents.

Kitty wanted to keep the peninsula that separates the kitchen from the dining room, as it’s a great prep spot and serving counter. The chartreuse color “feels a little retro, but also fresh today,” says Lin.

The new kitchen has custom walnut cabinetry throughout. “Walnut just creates that warmth and works well with a lot of mid-century materials,” says Lin. “It’s just a good base layer.”

Light-toned ceramic tile stacked vertically and white quartz counters are a neutral counterpoint to the pops of chartreuse in the cabinetry. Lin interspersed the closed cabinetry with sections of String shelving, from a Scandinavian modular system originally designed by Nisse and Kajsa Strinning in 1949.

New terrazzo floors spread the light around. The Ikea table is surrounded by Frank Gehry chairs that the couple bought shortly after the design debuted.

Perched below the Griffith Observatory and overlooking Hollywood is a lush lot crowned with four towering olive trees and a 1965 home designed by modernist architect Craig Ellwood. When a young couple purchased the home in 2018, it needed substantial work. For a historic restoration, they called on Woods + Dangaran, a local firm fluent in modernist history. The team completed a meticulous restoration of the home while keeping original components like the linear shape, open plan, and expansive windows. One of the most striking features is the original koi pond (a feature deemed so essential that its preservation was a condition of escrow) that is now crossed via a bridge that leads to a new lap pool—perhaps the biggest intervention on the property.

These projects cleverly address issues ranging from affordable housing to building sustainably in the face of climate change.

Joshua Skirtich’s pegboard wall and pulley-system closet serve as clutter control in his Bushwick live/work space.

When architects Thomas Karsten and Alexandra Erhard toured the raw industrial space, they were struck by how much light streamed in, a gift bestowed by large windows and the rare presence of a private patio.

"In some ways the strongest attributes of the house are probably the outside spaces,” says Court. The original cedar deck was replaced with Kebony decking that wraps around a century-old cherry tree. A pair of Andy rockers from Mamagreen face an ottoman by Kenneth Cobonpue. The accordion doors are a NanaWall SL-60 system that allows the main room of the guesthouse to open completely to the deck.

More than 60 plant species were used in the layered design.

“During summer there is so much greenery, and it grows and changes every day. It’s very different in the autumn and winter—even the acoustics are different,