Stainless Steel Kitchens

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.”

Burnished concrete floors complement the stainless steel doors, refrigerators, and kitchen cabinets.

The House of Earth + Light had been featured in the pages of the New York Times and on the cover of Dwell’s premiere issue, and was revisited years later. In the kitchen, an elegant palette of materials defines the open space. The rear counter is sanded stainless steel; the island counter is Purpleheart (an exotic hardwood) with a range by Dacor.

Hachigian and daughter Sosi in the renovated kitchen, which opens up to an outdoor dining terrace. The dining table was reconditioned from a language lab, its top wrapped in stainless steel. Dining chairs are by Kartell.

There are precious few decorative flourishes in the house; the architects put their faith in line, form, and materials. Concrete, stainless steel, and birch were used in the kitchen, where not an inch of space goes unused.

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 Chicago’s Lower West Side, editorial director Chelsea Jackson and and her chef husband Arthur renovated their fourth-floor condominium to include a custom Bulthaup kitchen. "We wanted to find a kitchen island that would be light enough to make the room seem large while still standing up to heavy-duty cooking," Chelsea notes. Calls to kitchen retailers were fruitless until Arthur reached the Bulthaup showroom, where the staff suggested he come check out a floor model of the discontinued System 20 kitchen. The stainless steel island, with its precise profile and gas cooktop, was exactly what the couple was after, and they bought it on the spot. A full Bulthaup kitchen—completed with components from the B3 range—would soon become the centerpiece of their new home.

Pendant lights are lights that hang from a cable, cord, or pipe from an attachment at a ceiling. They primarily provide light in a downward direction, known as a downlight.

Stainless steel appliances, including the Sub-Zero refrigerator, Fisher & Paykel dishwasher, and Viking oven and cooktop, are seamlessly integrated with the natural maple paneling that Erik used here and throughout the house. The marble used for the countertops is Bianco Carrara. “It’s just a very clean palette,” he explains.