On paper, a kitchen may just be the place to make and store food—but in reality, it’s so much more than that: a gathering place for family and friends to start or end the day, a place where we chop veggies, chip away at homework and share late-night glasses of wine. So it’s only natural that a room with so many di erent purposes could be interpreted in infi nite ways. Which is why each of the special kitchen designs, offers kitchen counter top designs that makes the most of the heart of the home.
Bring wood into an all white kitchen
Yes, we’ll always love the white kitchen, but sometimes a little warmth goes a long way in a family space. Here, a Scandinavian influenced design think black accents along with a clean, neutral colour palette is made a little more dynamic by pairing a section of whitewashed oak cabinetry along with the white. In a large kitchen such as this one, notes Vancouver designer Andrea Rodman, breaking up a bank of cabinets with the introduction of another material brings a more intimate feel to the space, along with some visual dynamism.
Simplify materials to enhance fine details
For this kitchen in Vancouver’s Dunbar neigh bourhood, designer Sophie Burke chose monastically quiet elements to allow subtle variations in the polished Calacatta marble backsplash to shine. The walnut island was stained a darker-than-natural hue to prevent orange undertones from developing over time and to contrast with millwork painted a barely there grey (Para Paint’s Sing Time). “We wanted a colour that isn’t obviously grey but has a natural stonewashed shade to it and picks up on some of the colours in the marble,” says Burke. “It added interest without being too busy.”
Mix up materials to make tone-on-tone beautiful
The rich, warm grey palette of this Calgary kitchen was a natural fit for the homeowner, our 2016 Interior Designer of the Year, Douglas Cridland. “Douglas really loves moody spaces,” says designer Javier Martinez of Cridland Associates. “Any time he does a home of his own, he’s drawn to this colour palette he loves what he loves.” But monotone doesn’t have to mean boring: here, mid-tone grey millwork is paired with a smooth quartz counter in the same colour range, while a dynamic fabric on the backs of the comfy custom stools adds a little pattern variation. And the upper cabinets above the sink are in another material as well—back-painted glass, in the same shade as the walls. The combination of materials keeps the space interesting, while the unifying colour palette has a calming vibe.
Designing a kitchen island with seating
A cantilevered reclaimed-wood seating juts out of the Carrara marble block in this White Rock, B.C., kitchen. It’s a stunning architectural feature—and one that grew out of a compromise. “I wanted a big, beautiful feature block, and the homeowner wanted a breakfast table, so we fought it over and this was the result,” laughs interior designer Adam Becker. The warm and rustic tabletop Becker brought in from Scott Landon Antiques provides space for an intimate breakfast for two, but the clever structure actually accentuates the sleek island’s clean lines in the process. Win-win.
Use dark cabinetry to draw in the outdoors
“The homeowners wanted the inside and the outside of the home to be one room,” says Tina Marogna, principal of Aya Kitchens of Vancouver and the designer of this West Vancouver space. Kitchen cabinet range hood design using flat panelled wenge cabinets in a rich rye shade, with minimal pull-tab hardware and similarly dark quartz stone for both the countertops and backsplash, allows the kitchen to recede, bringing the landscaping to the fore. Major design elements, including the red-cedar ceiling and the tile flooring, run continuously to the outside, further blurring the lines. A clever indoor outdoor countertop on the perimeter wall makes playing bartender a breeze.
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