kitchen ideas

Lineal Comfort stools upholstered in white leather by Andreu World sit across from turquoise glass vases from Neiman Marcus. Cumar supplied the white carrara marble for the island.

This Boston loft – nearly 5,000 SF with 18-foot high ceilings – presented a number of amazing opportunities and more than a few challenges. Chief among the opportunities was amplifying the immensity of the central living space – perhaps the largest in the city – while making an understandable and livable family house.

The couple’s bold mix-and-match sensibility applies most unconventionally to the material palette; nearly every surface is different from the next. The cook station pairs a copper Watermark faucet with an Italian marble countertop, a copper-toned stainless-steel range from Blue Star, and a backsplash of masonry Foundation Brick tile by Ann Sacks.

The smooth, raven-hued island in this kitchen is made of oak with a thin stone countertop. A Foscarini Gregg Pendant hangs overhead.

A dramatic black island is expertly balanced by a wall of white cabinetry and a refrigerator that blends perfectly. The kitchen’s black countertops were cut from Nero Assoluto granite. The sink and faucet are from Quebec-based company Rubi. Appliances are from Wolf.

Choosing a kitchen or bathroom countertop can be nerve-wracking, and we understand why—they can be one of the most expensive aspects of a renovation, with the added responsibility of impacting the aesthetics of a space. Read on as we work our way through the pros and cons of seven of the most common countertop materials.

Opening onto the open-plan living and dining rooms, the aluminum Bulthaup System 20 kitchen with its nine-foot-long stainless steel island and Miele appliances has become a focal point of the house. Pressed in one seamless sheet of steel, the island, Picard says with the obvious pride of a satisfied customer, “is an amazing piece of engineering.”

Shophouses are a staple of Southeast Asian urban architecture. A team of designers including Yong Ter, Teng Wui, Andrew Lee, and Edwin Foo renovated this shophouse into a contemporary sanctuary over the course of two years. They left the roof completely open from the beginning of the original airshaft to the back of the house. The heart is a cooking/dining area with a 13-foot-long Indonesian table made from a single piece of teak.

A double-height space encompasses the kitchen, dining and living area, and features 36-feet-wide glass doors that pocket into southern and northern walls.

The neutral color palette extends to the kitchen, which is overhung by several pendant globes.

The refrigerator is Sub-Zero, the cooktop and hood are Viking, and the oven is Miele.

Typography guru Erik Spiekermann and his wife, designer Susanna Dulkinys, hate clutter. That’s why they love the super-sleek Berlin domicile they constructed to have just the right lines—and a host of energy-saving features behind the scenes. The stainless-steel Bulthaup kitchen "cost as much as a small house," said Spiekermann, though he did get a discount: Bulthaup is one of his clients.

In the kitchen, an elongated window breaks the custom walnut cabinetry by Contour Woodworks.

Without increasing the size of the kitchen, we reworked the space to create a family friendly design. This was accomplished by moving the range to the island, adding counter seating and increasing storage with full height cabinetry. Natural lighting in the kitchen was improved by adding low counter height windows.

On the other end of the dining space is the kitchen, which contains an extensive island that acts as a divider from the pathway that leads to the garden room. One of the many sets of original concrete stairs is seen on the right.

In the dining room, a Poul Henningsen lamp hovers over a table by Philipp Mainzer for E15, surrounded by Hans Wegner Wishbone chairs. The artwork is by Maria Sanchez. The designer added a Banco kitchen by Dada with Jasper Morrison stools.

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.

The residents collaborated with the architects to achieve the sharp graphic sensibility they desired. Part way through the project, they realized the space would be more compelling in muted tones.