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Kitchen Metal Counters Drop In Sinks Design Photos and Ideas

The team used their office kitchen reno to explore bringing mixed materials together in a cohesive fashion.
Quartzite kitchen island countertops and a wall of off-white ceramic tile between the doorways complement the space's walnut cabinetry and brass surfaces.
In the kitchen, the couple kept the original cabinets and "beautiful, custom-rolled stainless-steel counters,” says Christine. They updated the island counter, flooring, and backsplash, adding Foro marble, Concrete Collaborative tiles, and Cle tile, respectively.
Earth-toned laminate covers the kitchen niche and shelving for durability. There’s a gas stove and refrigerator, and no running water. “The staff bring you a bottle of water and it's a pump faucet at the sink,” explains St-Laurent.
Launech teaches cooking classes in the house, and the mobile countertops make it easy for her to configure the kitchen to her tastes.
Pros: Stainless-steel countertops are used in restaurants and the food service industry because it is durable, easy to maintain, and scratch- and bacteria-resistant. Cons: Installing stainless steel countertops means being ready for louder cooking, with plates and pots making more noise than they would on other surfaces. And just because the surface is stain-resistant doesn’t mean that it’s impervious to denting and scratching.
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.
A double bowl sink is also quite self-explanatory, created either out of one large sink with a divider or from two distinct bowls framed into a single sink.
The kitchen is a central gathering place for the Baker family. The custom cabinetry was painted a light white color to make it feel a part of the wall.
“The home wasn’t an inexpensive house to build,” says architect Peter Tolkin. “At the same time, it doesn’t have very fancy interior finishing. We wanted to design a modern house with a certain kind of spirit, and we didn’t think that the interior materials needed to be overly fancy. The two places where we really splurged—I think to great effect—were on the tiles in the bathrooms and kitchen, and the copper cladding, which protects the house but also has a very strong visual component to it.”
Clark & Chapin Architects, Buffaloe House, Kitchen
A Boston loft in a former textile factory receives a minimal, efficient kitchen at the hands of Bunker Workshop. In the kitchen, the island features a stainless-steel countertop with a gas cooktop, oven, and a brick half wall.
The home’s philosophy was inspired by the works of Alvar Aalto and Louis Kahn. The use of locally available and low-cost pine and Carrara stone gives it an almost Scandinavian sensibility, which the couple describe as “Scandi meets carpentry modernism.”
An elongated kitchen window ties the interior to the outdoor deck and bar area and the landscape beyond.
Arango outfitted the kitchen with stainless steel cabinetry and counters that reflect sunlight and lend cool texture that contrasts with the pine siding and the teak window frames.
The loft bedroom is situated above the kitchen. The staircase is outfitted with drawers and a tall cabinet for cooking tools.
Vibrant blue cabinets brighten up this kitchen and serve as a bold contrast to the exposed brick. The stainless-steel countertop wraps slightly up the wall, and creates a trough for storing items.
Set in a heritage brick building in Montreal, this apartment maintained the brick wall in the kitchen to evoke the building's industrial heritage. The brick was painted white to brighten the space.
A stainless steel chimney painted red pierces through this two-story chestnut-clad holiday pad facing the sea, the handiwork of ECE Architecture's Nick Evans. Built into a sandstone hill in East Sussex, England, the highlights include the kitchen—Evans's wife is a chef—a room enlivened by a shiny 16-foot steel countertop and cabinetry in custom hues of green. For a breezy beach feel, reclaimed roof beams, sawed and painted white, were converted into floorboards.
The kitchen is inspired by the commercial kitchens that the client worked at in his youth.
Whereas others might look at a board-formed cement wall in a basement and see, well, a concrete wall, Jess and Jonathan Taylor, the design duo behind the L.A.-based firm Taylor + Taylor, were inspired. The couple had purchased a virtually untouched 1952 house in east L.A. and that concrete wall became the backdrop for a new guest kitchen in the basement. "It was really the starting point of the whole design," says Jess Taylor. "As designers, our goal is to always try to incorporate the existing surroundings whenever possible, utilize them in practical ways, and be inspired by them."
A look at the large kitchen, which offers numerous high-end appliances and two large islands. Large sliding glass panels create a connection with the surrounding landscape and opens the space to a patio. Interior designer Brad Dunning originally collaborated on the dwelling.
Black appliances and fixtures blend seamlessly into the cabinetry. The lack of a large fridge helps give the kitchen its streamlined and minimal appearance. The couple carefully integrated appliances to make the small space fully functional for entertaining. Two CoolDrawers are tucked under the counter to chill wine and store enough food for the weekend. Two ovens allow home cooks to bake bread and roast meat simultaneously. “It just works really well for us,” says Daniel. “Our counter space is at a premium, and we just didn’t need a giant refrigerator. This way, we can have the L-shaped counter. That was a very strategic decision—it doesn’t need to be more than what it is.”
The blush-colored Rojo Alicante marble table in the center of the kitchen doubles as a dining table and kitchen island. A Craiglist score for $200, the table is another kitchen hack conceived by the architects. “It was really a diamond in the rough. Originally, it was a rectangle shape, in a weird ’90s, Italian kind of style, covered in a thick, resin-like finish that made it look almost orange,” says Daniel. The table was honed down to soften its color, and its top was reshaped with rounded corners.
The kitchen features hacked IKEA cabinets—Brit and Daniel built custom fronts and side panels out of Valchromat, a recycled engineered wood. The cabinets are topped with black steel, which extends up the wall as backsplash. “We wanted to find an inexpensive way of doing a really terrific kitchen,” says Daniel. “The metal, which is a cold-rolled sheet of blackened steel, is a unique material that will develop a patina over time, but will also be super durable—and again, very cost effective.”
The kitchen showcases stainless-steel countertops, poplar core plywood cabinetry, and birch plywood flooring.
Open shelves balance out the hard-working wall of cabinetry opposite. "In a space like this, every fraction of an inch matters," says Jonathan, and making room for display and a sense of openness is also important.
The designers developed the preliminary schematic for the tile, then refined the layout on site. "We wanted to bring in six or seven different tiles that were all geometric and make it such that there's no pattern, there's no repeat. Everything is unique," says Jonathan. "Once we had the tiles, [we] laid things out and confirmed and made some adjustments. Everything is just a little different when you get it in real space."
The couple installed a window over the sink to brighten up the dark basement space. The counters are stainless steel, so as to cede nicely into the concrete wall rather than compete with it.
"The wonderful thing about this line of tile from Fireclay is that there's no order minimums," says Jonathan. Considering that the designers were dealing with such a small footprint, this meant that they didn’t have to order more tile than what was needed.
"We started to piece together this idea of a floor that's all just geometry and chaos, but that still honors the monochromatic elements of the space and highlights the bluish-gray-green tones of the original cement walls," says Jonathan.
The kitchen and dining area seamlessly flow from the living room. Designed for entertaining, the space offers a 20-person dining table, three Gaggenau ovens, and a massive central island.
SysHaus, designed by São Paulo studio Arthur Casas Design, marries sustainable engineering solutions, state-of-the-art technology, and smart urban design to construct prefabricated, modular homes in less than 60 percent of time required with traditional building methods. Arthur Casas Design included a freestanding kitchen and cabinetry for the interiors, so if needed, the modules can be easily disassembled and relocated to a new site.
A Taiwanese expat couple purchased a 1,352-square-foot apartment near the river in the Taiwan’s New Taipei City, and reached out to interior design firm KC Design Studio to help them turn it into a stylish, modern home. Industrial elements like steel, brick, and exposed concrete harmonize with vintage accents: in the open kitchen, wood-paneled sliding doors conceal dark cabinetry. These combine with a sleek, dark counter and a shiny, bronze-clad island for a luxe effect.
Cedar Creek Residence in Texas sits on a seven-acre lakeside property much beloved to the client, who wanted a modern home that connects inside and out. "The goal of the design was to provide an artful and low-maintenance retreat that would blend in with the site," said Wernerfield Architecture, who worked on the project along with Emily Summers Design Associates. The stainless-steel kitchen system is by Bulthaup, and the countertop was fashioned by Brooklyn-based Wüd Furniture Design.
Due to its location under a lower ceiling, the kitchen gets the least amount of natural light in the home. However, Kiev-based architecture and design studio 2B.group mitigated this problem by using stainless-steel surfaces, which reflects sunlight streaming in through the dining and living.
Storage, fixtures, and appliances are all housed within the monochromatic steel modules in the McCourt Townhouse. "It’s all freestanding, even the unit with the sink in it," says homeowner Chris McCourt. "Two blokes unpacked and fitted it all in a day."
When creative director Martin Ringqvist and his wife, My, a teacher, moved back to Sweden after a year in Los Angeles, they wanted an authentic, warm space to live in with their two children. The kitchen’s matte-black Vipp system is paired with an antique white ceramic tile stove that was typical in the late 19th century. Although it’s not operable, the stove is used by the couple as a staging ground for illuminated candles and a storage space for an iPad that controls the home’s sound system.
Simpson retained the original roof trusses and left them exposed as a reminder of the building's industrial heritage. The etched panels recycled from Anderson's former art installation line the ceiling above the trusses.
The couple journeyed to Denmark to
In the kitchen, a Vipp island holds a Gaggenau induction cooktop. The oven is by Bosch, and the hanging LED lights are from PureEdge Lighting.
The kitchen also includes an unusually lengthy butler’s pantry, which measures more than 21 feet long. With glass-fronted cabinets that extend to the high ceilings, the well-equipped pantry provides plenty of storage while allowing for easy entertaining.
Keeping sustainability in mind, the architects have cladded the structure's interior with timber.
Above the integrated pantry and bathroom is a lofted sleeping area. A small wood stove creates warmth and coziness on cold days.
Sleek and stylish, the stainless steel chef's kitchen boasts numerous appliances from Viking.
Tongue-and-groove ceilings reference the home's midcentury roots.
The kitchen is outfitted with Miele appliances. The faucet and stainless steel cabinets are by Boffi.
The simple, efficient kitchen features a stainless-steel counter. From the kitchen, another staircase descends to a basement with a utility room, larder, and TV area.
The open kitchen and dining area flows out to the courtyard.
A stainless-steel countertop and sink from PURUS.
A backsplash featuring custom matte black ceramic tiles by Waterworks is paired with stainless steel countertops. The timber cabinets, by JRs Custom Cabinets, are made of white oak.
“Since the kitchen is open to the space, we tried to make it look as clean as possible with slab-faced cabinets flush to the walls, simple tile, and clean appliances,” Shively says. The island is inspired by Alvar Alto's designs.
Inside the renovated Airstream, a woman prepares a meal. The skylight above the cook top lets fumes escape the small space. Photo by Sadamu Saito.
kitchen
In a modern home in the Illinois River Valley, the kitchen worktop is a seamless, stainless-steel surface with integrated sink and backsplash, custom-fit by Elkay. The sheen on the backsplash helps reflect light in the kitchen, and complements the hardware on the white cabinets.
A Boston loft in a former textile factory receives a minimal, efficient kitchen at the hands of Bunker Workshop. The client wanted to be able to prepare meals efficiently, so a red steel pegboard backsplash lets him easily access cooking utensils. The cabinets are IKEA.
Black accent pieces create the illusion of a black and white kitchen in the home of San Francisco architect Cass Calder Smith. A black reading nook coordinates perfectly with the stainless steel countertops and white cabinetry.
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