When it comes to great design, there are standards and there are standouts. Each of the designers in this portfolio of kitchens has found the extra special – and smart – element that gives these rooms that covetable je ne sais quoi.
Milan, Italy
Design: Federica Viero
Photography: Cortili Photo | Laura Fantacuzzi and Maxime Galati-Fourcade
Style courses through Federica Viero’s veins. As the former group head of design for DSQUARED2, Viero created this elegant – and slightly retro – kitchen in her Milan home. The pale blue-green walls, honey-colored parquet floors and stately cabinetry give the room an English- country-manor vibe, but it is the grouping of papier-mâché animals from John Derian that really gives the room its quirky appeal.
Brussels, Belgium
Design: Isabel Gómez Studio
Photography: Ruth Maria Murphy
Designer Isabel Gómez reimagined a penthouse loft for a client who initially did not want to make major changes. Gómez shares that “the choices were made for her, for her character. She is attracted to graphic shapes and dark colors. You see paneling, a lot of metal, bold volumes.” A contemporary graphic wallpaper, designed by the studio, covers the large corner wall facing the living room and kitchen. Dark, tropical wenge wood flooring is the base that ties the entire project together.
French Riviera, France
Design: Madelon Oudshoorn Spaargaren, MOS Interiors
Photography: Space Content
Napoleon once slept in this historic holiday house on the French Riviera. Amsterdam-based designer Madelon Oudshoorn Spaargaren notes that today, the property is available to rent. There are not one but two charming kitchens in very different designs, but both are evocative of that elusive French style. The more rustic kitchen with the open hearth has a wall mural of fish in pride of place, and the turquoise cabinetry echoes the blue waters outside. On the main floor of the house, black-and-white tile, stainless steel accents and open shelving give this kitchen industrial flair.
Morgan, Utah
Design: Jennifer Chipman, Bond Design Company
Photography: Nicole Gerulat
For this rustic, speakeasy-style kitchen, Jennifer Chipman used reclaimed wood and 1920s-inspired industrial details to create a warm, comfortable room that is also filled with highly functional kitchen equipment like the BlueStar range and Lutron lighting. The pièce de résistance that ties the room together is the custom range hood that is designed to mimic an industrial ventilation system and lends a steampunk feel to the entire project.
Austin, Texas
Design: Annie Downing Interiors
Photography: Lindsay Brown
This light-filled kitchen space has an artisanal quality, with the hand-crafted appeal of Zellige tiles on the backsplash and brass finishes on faucets, hardware and lighting. But the eye is immediately drawn to the green concrete tile that fronts the island, with inset brass adding a graphic, repeating pattern. Annie Downing says, “Rather than install hard-to-access cabinetry at the front of the island, we opted for a kick-proof design element that ultimately drove the palette for the entire space. The client loves color and fell for this tile immediately.”
Brussels, Belgium
Design Duo: Tecla Tangorra and Robert Ivanov, LABSCAPE Studio
Photography: Nicolas Schimp
Tecla Tangorra worked with homeowner Caroline – a talented decorator in her own right – on her home in Paris, so collaborating on her home in Brussels was a natural fit. Villa C was built in the 1960s in a tree-lined neighborhood in the European Union’s capital city. The showstopping kitchen is clad entirely in ceramic, an idea Caroline had after LABSCAPE Studio created a custom ceramic table and fireplace in Paris. LABSCAPE’s longtime collaborator, Ceramiche di Cava, in Vietri, Italy, was called in to create all the surfaces. The centerpiece is an impressive geometric ceramic wall in shades of green, dark aqua, brown and ochre and a mix of textures and finishes from glossy to rough and grainy.
Laurel Canyon, California
Design: Kirsten Blazek, A1000xBetter
Photography: Michael P.H. Clifford
In this midcentury California kitchen, Kirsten Blazek was tasked with making a dark galley kitchen bigger, brighter and better. She opened the space, added a wall of windows and used a palette of earth tones and blonde wood to give the room a modern, updated look. Centering the kitchen is the fluted, geometric island that is functional and ties the whole design together, giving the space that touch of wow.
London, England
Design: PLUCK Kitchens
Photography: Rachel Smith
A family kitchen by UK firm PLUCK Kitchens was designed during the COVID-19 lockdown. The clients took their time to create a truly functional yet high-style room that suited their needs. PLUCK combined two smaller rooms to give the family more space and opened the kitchen to the garden. Their bread-baking hobby – acquired during the pandemic – continues, making that center table with the marble top extra useful. Iris, a vivacious woman who works in the media, chose the sunshine-yellow color scheme, and the graphic tiles are a fun and funky counterpoint.
Katowice, Poland
Design: Widawscy Studio Architektury
Photography: Marcin Grabowiecki
Stylist: Eliza Mrozińska
The highlight of this kitchenette, which is open to the home’s living room, is the orderly, carefully planned, custom millwork. The arches, waves and circles were inspired by posters by the Poznań-based artist Katarzyna Nowakowska. The functional-yet-streamlined kitchen is unconventional, and due to the small size of the apartment, the peninsula with barstools also serves as the dining table, with the rounded forms softening the divisions between the living room and kitchenette to form a single, cohesive space.
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