Kitchen

The updated kitchen features an Elite Tile backsplash, white quartz countertops, and new plumbing and lighting.

"Where the house sits, it’s sandwiched between these two structures," says Garry. This made accessing good natural light and views a challenge. A breakthrough move in the design consisted of installing windows on the north wall with glass-backed cabinets over them, thereby admitting natural light into the house, but not giving less-than-ideal views of surrounding buildings too much visual weight.

Here, Sarah and their dog, Mandy, are seen in the kitchen. The counters are soapstone and the cabinets stained white oak.

A look at the open-plan kitchen.

In this kitchen in Australia, a freestanding island is lit by a skylight and track lighting, while the texture and color of the siding of the island provide a marked contrast to the dark cabinetry of the rest of the kitchen. An oversized sink makes the island an ideal prep space.

The dining room is delineated from the kitchen by a long kitchen island with a higher partition between the two spaces. The island provides storage along its length, with exposed shelving at the ends. The drum lighting pendants by Axiom were also made using local timber.

Guess used inexpensive graded pine plywood so that he would get heavy grain patterns on the surfaces. One of the main goals in the kitchen was simplicity. To that end, he opted for a poured-in-place concrete island. "We didn’t know if we could afford to do that, but we found a great subcontractor [Nate Francis of Countertop Creations] here who had never really built anything like that," Guess says. "Because he was interested in giving it a shot and adding it to his portfolio, he didn’t charge an exorbitant amount of money because it was sort of an experiment for him as well." The kitchen features a GE Profile refrigerator and KitchenAid range, microwave, and dishwasher. The sink and faucet are from Kohler. The project's builder was Joe Doherty with Custom Homecrafters of Austin.

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.

The kitchen was revamped with new modern appliances, including a dishwasher. The custom kitchen island was built from two IKEA cabinets on wheels, topped with an aluminum countertop, and wrapped in salvaged cedar-fence panels.

A bank of pantry cabinets are clad in the "Ravenswood" panels to disguise sleek, black appliances.

A detailed shot inside the pantry shows how it corrals counter clutter and hides small appliances.

"It’s not uncommon for sellers to throw some new black plastic under the house to conceal any potential water problems,” says Burkholder. “Old leaky pipes are one problem, but a high water level that leaves the crawlspace musty can be an expensive fix as well.”

After moving the wall between the kitchen and living areas, Kate and Arthur were able to configure an L-shaped--which was critical in adding a full height refrigerator, full height pantry, and an 18” dishwasher. They opted for a minimalist black and white aesthetic, with dark black-green cabinets, and a dark soapstone counter.

A 13-foot-long island in the kitchen, finished in the same white terrazzo as the floor, serves as an informal dining area. Bassam replicated the kitchen’s walnut-veneered cabinetry in the study and master bedroom for continuity.

Stained hardwood floors compliment the stained beech wood cabinets.

The inclined, faceted ceiling, light cannon in the ceramic studio, and vertical veils give the interiors a sculptural quality.

Kitchen