Photo of a large modern l-shaped open plan kitchen in Melbourne with a drop-in sink, flat-panel cabinets, light wood cabinets, quartz benchtops, white splashback, glass sheet splashback, stainless steel appliances, ceramic floors, with island, grey floor, white benchtop and timber.

Photo of a mid-sized beach style l-shaped eat-in kitchen in Sydney with white cabinets, marble benchtops, grey splashback, marble splashback, ceramic floors, beige floor, grey benchtop, flat-panel cabinets and a peninsula.

Recycled messmate timber cupboards, smartstone and stainless stell benchtop, V-zug appliances, original Les Arks vintage leather stools, barn door to walk in pantry.

Design ideas for a large country u-shaped kitchen pantry in Adelaide with a farmhouse sink, shaker cabinets, white cabinets, quartz benchtops, white splashback, metal splashback, black appliances, ceramic floors, a peninsula, grey floor and grey benchtop.

A bold and contemporary kitchen with extension of cabinetry into the living area creates a seemless look for this high end inner city apartment.
This is an example of a large contemporary galley open plan kitchen in Brisbane with an undermount sink, black cabinets, quartz benchtops, white splashback, engineered quartz splashback, black appliances, ceramic floors, with island, brown floor and white benchtop.

Photo of a large modern l-shaped eat-in kitchen in Sydney with a double-bowl sink, flat-panel cabinets, beige cabinets, marble benchtops, multi-coloured splashback, marble splashback, stainless steel appliances, ceramic floors, with island, beige floor and white benchtop.

CURVES & TEXTURE - Custom designed & manufactured cabinetry in 'matte black' polyurethane - Large custom curved cabinetry - Feature vertical slates around the island - Curved timber grain floating shelf with recessed LED strip lighting - Large bifold appliance cabinet with timber grain internals - 20mm thick Caesarstone 'Jet Black' benchtop - Feature textured matte black splashback tile - Lo & Co matte black hardware - Blum hardware Sheree Bounassif, Kitchens by Emanuel

Open blackbutt shelves ceasarstone bench top with blackbutt frame
Design ideas for a contemporary l-shaped open plan kitchen in Other with ceramic splashback, ceramic floors and with island.

Design ideas for a large transitional l-shaped separate kitchen in Sydney with an undermount sink, raised-panel cabinets, white cabinets, quartzite benchtops, beige splashback, porcelain splashback, stainless steel appliances, marble floors, brown floor and beige benchtop.

Beautiful kitchen remodel in a 1950's mis century modern home in Yellow Springs Ohio The Teal accent tile really sets off the bright orange range hood and stove. Photo Credit, Kelly Settle Kelly Ann Photography

Lotfi Dakhli
Design ideas for a mid-sized contemporary l-shaped open plan kitchen in Lyon with an undermount sink, solid surface benchtops, black splashback, ceramic floors, beige floor, black benchtop, flat-panel cabinets, dark wood cabinets, black appliances and a peninsula.

Kitchen. Designed by Form Studio, the kitchen door fronts and island unit are made from White High Max. The stools are from Magi and the lights over the island unit from Martini Lighting. . . Bruce Hemming (photography) : Form Studio (architecture)

Download our free ebook, Creating the Ideal Kitchen. DOWNLOAD NOW This unit, located in a 4-flat owned by TKS Owners Jeff and Susan Klimala, was remodeled as their personal pied-à-terre, and doubles as an Airbnb property when they are not using it. Jeff and Susan were drawn to the location of the building, a vibrant Chicago neighborhood, 4 blocks from Wrigley Field, as well as to the vintage charm of the 1890’s building. The entire 2 bed, 2 bath unit was renovated and furnished, including the kitchen, with a specific Parisian vibe in mind. Although the location and vintage charm were all there, the building was not in ideal shape -- the mechanicals -- from HVAC, to electrical, plumbing, to needed structural updates, peeling plaster, out of level floors, the list was long. Susan and Jeff drew on their expertise to update the issues behind the walls while also preserving much of the original charm that attracted them to the building in the first place -- heart pine floors, vintage mouldings, pocket doors and transoms. Because this unit was going to be primarily used as an Airbnb, the Klimalas wanted to make it beautiful, maintain the character of the building, while also specifying materials that would last and wouldn’t break the budget. Susan enjoyed the hunt of specifying these items and still coming up with a cohesive creative space that feels a bit French in flavor. Parisian style décor is all about casual elegance and an eclectic mix of old and new. Susan had fun sourcing some more personal pieces of artwork for the space, creating a dramatic black, white and moody green color scheme for the kitchen and highlighting the living room with pieces to showcase the vintage fireplace and pocket doors. Photographer: @MargaretRajic Photo stylist: @Brandidevers Do you have a new home that has great bones but just doesn’t feel comfortable and you can’t quite figure out why? Contact us here to see how we can help!

We love a challenge! The existing small bathroom had a corner toilet and funky gold and white tile. To make the space functional for a family we removed a small bedroom to extend the bathroom, which allows room for a large shower and bathtub. Custom cabinetry is tucked into the ceiling slope to allow for towel storage. The dark green cabinetry is offset by a traditional gray and white wallpaper which brings contrast to this unique bathroom. Partial kitchen remodel to replace and reconfigure upper cabinets, full-height cabinetry, island, and backsplash. The redesign includes design of custom cabinetry, and finish selections. Full bathroom gut and redesign with floor plan changes. Removal of the existing bedroom to create a larger bathroom. The design includes full layout redesign, custom cabinetry design, and all tile, plumbing, lighting, and decor selections.

Luxuriously dark cabinetry, light worktops and walls with a spacious feel - this is a cool take on a classical kitchen design. Custom made for a couple with a keen eye for design, who work hard, know how to relax and absolutely adore their pups. Their kitchen renovation was part of a whole house restoration. With busy careers and two pups the brief highlighted two main aims. Firstly, to create space to enjoy the kitchen, for cooking and relaxing. Secondly, to provide customised storage so that everything has a place to help keep the space tidy. The main kitchen area is where the culinary magic happens with space to unwind. The home bar for gin and wine lovers, includes wine racks, antique mirror, glazed shelves for the gin collection and two fridge drawers for wine and mixers. Designed with pocket doors it can be left open to admire the beautiful bottles, or closed – maybe for Dry January?! It’s positioned cleverly next to their outdoor ‘lounge’ area complete with comfortable chairs and an outside rug. The larder cupboard has spice / oil racks, baskets and boxes at the bottom for treats. There are electrical points inside so the coffee machine is plugged in here and ready to serve that morning espresso. Being able to keep the kitchen tidy was important so we created a ‘home for everything’ using drawers within drawers, an Oak baking tray divider, pan drawers with lid holders and integrated chopping board and tray spaces. The ovens, warming drawer, induction hob and downdraft extractor are positioned together with the plenty of prep worktop space. The cooking section is aligned with the washing area including Fisher and Paykel dishwasher drawers, beautifully glossy white ceramic sink and boiling water tap. With a slim Oak shelf above for displaying favourite things. The Island serves as a breakfast bar as well as a sweet spot for a casual supper. There is a Zebrano wood knife block inset into the Island worktop so that their Global knife collection is on hand for food prep by the hob and oven. The table and chairs are painted in the same colour as the cabinets and upholstered in black and white, with bench seating by the window including drawers for dog toys conveniently by the doors to the garden. The second part of the design is the walk-in butler’s style pantry. This area was designed to keep the kitchen ‘clutter’ out of the main area. And it is a brilliant area to stack all the dirty dishes when entertaining as it’s completely out of sight. The cabinetry is an a classic ‘u’ shape and houses the fridge, freezer, cupboards for large appliances, oversized dishes and one for the mop and bucket. The tall cupboards with bi-fold doors are for food storage, and you can see from the photos that everything is beautifully kept – rice, pasta, popcorn, quinoa all in lovely named jars. It’s an organisers dream come true. There is also a sink for washing vegetables and oodles of prep surface. Colour pallet The cabinetry is hand painted in Farrow and Ball ‘Off-Black’. Dark and inky, it just lures you right in, timeless and deeply refined. With the cabinetry being grand in proportion too, with detailed cornicing it creates a really bold statement in this space. It can be daunting to go for a dark shade of black, blue or green, but you can see the drama of the cabinets is perfectly matched with plenty of natural light, the white walls and warm Oak floor tiles. The white patterned Domus ‘Biscuit’ tiles bring texture and playfulness. The worktop, Caesarstone Ocean Foam, is a white quartz with speckles of grey crystals. In a classic polished finish it lets the rest of the room do the ‘singing’ while providing a clean light reflecting practical surface for preparing and enjoying food and drinks. The floor tiles bring the warmth. No two tiles have the same pattern so they really do look like wood, but are better suited to the pups as they don’t scratch and are non-slip. Lighting Design The slim black framed windows with doors onto the garden flood the kitchen with natural light and warmth during the day. But atmospheric lighting into the evening was important too, so we incorporated custom lighting in the glass cabinet, gin cabinet and pantry. “It is so well integrated and was a really important thing for me, along with all the smart lighting in the room, and Mike did a great job with it all.” It was such a pleasure to make this kitchen. They wanted to work with a local company and we feel so lucky they picked us.

Photo of a large contemporary u-shaped open plan kitchen in Phoenix with grey cabinets, quartzite benchtops, stainless steel appliances, ceramic floors, with island and brown floor.

Walk through pantry. We used a 9ft cherry butcher-block top applying 15 coats of food safe Walnut Nut oil. Three 36" grey base cabinets with self closing drawers and doors were used and sat directly on top of grey tone rectangle tiles. We added 9ft of of open adjustable all wood component shelving in three 36" units. The shelving is all wood core product with a veneer finish and all maple edges on shelving. The strength is 10x that of particle board systems. These shelves give a custom shelving look with the adjustable of component product. We also added a 48"x72" free standing shelf unit with 6 shelves.

The owners of this kitchen had spent the money to upgrade the finishes in their kitchen upon building the home 12 years ago, but after living in the space for several years they realized how nonfunctional the layout really was. The (then) two preschool aged children had grown into busy, hungry teenagers with many friends who also liked to hang out at the house. So the family needed a more functional kitchen with better traffic flow, space for daily activities revolving around the kitchen at different times of day, and a kitchen that could accommodate cooking for and serving large groups. Furthermore, the dark, traditional finishes no longer reflected the homeowners’ style. They requested a brighter, more relaxed, coastal style that reflected their love of the seaside cities they like to visit. Originally, the kitchen was U-shaped with a narrow island in the middle. The island created narrow aisles that bottle-necked at the dishwasher, refrigerator, and cooktop areas. There was a pass-through from the foyer into the kitchen, but the owners never liked that the pass-through was also located so close to the powder room. The awkward proximity was unappealing and made guests feel uncomfortable. The kitchen’s storage was made up of lots of narrow cabinets, apothecary drawers, clipped corner units, and very few drawers. It lacked useful storage for the larger items the family used on a daily basis. And the kitchen’s only pantry was small closet that had only builder-grade, narrow shelving with no illumination to be able to see the contents inside. Overall, the kitchen’s lighting plan was poorly executed. Only six recessed cans illuminated the entire kitchen and nook areas. The under cabinet lighting was not evenly distributed either. In fact, the builder had mis-placed the under cabinet lighting around the decorative pilasters which made for choppy, dark cubbies. Further, the builder didn’t include any lighting over the sink or the bar area, which meant whoever was doing the dishes was always in their own shadow. That, coupled with the steep overhang of the game room above made the bar area feel like a dim, cavernous space that wasn’t inviting or task oriented. The kitchen looked out into the main living space, but the raised bar and a narrow wall (which held the only large cabinet in the kitchen) created more of a barrier than a relationship to the living room or breakfast nook. In fact, one couldn’t even see the breakfast nook from the cooktop or sink areas due to its orientation. The raised bar top was too narrow to comfortably sit to either dine at or chat from due to the lack of knee space. The the homeowners confided that the kitchen felt more like a dark, dirty prison than place where the family, or their guests, wanted to gather and commune. The clients' needs and desires were: ➢ to create a kitchen that would be a space the family loved to be in; to relate to the adjacent spaces all around, and to have better flow for entertaining large groups ➢ to remove the walls between the breakfast nook and living area and to be able to utilize the natural light from the windows in both those areas ➢ to incorporate a functional chopping block for prepping fresh food for home cooked meals, an island with a large sink and drain board, 2 pull out trash cans, and seating for at least the 2 teens to eat or do homework ➢ to design a kitchen and breakfast nook with an airy, coastal, relaxed vibe that blended with the rest of the house's coastal theme ➢ to integrate a layered lighting plan which would include ample general illumination, specific task lighting, decorative lighting, and lots of illuminated storage ➢ to design a kitchen with not only more storage for all the husband’s kitchen gadgets and collection of oils and spices, but smart storage, including a coffee/breakfast bar and a place to store and conceal the toaster oven and microwave ➢ to find a way to utilize the large open space between the kitchen, pantry area, and breakfast nook Twelve Stones Designs achieved the owner's goals by: ➢ removing the walls between the kitchen and living room to allow the natural light to filter in from the adjacent rooms and to create a connection between the kitchen, nook, and living spaces for a sense of unity and communion ➢ removing the existing pantry and designing 3 large pantry style cabinets with LED tape lights and rollout drawers to house lots of kitchen appliances, gadgets, and tons of groceries. We also took the cabinets all the way up to the 9’ ceiling for additional storage for seasonal items and bulk storage. ➢ designing 2 islands - 1 with a gorgeous black walnut chopping block that houses a drawer for chopping and carving knives and a custom double pull out trash unit for point of use utilization - and 1 that houses the dishwasher, a large Blanco Gourmet sink with integrated drain board, woven baskets for fresh root vegetables and kitchen towels, plenty of drawer storage for kitchen items, and bar seating for up to 4 diners. ➢ closing off the space between the kitchen and the powder room to create a beautiful new private alcove for the powder room as well as adding some decorative storage. This also gave us space to include more tall storage near the new range for precision placement of the husband’s extensive oil and spice collection as well as a location for a combo-steam oven the wife wanted for baking and cooking healthy meals. The project is enhanced functionally by: ➢ incorporated USB and standard receptacles for the kids’ laptops and phone charging in the large island ➢ designing the small island to include additional open shelving for items used on a daily basis such as a variety of bowls, plates, and colanders. This set up also works well for the husband who prefers to “plate” his dinners in restaurant-style fashion before presenting them to the table. ➢ the integration of specific storage units, such as double stacked cutlery drawers, a custom spice pull-out, a Kuerig coffee and tea pod drawer, and custom double stacked utensil drawers ➢ moving the refrigerator to the old oven location - this eliminated the bottle neck as well as created a better relationship to the eating table. It also utilizes the floor space between the pantry, nook, and kitchen ➢ creating a banquet style breakfast nook - this banquette seating not only doubles the amount of seating for large gatherings but it better utilizes the odd space between the kitchen and the previous nook area. It also helps to create a distinct pathway from the mudroom room through the pantry area, kitchen, nook, and living room. ➢ the coffee/breakfast bar area which includes the perfect location for the concealed microwave and toaster oven, convenient storage for the coffee pods and tea accoutrements. Roll-out drawers below also house the smoothie maker, hot water kettle, and a plethora of smoothie-making ingredients such as protein powders, smoothie additives, etc. Furthermore, the drawers below the Keurig house measuring utensil, cutlery, baking supplies and tupperware storage. ➢ incorporating lots of wide drawers and pullouts to accommodate large cookware. ➢ utilizing as much vertical space as possible by building storage to the ceiling which accommodates the family’s abundant amount of serving platters, baking sheets, bakeware, casserole dishes, and additional cutting boards. The project is enhanced aesthetically by: ➢ new 5-piece Versailles pattern porcelain tile that now seamlessly joins the entire down stairs area together creating a bright, cohesiveness feeling instead of choppy separated spaces - it also adds a coastal feeling ➢ designing a cabinet to conceal the microwave and toaster oven ➢ the coastal influenced light fixtures over the nook table and island ➢ the sandy colors of the Langdon Cambria countertops. The swirling pattern and sparkling quartz pieces remind the homeowner of black-and-tan sandy beaches ➢ the striped banquet seating whose creamy white background and blue-green stripes were the inspiration for the cabinet and wall colors. ➢ All the interior doors were painted black to coordinate with the blacks and grays in the backsplash tile and countertop. This also adds a hint of tailored formality to an otherwise casual space. ➢ the use of WAC's Oculux small aperture LED units for the overhead lighting complimented with Diode LED strips for task lighting under the cabinets and inside the pantry and glass wall cabinets. All of the lighting applications are on separate dimmer switches. Innovative uses of materials or construction methods by Realty Restoration LLC: ➢ Each 1-1/2” x 3” block of reclaimed end-grain black walnut that makes up the center island chopping block was hand milled and built in the shop. It was designed to look substantial and proportional to the surrounding elements, executed by creating the 4 inch tall top with a solid wood chamfered edge band. ➢ The metal doors on either side of the vent hood were also custom designed for this project and built in the Realty Restoration LLC shop. They are made 1x2, 11-gauge mild steel with ribbed glass. Weighing 60 lbs a piece, heavy duty cabinet hinges were added to support the weight of the door and keep them from sagging. ➢ Under-cabinet receptacles were added along the range wall in order to have a clean, uninterrupted backsplash. Design obstacles to overcome: ➢ Because we were removing the demising walls between the kitchen and living room, we had to find a way to plumb and vent the new island. We did this by tunneling through the slab (the slab had post tension cables which prevented us from just trenching) to run a new wet vent through a nearby structural wall. We pulled the existing hot and cold lines between upper floor joists and ran them down the structural wall as well and up through a conduit in the tunnel. ➢ Since we were converting from wall overs to a gas range it allowed us to utilize the 220 feed for the wall ovens to provide a new sub panel for all the new kitchen circuits ➢ Due to framing deficiencies inherited from the original build there was a 1-1/2” differential in the floor-to-ceiling height over a 20 foot span; by utilizing the process of cutting and furring coupled with the crown moulding details on the cabinet elevations we were able to mask the problem and provide seamless transitions between the cabinet components. Evidence of superior craftsmanship: ➢ uniquely designed, one-of-a-kind metal “X” end panels on the large island. The end panels were custom made in the Realty Restoration LLC shop and fitted to the exact dimensions of the island. The welding seams are completely indistinguishable - the posts look like they are cut from a single sheet of metal ➢ square metal posts on the small island were also custom made and designed to compliment and carry through the metal element s throughout the kitchen ➢ the beautiful, oversized end panels on the pantry cabinets which give the breakfast nook a tailored look ➢ integrating a large format 5 piece Versailles tile pattern to seamlessly flow from the existing spaces into the new kitchen space ➢ By constructing a custom cabinet that jogged around a corner we could not remodel (housing the entry way coat closet) we were able to camouflage the adjacent wall offset within the upper and lower cabinets. By designing around the existing jog in the structural walls we accomplished a few things: we were able to find the space to house, and hide, the microwave and toaster oven yet still have a clean cohesive appearance from the kitchen side. Additionally, the owners were able to keep their much needed coat closet and we didn’t have to increase the budget with unnecessary structural work.

This is an example of a mid-sized contemporary single-wall eat-in kitchen in Moscow with an undermount sink, flat-panel cabinets, beige cabinets, granite benchtops, grey splashback, granite splashback, black appliances, marble floors, no island, grey floor and grey benchtop.