Joaquin Altamirano and Silvia Martín worked with Daniel Bergman Vázquez of Estudio Untercio to create an open-plan oasis in an apartment building in central Madrid. Estudio Untercio designed the medium-density fiberboard cupboards, which are coated with lacquer paint matching the ceramic-porcelain countertops. The tubular hood above the island is by Teka.

The central living area features an open-plan kitchen, living space, and deck with views of Louttit Bay. To maximize energy savings, the house has a ducted reverse air cycle system from Fujitsu.

A linear layout allows for air and light to flow freely through the apartment, making it an a open haven in the center of the city. An IKEA pendant and chairs surround a table by Zone Maison.

Candy Sarvis loves feeling connected with dinner guests while she cooks. The African teak kitchen cabinetry is by Pedini, with Miele appliances. A Big Bang pendant by Foscarini illuminates the Montecarlo table by Cattelan Italia.

The decidedly modern dining and kitchen areas open to the backyard through a floor-to-ceiling steel-and-glass door, fabricated by Optimum Window. One of the owners’ favorite features of the home is the “ability to connect the inside to the outside seamlessly,” Bangia describes. The living area serves as “a place for the kids to dance or ride a skateboard, a casual space that reflects the way they live.”

The family's activity centers around the open-plan dining room, which does triple-duty as a living room and kitchen. Susanna prefers a motley set of dining chairs over a coordinated set; that way guests can pick their favorite when they sit.

The new volume houses the dining area, which includes stairs to the bedrooms. The table is from Blake Avenue and the walnut chairs are from Room & Board. “You don’t want bright colors to take away from that relationship between the interior and the exterior,” Walker says.

The kitchen and adjoined dining space have a light, open feel, as does the rest of the home. Complementary design elements, like the low-slung steel bookcase next to the stairs, which Flournoy’s partner organized according to color, reappear throughout the house. Pops of color add an appealing break from the largely monochromatic palette, and reinforce the couple’s design aesthetic. The Bistro chairs are from Crate and Barrel.

The renovation, which focused on the living-dining-kitchen area, strikes a balance between intimate and inviting, hence the project's name, the Open/Private apartment.

In an effort to create a more open floor plan, a portion of the wall between the kitchen, family area, and dining room was removed. Part of the dining room wall was also replaced with a huge window that not only makes a statement, but also gives the family a stunning view of the backyard area. Photo by Mariko Reed.

Previously, the apartment featured a substantial balcony that David converted into additional living space. Cherner bar chairs pull up to the island. The dining table is surrounded by Wishbone chairs by Hans Wegner and Tom Dixon pendant lights.

Two smaller, adjacent structures house autonomous bedrooms, each equipped with a full bathroom.

Rich blue PKW-2 chairs by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller surround a custom table by Bruce Bolander in the home Bolander built in Malibu Canyon.

Nix and Novak-Zemplinski, founders of the design firm BioLINIA, in their 1,000-square-foot apartment’s open-plan kitchen, dining, and living space. They had the decorative cabinets and ceiling panels CNC-milled by a Polish subsidiary of the Finnish company Koskisen. Photo by Andreas Meichsner.

Nakada works from an Alvar Aalto table in the living and dining area, adjacent to the kitchen. He saved on some elements, such as the plywood cabinetry, and splurged on others, such as the Finn Juhl chairs and Vilhelm Lauritzen lamp. A skylight beneath the angled roof allows in a sliver of constantly changing light.

The refrigerator is Sub-Zero, the cooktop and hood are Viking, and the oven is Miele.

In the open-plan main room upstairs, a midcentury modern table and chairs from a local antique shop mark the start of the eating and cooking area. Bertoia stools from Knoll tuck beneath the bar of the mahogany island, outfitted with a Kohler sink and a Grohe faucet. The cooktop and oven are from Wolf, while the other appliances are from Thermador.

Brammy and Kyprianou hung Koura pendant lights by New Zealand designer David Trubridge above the dining area. Their organic forms and diamond-shaped shadows create intimacy in the vast space. Among Bilardo’s contributions were the black tulipwood cabinetry and ceiling and the cantilevered concrete countertop that appears to go through the glass wall.

Tsutsui continued the Oregon pine from the floor to the steel-reinforced cantilevered staircase, which appears to float above the floor.

The house's open plan is neatly divided into public and private spaces, with the front containing the kitchen and living areas and the back holding the bedroom and bath, overhung by a small mezzanine. A hidden wooden panel can be drawn closed between the two sections for greater privacy.

The staircase leads to the living area upstairs.

Impromptu reading time in the open-plan kitchen is encouraged.

Inside, the bottom floor contains the bedroom, off of which is the bathroom, with a tub from Kaldewei and a Duravit sink.

The dining table in the open-plan space is custom, and the fireplace is from Napoleon.

“Because the property is so narrow, we had to be strategic in laying out the plan,” Mitchell says. “Our goal was to create an open plan that spanned from exterior wall to exterior wall in order to make the home feel as large as possible.” Solid oak flooring fills the space and pendants from Kenroy Home illuminate the kitchen.

The more planning you do and the fewer changes you make, the higher chance you have of staying within your budget. Take the time to figure out what the scope of the project is and get a sense of how much work is needed so that you can make educated decisions when presented with options.

“We adjusted the combinations to see what kinds of spaces they created in relationship to the site and the surrounding buildings,” his associate Satoshi Ohkami explains.

Joseph Armario tasked husband-and-wife duo Karen and Guy Vidal of Design Vidal with transforming an architectural mishmash in East Los Angeles into a modern bachelor pad. Their response was a highly textural single-occupant home that swaps out the original's most dated elements.

Architect Ester Bruzkus of Bruzkus Batek redesigned a compact apartment in Berlin to serve as her home. The previous layout had two bedrooms and one bathroom, but Bruzkus created an open-plan arrangement with only one bedroom to free up space. A folding wall can be pulled out for privacy. Custom furniture joins pieces by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller and Gervasoni. The bathroom is enclosed within the black cube, which can be entered from either the bedroom side or the living room side. The paintings are by Berlin-based artist Niki Elbe.

In a 1920s building on St-Dominique Street in Montreal, formerly a factory for canned soup, a sleek apartment for a family now stands.

A spacious kitchen-dining area flows seamlessly into the yard, which features an outdoor kitchen, cabana, and lap pool. The backsplash and kitchen island are wrapped in Calacatta marble.

Architect Christi Azevedo, along with homeowners Lorena Siminovich and Esteban Kerner, transformed this 1,485-square-foot, multilevel, mid-century maze into a modern and efficient family home in just three months. “It was the craziest frickin’ thing,” laughs Azevedo. “It was like a Tetris game, putting it all together, trying to squeak out space wherever we could.” Purchased as if straight out of 1955, the home is now the ideal small space for Siminovich and Kerner to raise their young daughter, Matilda.

The 1920s building was converted into lofts in 2000. The client started out looking for new cabinet hardware and an improved connection between the laundry room and the guest bath, but ultimately decided to work with the firms on a full overhaul.

In the open-plan kitchen, dining, and living area, the family cohabitates comfortably with their art. The wooden furniture was custom built for the space by the Melbourne designers Xilo.

Parisian banker-turned-architect Jean-Luc Boucharenc is the creative force behind this striking five-bedroom house in Joá. Inspired by the dramatic natural landscape—the house is built into rocky cliffs above the ocean – Boucharenc opted for a minimalist design, employing glass, cement, and locally sourced wood to create the sensation of living outside. Tom Dixon pendants hang over the dining table.

The open plan, high ceilings, and white walls all amplify the light that streams into the living room, accented with a Barcelona Couch by Mies van der Rohe for Knoll and two Blythe Pony Cube ottomans by Gus Design.