Kitchen

About her collection of cookware, Tyler comments: “I use accessories as the color in spaces so these items are an integral part of the overall design."

The ground floor’s adjoining staircase, as well as the kitchen cabinets and tables, can be adjusted depending the homeowner's preferences. “The design of the house is an attempt to respond to [French novelist] Georges Perec’s question, ‘We should learn to live more on staircases. But how?’” Simpson says.

The squiggly Bacterio laminate by Ettore Sottsass on the kitchen countertops was dead stock, and the HEWI drawer pulls were diligently sourced on eBay.

Istanbul-based architecture firm SO? built the tiny cabin with plywood both inside and out, and also used birch plywood for some of the furnishings.

The exposed ceiling beams and inserted steel framing system are visible in the lower level, where Lange and Dixon relax with their son Paul.

In the kitchen, minimalism prevails. Jared notes that the use of plywood was loosely inspired by design seen in the 1960s Sonoma County Sea Ranch community. "It's something that one of my heroes, [architect] Barbara Bestor has done very well," he says.

In the kitchen, designer Maca Huneeus prepares lunch with her daughters Ema, 12, and Ofelia, 7. The pendants are Jonathan Adler; the island is a custom design, inspired by a 1960s Dansk tray that belonged to Huneeus’s mother. The barstools are from Blu Dot.

Shane Michael Pavonetti, an Austin-based architect and contractor, and his wife, Holly, built their eco-friendly home on a lean budget of $175,000. The cedar siding used on the exterior reappears throughout the house. Keen on recycling the wood, the couple added shelving to their kitchen as well.

Pros: Laminate is at the low end of the price range for countertops, is scratch- and stain-resistant, and comes in a tremendous range of colors. It’s also easy to install, making it a viable DIY option for the handy crowd. Cons: Because laminate countertops are created by layering pieces of plywood and plastic, edges can chip off easily, and the surface can even melt if too much heat is applied directly.

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.

Make sure your kitchen fits seamlessly with the rest of your home. A good entertaining space should have a look that's consistent with the overall design, so use finishings, colors, and other elements that compliment the rest of the space.

The kitchen is a balance of woods and stone, with marble on the large island and Naica quartzite in a leathered finish on the perimeter counters and backsplash. The stove hood is a custom plaster finish: “I was constantly looking for ways to add softness,” says interior designer Holly Waterfield.

The kitchen follows the less is more nature employed by the home, opting for marble countertops and backsplash to make the space distinct.

To make sure that the kitchen would be flooded with natural light, a skylight was inserted. "Ellen Wu, the project lead, came up with a fun detail: We exposed the roof framing to keep a wood element in the ceiling," explains Boyer. The backsplash tiles are the Dwell Pattern Little Diamond Mix from Heath Ceramics.

Tiffany swapped out the dated vinyl for matte white tile from Home Depot on the floor. The backsplash is matte white subway tile from Tilezz, and the plywood cabinets are topped with white quartz counters. The Ready Stacking Barstool from Blu Dot are tucked under the island counter.

One of Amber’s favorite features in in the house is the splash of color in the kitchen backsplash, via a tile called 'Unfading' green slate from Vermont Structural Slate Company.

The kitchen echoes the bathroom in its finishes, including the Silestone countertop, IKEA cabinets, and Dal Tile backsplash. The space-saving fridge and range are from Blomberg.

The white subway tile backsplash was given a unique touch with a stacked layout, rather than a typical off-set design.