Make sure your kitchen fits seamlessly with the rest of your home. A good entertaining space should have a look that's consistent with the overall design, so use finishings, colors, and other elements that compliment the rest of the space.

In Montara, California, architect Michael Maltzan designed a home for, his sister and brother-in-law. From certain vantage points, the home’s unique angles result in M.C. Escher–like optical illusions.

A Bay Area landscape designer works her yard like a jigsaw puzzle, packing a bevy of distinctive destinations into a steep and diminutive plot. Photo by: Morgan Rachel Levy Read the entire article here.

Melanie Maher sunbathes beneath the lattice of a pool house, which is clad in Cor-Ten steel.

A Seattle family tasked Atmosphere Design Build with creating a sustainable dwelling in Nevada City, California, the matriarch's hometown and a historic mining community. The firm's material-driven approach channels the pioneer spirit of the gold rush, without compromising comfort or high-efficiency standards.

A barrier-free house enables a family to come together amid the vineyards in Northern California. The kitchen is fully accessible and yet not institutional, with room for both extended family and a caregiver, and the ability to move between indoors and out without having to negotiate a single barrier. The island contains a micro kitchen for the family’s daughter, who is in a wheelchair, with a sink, refrigerator, and warming drawers within easy reach. The pendant is from Global Lighting.

Architect Erick Mikiten helped Melanie and David Maher build a house in Livermore, California.

Taking inspiration from Arlberg Valley, Austria to classic Nordic materials, the Troll Hus certainly adds a European touch to the California landscape. “The inspiring concept is that of a treehouse that, as if suspended between treetops, seamlessly and ingeniously blends with its surroundings.” Casper says.

Simpatico Homes founder Seth Krubiner has lived in the prefab company’s nearly net-zero prototype since it was customized and lifted onsite in 2011.

Covered terraces take advantage of the temperate Northern California climate and respect the local vernacular. A rear sleeping porch is the perfect place to enjoy warm summer and fall nights.

Joined by architect Michael Lee and friend Gus McConnell, Jacobson shouts up to Dukes that they’re headed out for an impromptu surf session.

The kitchen and dining area opens onto a patio. Photo by Ken Pagliaro Photography.

Set against the backdrop of the dry desert hills, the Ace's white buildings are an unpretentious makeover of an existing, rundown roadside motel. L.A.-based firm Commune and the Ace's own design team, Atelier Ace, approached the project as a curatorial endeavor, commissioning a number of artists and artisans from southern California and the Southwest to piece together the design elements. See more of the Ace Palm Springs here.

So Melanie Maher could access the kitchen, Mikiten created a station with a KitchenAid cooktop, a refrigerator and freezer drawers from U-Line, and a Sharp drawer microwave. He also adjusted the height of the PaperStone counter to allow Melanie to roll her chair underneath.

Sphinx, the family Carolina dog, scouts the perimeter of the Concrete Collaborative pavers in the backyard. The pavers were installed on a slight angle to channel water to the surrounding gravel, lawn, and planting beds. This substantially lowers the landscape's water demand. Perforated PVC pipes and a pump move excess rainfall (which would otherwise go to storm drains) into an underground basin where it can later drain off. Redwood fencing reflects the material palette of the interior and creates visual continuity around the backyard.

A cozy reading nook fits underneath the stairs, saving floor space in the 1690-square-foot home.

Rural and urban sensibilities mix indoors. The double-height living room nods to the loft-like spaces the family was accustomed to in Seattle; rough-hewn wood boards appeal to their "wabi sabi" taste in design.

A George Nelson cabinet for Herman Miller, a Paul McCobb chair, and a Gilbert Watrous table lamp for Heifetz adorn another bedroom.

A slatted Western red cedar fence screens a neighbor’s yard, adding a measure of privacy while permitting branches from their Japanese maple to cross the property line.

Most impressive of all, a solar array on the roof empowers the residents to produce more energy than they consume on-site.

The living room, dining room and kitchen are in one open space. The flooring is bamboo. The cabinetry is a mix of bamboo, walnut, and maple, and was fabricated by City Cabinetmakers out of San Francisco.

The countertops in the kitchen are a mix of quartz surfaces and custom and salvaged stainless steel. "We use the kitchen all of the time, it turned out really nice," says Melissa. "It's very open, certainly one of the central focuses of the house, and is fun for entertaining."

The loft had no overhead illumination when the Benoits moved in, so they added a George Nelson Bubble lamp, mezzanine uplighting, and an Ikea pendant.

Blu Homes's new prefab in Joshua Tree, California.

Lockyer added native desert plants to a courtyard near the garage.

The clerestory windows were originally screens covered by sliding plywood panels that could be opened to allow in light and air.

Walter Hood is perfectly comfortable carving out serene spaces amid often chaotic urban Oakland, California. Despite the speeding cars overhead, Splash Pad Park is now home to a thriving farmer’s market.

The plantings on this footbridge, which connects the guest pavilion to the master bedroom and media room pavilion in this house in Venice, California, will eventually grow in to create a privacy screen. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

“There’s a soulfulness in this small house that’s impossible to replicate in something completely new. The sweetness truly lingers," says architect Michael Lee.

Balboa Highlands, Granada Hills, California, by Joseph Eichler.

Montecito Residence - Tom Kundig / Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects

Trellis-like balcony railing cue the exposed timber frame extending over the house. The balcony and fence are made from sustainably harvested ipe wood.

The iT House was designed by Linda Taalman and Alan Koch of Taalman Koch Architects. The minimalist desert escape has an industrial aesthetic, and it pushes the envelope in terms of green design—the owners even decided to forgo air conditioning. The home’s sustainable building strategies include: large doors and operable windows for cross-ventilation, overhangs for shade, and solar panels to harness the power of the sun.

An L-shaped deck wraps around the house's ground level, creating a place for entertaining and taking in the scenery.

The exterior timber cladding is coated with black tar, a traditional Norwegian treatment. The finish serves a variety of purposes: solar heat gain, water resistance, and insect repellant.