The Lowreys worked with architect Luis Sánchez and a team of local craftsmen to complete the build. The custom counters in the kitchen are terrazzo and granite; the oven and cooktop are from Teka.

A modular shelf system by Alu provides a more sculptural take on the classic bathroom vanity in this Toronto home.

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.

Inside the sleeping cabin, a fireplace built of local granite marks the midpoint between two bedrooms and a bathroom. The floors and walls are wrapped in warm-hued Douglas fir.

"I'm a foodie, so this kitchen [holds] a lot of fun dinner parties," Nadarajah says. The island is a deeper shade of birch.

Cambrian black granite countertops lie in contrast with white cabinetry below and open shelves above in this contemporary kitchen. "One of the favorite things I have to do in the kitchen is wash dishes, just because it’s such a delightful view out the window," says the owner.

Vera & Kyte's set of shelves, exhibited at 2013 London Design Festival, resemble a small postmodern landscape. Photo courtesy of Vera & Kyte.

For the kitchen, American cherry wood was used to create cabinets that establish a warm and sturdy tone. Each piece of lumber was purchased at auction by the Brillharts and stored in New Hampshire, before being shipped to Miami and milled on site. The wood island is painted black to provide a point of visual contrast. Himalayan marble countertops and stainless steel appliances lend moments of clean modernism to the kitchen, which is flooded with bright light thanks to patio windows that open to the yard.

A maple tree grows through an ipe deck in this garden that Mary Barensfeld designed for a family in Berkeley, California. A reflecting pool separates it from a granite patio, which is furnished with a Petal dining table by Richard Schultz and chairs by Mario Bellini. The 1,150-square-foot garden serves as an elegant transition from the couple’s 1964 Japanese-style town house to a small, elevated terrace with views of San Francisco Bay. Filigreed Cor-Ten steel fence screens—perforated with a water-jet cutter to cast dappled shadows on a bench and the ground below—and zigzagging board-formed concrete retaining walls are examples.

The family shares a meal at the counter in the kitchen.

In Lida’s studio, terrazzo and granite floors blend seamlessly into a sunken bath, paired with a steel storage unit and a wooden Moroccan bath mat from Insh’ala, a local antique store.

Established in 1987, Tekserve grew into the largest single-site Apple specialist in North America.

Landscape architect Charles M. McCulloch designed pathways of locally sourced decomposed granite that lead to accessible, raised planting beds, a request from the Mahers, who are avid gardeners.

Alfredo chops away in the kitchen, which features floor-to-ceiling sliding glass walls.

Modex by Blanco, $1,750Rising only three inches above the countertop, the Red Dot Award–winning Modex features an integrated drainboard. The engineered material, which is 80 percent granite, is scratch- and stain-resistant.

In addition to a playroom, the children share a bathroom. “In a kids’ bathroom, it’s nice to have a little bit more fun,” Miller says. “The penny tiles are really nice because they are really inexpensive and have a nice blue delicateness to them.” A neutral palette of whites and grays is used throughout the rest of the space to make the blue penny tiles stand out. Footstools are nestled underneath the cabinets so the kids can access the sink easily.

Detail for Kitchen showing granite backsplash

In Roanoke Park, a neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri, architect Matthew Hufft designed a home for his family that drew on the surrounding traditional homes. In the kitchen, Bertoia barstools are tucked under a custom honed-granite two-level kitchen island by a local company, Carthage Stoneworks. Hufft’s team designed and built the larch cabinets. The appliances are by Thermador.

Arched Brazilian cherry doors open to a spacious laundry room/pantry set near the kitchen.

“I don’t paint landscapes when I’m here because I can’t compete with the natural beauty,” says Yael.

The kitchen of a home on an Amsterdam canal “is where it all happens,” says Van Zeijl. As the hub of the home, the room is situated at the front of the house and features a minimal palette and Belgian granite countertops. The table is by Pilat & Pilat and the pendants are from It’s About Romi.

Architect Paul Syme designed custom storage units with dark-stained walnut fronts that provide a place for everything in his clients’ Toronto bathroom. The wall-to-wall mirror and the Corian counter are custom, and the faucets are by Vola.

The dining table narrows to a counter attached to the island.

The custom zinc cabinets and quartzite countertops of Mark Berryman’s Tribeca apartment reflect the sun as it sets over Manhattan. Workstead designer Robert Highsmith kept the apartment’s original fir beams and painted its existing pipes Onyx by Benjamin Moore. The counter stools are by Sawkille, and the floors are white oak from LV Wood. The range is by Viking.

Despite a predilection for pastel colors, Vera & Kyte don't shy away from bold colors and shapes in their Pedestal tables. Photo courtesy of Vera & Kyte.

The minimalist kitchen features an array of lighting: can lights integrated into the ceiling as well as pendants.

A rendering of Kanye West's housing development is brutalist in form and muted in color.

Made from Kartell’s signature plastic, the Charles Ghost Stool features a shape that evokes stools made in the 1800s, while offering a decidedly modern slant.

Organization is critical in keeping the Tatami House’s minimalist vibe intact. Shoko keeps the kitchen drawers tidy.

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.

In New York about two hours north of New York City, architecture and interiors firm BarlisWedlick created an eclectic compound designed to suit a client with an idiosyncratic wish list. In the kitchen, a custom Stickbulb LED lamp hangs above a kitchen island topped by concrete from Get Real Surfaces. The cabinets and island feature a modern version of a traditional board and batten siding that are given an even more contemporary feel with the concrete countertop.

For places like the kitchen and bathrooms, the Huffts chose to install SAGE’s Appliance Switches and a number of Motion Sensors, which detect human motion without picking up false alarms from small sources.

The minimalist interiors showcase the simple material palette.

The kitchen is outfitted with Akurum cabinets from Ikea. The island is also an Ikea cabinet, customized with maple panels to match the flooring.

Along with the interior design’s emphasis on natural light, Montalba also wanted a minimalist look. That sense of “timelessness,” as he says, is achieved with help from the Bertoia counter stools in the kitchen.