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265 Kitchen Ceiling Lighting Recessed Lighting Design Photos And Ideas

Portland-base pastry chef Andrea Nicholas purchased a 1953 midcentury ranch whose 2,500 square feet needed "a lot of TLC." Nicholas hired architect Risa Boyer to design the renovation, which involved opening up the kitchen to the dining room and creating a contemporary open-plan living space.
After: The Kitchen
Lago Vista by Dick Clark + Associates
Some laminate cabinets offer the sleek appearance of wood at a fraction of the cost.
"For this home, I took down the walls, which closed off the kitchen and dining areas, and magically the sunshine and palm trees appeared," Perry explains of her Pop Art-inspired renovation.
This midcentury in Armonk, New York, was the personal residence of Arthur Witthoefft, an architect for renowned firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Witthoefft won an AIA First Honor Award in 1962 for his design, and the home was listed on the Register of Historic Places in 2011 after a meticulous restoration profiled in Dwell. The kitchen was modernized with white lacquer and stainless steel.
Wise maintained the footprint of the kitchen, which is roughly 125 square feet, then maxed out the storage. "Our goal here was to create a sleek and minimal kitchen respectful to the era of the home that was hyper-functional in a small space," says Wise. The black stools are from IKEA.
The firm enlisted their Parisian carpenter to make the cabinets in the "Frey style and color"—stained maple topped with cream-colored quartz. Appliances are all Bertazzoni except for the refrigerator and freezer, which is a Frigidaire Professional. The brick wall would not have been original, but the firm kept it and hand-painted the surface in the style of Le Corbusier’s Parisian apartment.
This kitchen in Austin, Texas, was designed by Royce Flournoy and expertly combines black, Shaker-style cabinets, white subway tiles, Carrera marble countertops, and wooden floors to create a balance between rustic warmth and industrial simplicity.
The all-white kitchen—as well as a bathroom and stair to the basement—forms a central core around which living spaces are arranged on the ground floor. The dramatic, double-height space echoes the form of the original building and makes the living space feel expansive and open.
The backsplash tile is Heath Ceramics Dwell Little Diamond in Stone White. A new skylight funnels light into the kitchen.
The renovated kitchen features a Leicht cabinet system in white and three-quarter-inch Caesarstone counters in Raw Concrete.
A peninsula is lined with Form barstools from Simon Legald.
An angled application gives this wood paneling a modern feel.
The architect integrated a dining table into the kitchen island, embracing the common Australian practice of gathering informally in the kitchen.
The angled joinery reflects light down the hallway and offers functional storage. It also naturally directs people from the living area toward the kitchen.
The kitchen has been updated, but still maintains a sense of the home's midcentury charm.
The well-appointed chef's kitchen.
Of the counter material, Klymson says, “It's really one of the best Caesarstone products that I've seen out in the market.”
The kitchen features custom white oak kitchen cabinets stained light gray and Caesarstone rugged concrete countertops.
An integrated terrazzo-tile counter holds an induction cooktop under a simple, cylindrical extractor hood in Sorrento House by Figureground Architecture. The cabinetry is composed of blackbutt timber.
The kitchen is not visually dominant, thanks to storage that reaches to the ceiling. The backsplash tile is Ann Sacks Context tile in Metallic Black with metallic black grout, and the countertops are engineered stone. The original white oak flooring was refinished throughout the home.
The eat-in kitchen is painted turquoise, and the formal dining room is painted purple to match the bloom colors of the twin orchid trees on either side. In the kitchen, the current homeowners display their colorful collection of vintage pyrex bowls, which remind them of their childhood. The kitchen features marble tile flooring which was added at some point over the years.
A new banquette seating area tucked off the kitchen links to the breakfast terrace and has great views. "That's a nice perch to sit in and enjoy the kitchen and the landscape," says Woofter. Carolyn Woofter designed the custom copper hood to sync with the La Cornue stove beneath it.
Black granite counters top fir cabinets, and are accented by walnut open shelving in the new kitchen. The pendants are by Visual Comfort.
The juxtaposition of open and closed elements continues into the kitchen. White oak planks wrap the floor, end wall, and ceiling, while floor-to-ceiling glass flanks either side. Low cabinets preserve views to the outside.
The marble backsplash extends up to the range hood, emphasizing the sense of height in the kitchen.
"The sculpted kitchen island bench is a true hero of the space," says Lynch. "It anchors the generously scaled entertainment space while its weighty legs, honed marble finish, and soft, beveled detailing make it an artistic piece in its own right."
The flooring in the open-plan living area is Douglas fir that’s been lye-treated and brushed with white oil, which eliminates the wood’s natural red tones.
This home's open kitchen, living, and dining area includes a small pantry and an office, but the cedar cladding is the showstopper.
The kitchen was updated prior to 2014 with black honed granite countertops and a punchy tile backsplash.
Grain Super Black countertops from Stone Italiana sit atop sleek black cabinetry, which hosts the integrated appliances, including a cooktop, oven, and warming drawer from V-Zug.
A hallway behind the kitchen received a 4-meter-long plate glass window (or about 13 feet) in order to lighten up a dark spot in the plan and visually connect to a new courtyard garden.
The bar area is set off to the side but still a part of the kitchen. "When I entertain, it’s so great because I can set up glasses and booze by the bar so that my guests can easily help themselves without disrupting anything that is going on over by the stove," Andrea adds.
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.
The steel hood vent design was custom-made and inspired by a steel circular fireplace in the Frey I home.
The team also created a kitchen island with a gray lapatro-finish granite top and a rose gold stainless steel base. The vase is from Domo.
Opening up the doorway made space for a designated dining area, which has a vintage Ercol table and chairs. Ferm Living Socket Pendants hang in the kitchen and over the table.
Baulier's favorite detail is the meeting point between the mitered door of the refrigerator, the side panel, and the counter. "A very satisfying alignment!" she says.
On the opposite side of the room, there’s a stove niche, integrated refrigerator, and built-in storage that wraps the doorway.
On the kitchen peninsula, the sink is tucked behind an upstand, which hides dirty dishes from view from the living room.
Kitchen Space: The kitchen island design is inspired by Donald Judd's Library Table and was built with the flexibility of removing the cabinet storage to convert it to a counter-height table.
The floors are Oak End Grain Helvetica by Solid Floor, combined with bespoke handmade cabinetry by Grovecourt.
Cast concrete counters overlay a brass sink (the Alveus Monarch Quadrix 50) and are bedecked with a Vola single mixer lever in natural brass.
The firm specified an opening at the first floor, to connect it with the new kitchen and dining room below. The reconfigured glass extension allows light and views deeper into the narrow house.
An abstracted take on the kitchen island design gives the impression of a table when viewed from the living area, integrating both rooms around a central gathering point.
The spacious, open kitchen is decked out with four Wolf ranges and two refrigerators.
The kitchen windows reveal sightlines to the water on the other side of the home, so the panoramic views afforded by the narrow lot are fully utilized.
The kitchen windows reveal sightlines to the water on the other side of the home, so the panoramic views afforded by the narrow lot are fully utilized.
In the garden apartment kitchen, IKEA cabinet boxes received fronts from Reform, in the Basis style. An Andrew Neyer Barbell Pendant echoes the black two-inch hex wall tile. The black wire and wood open shelves are the client’s own and similar to the String Pocket Shelf, says the firm.
The bright and airy kitchen is comprised of Miele and Sub-Zero appliances.
A peek inside the skylit kitchen with clerestory windows.
Full-height cabinetry, custom-built with a white matte lacquer finish, maxes out every square inch. The appliance garage at the center hides the Vitamix and coffee maker. When closed up, this bank of cabinets reads as a single wall and the finish reflects light, helping the space to feel bigger.
The sink was shifted slightly to make room for a hard-working corner cabinet and the cooktop now has a good amount of prep space nearby. The backsplash is glass back-painted with a custom color and the custom cabinetry is hemlock with horizontal grain match. Wise also dropped the windowsill behind the sink.
PARLOR FLOOR - KITCHEN Photo © Ashok Sinha
Caitlin is an author and a pastry chef. The self-taught baker is the former owner of the San Francisco cake and sweets shop Miette. The kitchen is designed to accommodate the family's cooking needs—naturally, a home for the coffee bar was a priority.
Another view of the kitchen.
The kitchen features a porcelain tile backsplash, an island with bar seating, and a waterfall countertop.
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The modern kitchen is the heart of the home. Cooking and conversing go hand-in-hand as meals are created, memories made. Whether teaching an old family recipe, reading the newspaper in a breakfast nook, or chatting over the daily morning coffee, the ritual of the everyday begins here. Spark your imagination by browsing our collection of modern kitchens. From popular counter materials like marble, granite, quartz, and wood; to stunning examples of white cabinets; to flooring options like hardwood and concrete, these projects showcase it all. You'll also find ideas for backsplashes, lighting, appliances, and sinks.