Kitchen Ideas
4. Natural selection. The heart of this Dallas kitchen is the island-breakfast bar, which features rich materials and a double waterfall structure. The raised breakfast bar is made of warm walnut, while the island top is white marble with gray veining. Homeowner and builder Chris Dauwe covered the space beneath the breakfast bar in reclaimed wood, sourced from a barn in North Carolina. Using natural-looking materials helped Dauwe achieve his goal of “a contemporary home with an industrial twist,” he says. Island and kitchen countertops: Mountain White marble; leather stools: Halo Styles
7. Your barn door is open. This Michigan kitchen features two barn doors on a single sliding track. One of the doors slides open to reveal a walk-in pantry, while the other door leads to the living room. Therefore, if the homeowners want to hide a messy pantry or keep guests out of the kitchen, the solution is just a slide away.Find barn door hardware
9. Toy with textured tiles. Tile doesn’t have to be brightly colored to have a dramatic impact. If you like the idea of an interesting tile but also want to keep your kitchen or bathroom bright white and breezy, consider an embossed or shaped tile with a textural face. These can add a sense of richness to your surfaces without breaking up a minimalist color palette.
8. Open up to ombre. Sometimes a solid color can feel too overwhelming, especially a vivid hue like aqua blue. That’s where tile comes in, giving multitonality that is hard to achieve on a wall with paint and a brush. For a fun effect, try taking two different colors of the same tile and fading from one hue to the next to get an ombre fade, using the boldest hue toward the bottom and a paler one (or a simple white) more toward the top to keep that color in check.
Tie Your Spaces TogetherOpen floor plans are fantastic for fostering connections and hosting parties. While many homeowners could wax lyrical on this terrific design idea, open-concept spaces can feel cavernous if you’re not careful. Create a more intimate atmosphere using a textural accent wall that spans the length of the room. Visually linking living, dining and kitchen areas creates cozy cohesion in a large open space.Distressed-brick veneer does the trick in the space seen here. Paired with rich woods, warm hues and layered textiles, it unifies the room and adds character from another era. The irregularly shaped bricks could look as at home in an 18th-century kitchen as they do here, adding rough authenticity to the otherwise transitional space. Hardier than paint or wallpaper, they’ll also stand up to enthusiastic cooking. If you’re nervous about errant marinara sauce (or other staining agents), ask your contractor to seal the veneer.
Anchor Your Open ShelvingOpen shelving was a big kitchen trend in 2017 and doesn’t seem to be slowing down. However, removing upper cabinets in favor of a simple shelf or two can leave your kitchen looking a bit bare. To add much-needed depth, use stone veneer behind your open shelves. The large-format limestone-inspired veneer used in this kitchen offers the lightness and simplicity of a white wall with more zest. Anchoring the room, its subtle roughness balances out the high-gloss finishes and lends an unexpected yet chic backdrop to the shelf’s artwork and dishware. And the veneer is easy to clean: Just use mild granulated detergent, warm water and a soft bristle brush, and rinse right away. Pair this accent wall with matte bronze, sculptural shapes, wood floors and greenery for an organic twist on contemporary style.
1. Take charge. Designer Tracey Stephens was tasked with creating a retro-style kitchen that features vintage furniture and checkerboard floors for a New Jersey family of four. But the requirements of the technology age were not lost on the design. The kitchen includes a drawer with a built-in charger, complete with regular and USB outlets. “It’s so nice not to have all of those devices out and dealing with cords all the time,” homeowner Jody Suden says. Drawer charging station: Docking Drawer 18MoreHow to Refresh Your Kitchen on Any BudgetStash It All: Know the 3 Zones of Kitchen Storage
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