According to Paul Raff, the biggest design challenge was creating a functional home that would accommodate the family's regular activities (dining, music, play, homework) all on one level. This was solved by "collaging spaces of different shapes and sizes together, and by interconnecting them all with a very open and seamlessly integrated kitchen." The airy family kitchen features Loire limestone floors, BassamFellows Tractor stools, and an Eames molded plastic chair.

Though most of the home's interior comes without a splashy designer's name attached, the bathroom is kitted out with a toilet, sink, and bath/shower from Jasper Morrison's line for Ideal Standard. The cabinets are from an Ikea kitchen system.

“Keeping the kitchen and bathrooms simple saved money for the important things,” Harkness explains. They went with a soothing color palette and hardware from Reece.

In the sleek kitchen, the white Ikea cabinet uppers seem to disappear into the wall, while the bases get a distinctive custom walnut wrapping. Flanking the cabinets are open bookshelves, which provide secondary function as a spacial divider for the children’s play area. A Dornbracht faucet sits on a slab of Vermont Olympian White Danby marble, which is also used for the island and backsplash.

In the bathroom, plain white tiles line the walls and ceiling. The floors are natural stone and the fixtures are by VOLA. Lassen built the sink himself.

The residents love to entertain and cook, so 590BC worked to create a kitchen that was functional and aesthetically pleasing. "It is complex and considered down to the most minute detail, but still reads as simple and clean," Breitner says. Photo by Frank Oudeman.

The thrill of a home renovation can quickly be diminished by unforeseen circumstances, stretched budgets, and other unexpected issues. The good news is that most of the time these problems can be mitigated, if not avoided entirely, by keeping an eye out for warning signals. Read on as we go through essential home renovation tips to consider before kicking off your own revamp.

The Mt. Buller Home of Andrew and Tiffany Percy and Family via the Design Files.

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.

For the bathroom inside a renovated Hollywood bungalow, architect Noah Walker used a simple palette of gray and white tile, black countertops, and stainless steel fixtures. "I love minimal bathrooms with natural light, so less is more, and pay attention to the details," he advises.

The Lais designed their house to be theirs forever. As such, they were able to make design moves that made sense for themselves but that wouldn't have high resale value, like the Japanese-style master bathroom in the middle of the second floor instead of off of the master bedroom. The traditional setup features bath stools from Muji for washing off.

White tiles — hydraulic ones on the floor and “biselado” (meaning “beveled”) ones on the walls — make for a tranquil bathroom.

The bathroom features white and black tile and a small rock bed.

The Sydney home of Leanne Carter-Taylor and Trent Carter-Brugman via the Design Files.

Bates Masi designed the two-inch-thick Carrara marble countertops and white fiberboard cabinetry in the kitchen.

This kitchen features a sleek Henrybuilt kitchen system in white.

The kitchen is beautifully textured and veined thanks to white Carrara marble countertops installed by New Marble Company and reclaimed cypress cabinets built by Wayne Berger.

A massive white island range is anchored by locally sourced Italian slate floors in black. In this black and white kitchen, cabinets, countertops, and walls are finished in white so as to prevent the space from feeling too dark. To shed even more light, a glass ceiling at the far end of the kitchen presents an open-air feeling.

The large, naturally lit kitchen is the heart of the house. Messmate-clad cupboards and huge expanses of glass dominate the space where Angelucci uses the sink, Gorman works at the kitchen island, and Pepa and Hazel look on. Play in the courtyard between the kitchen and garage is easily supervised and enclosed from the alley behind the house.

Wenes asked artists from Studio Simple to devise an imaginative storage solution for the bathroom. Starting at one end of the room and working their way across, the team assembled chests and cabinets found at a thrift shop and painted them all white. “It’s like a mosaic,” says Wenes. “It’s a very personalized concept—I feel like it’s my bathroom.”

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.

The bedroom and bath share a glass wall.

Bright, white, and airy. This Toronto kitchen features a 13-foot Calacatta marble island, countertops, and a matching backsplash that pair perfectly with the custom white aluminum cabinets.

In the bathroom, a chrome waterfall faucet by LightInTheBox tops a 12.6-inch-square Mini Nova basin by Barclay; a retractable Ikea mirror is the only concession to vanity.

The formerly dark basement kitchen now feels much lighter, thanks to the addition of white oak floor boards, bright plaster walls, and floor-to-ceiling windows that let in garden views.

The updated kitchen features a bright white palette. The countertop is Caesarstone's Blizzard surface and the stools are Crate and Barrel. The range hood is Futuro, the refrigerator is LG, and the dishwasher is Bosch.

Natural light is an important factor in creating biophilic spaces. The primary bathroom of this house in Venice, California, sits deep in the plan but has three sources of natural light—a skylight, small window, and translucent glass wall shared with the kitchen.

The table is situated in front of the house’s rear wall of skyscraper glass. Laminate kitchen cabinets by Ikea are framed in wraparound bluestone; the 48-inch commercial range is by FiveStar.

You may have noticed how swapping out the knobs on a piece of old, tired furniture with modern brushed nickel pulls, for example, can give it a whole new look. It can be difficult to get a handle (pun intended) on all the different modern kitchen cabinet hardware ideas out there—especially when some are hidden—so read on as we delve into the different types of cabinet hardware for kitchens, bathrooms, and other areas of the home.

All the floors were redone in a light ash hardwood. The crisp interior paint is Benjamin Moore Super White. The kitchen cabinets are from Artistic Kitchens. A frosted glass door leads to the laundry room.

"Shane enjoys both cooking and entertaining so we maximized the counter space to make meal prep and hosting easy," Priftaj says. "It was also very important that the kitchen include a gas grill so he could quickly and conveniently grill without having to climb up five flights of stairs to use the bbq on the patio." Priftaj selected high-gloss acrylic white cabinets from bulthaup's b3 line with an aluminum backsplash and b3 prism drawer system to keep things tidy. A Wolf hood and gas cooktop with chargrill give Carslake the flexibility he desired for indoor grilling. The counters are polished white quartz.

Olson Kundig Architects' Delta Shelter, in Mazama, Washington, is a 1,000 square-foot steel box home with a 200 square-foot footprint. Photo by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects/TASCHEN.

In the master bath, a dowdy tub was replaced with a standing shower designed by Di Ioia and Bédard and manufactured by Linea P International. The wall and floor tiles are by Ceragres, and the sink, tub, and towel rack are by Aqua Mobilier de Bain.