Category: Kitchen Guides

Nooks and crannies are part of houses’ charm. But a 1970s remodel had covered up most of the quaint structure within this historical Portland, Oregon, kitchen. Homeowners David Spencer and Jerry Petty stripped down the kitchen to its studs and produced a blank slate for constructing a brand new period-appropriate kitchen within their 1913 house. Modern-day materials using a decorative twist honor the historical kitchen’s authentic design, while vintage-style appliances and light help bring the merry spirit of this space back to life.

Kitchen in a Glance
Who lives here: David Spencer, Jerry Petty, son Jack and dog Sheba
Location: Ladd’s Addition area of Portland, Oregon
Size: 300 square feet
Budget: $64,000 (contains all building and material prices for the full remodel, custom cabinetry, and traditional plaster walls and electric and plumbing)

Hammer & Hand

After shooting the kitchen down to the studs, then the team redesigned it based on the remainder of the home’s details. A 1950 Wedgewood gas stove became the center of the new layout.

Charlotte Cooney of Domestic Arts designed a custom vintage-inspired grill insert over the stove, which builder Alex Daisley of Hammer & Hand connected to an outside exhaust.

Backsplash: Daltile; faucets: Chicago Faucets; colors: Rejuvenation

Hammer & Hand

The customers also splurged on true, traditional plaster walls. Period-inspired light from Schoolhouse Electric ties in with the room’s red accents to match Spencer’s vintage dish collection.

Countertops: Pionite; light fixtures: Schoolhouse Electric

Hammer & Hand

The peppy checked vinyl composition tile floors are affordable, are lasting and nod into the linoleum floors of the early 20th century. The laminate counter with aluminum edging also cut down on prices.

The prior kitchen had scored plaster wainscoting along the walls, painted to look like vinyl. After ripping out the wood, Cooney installed 3-inch square tiles which would match the design while upping the kitchen’s viability.

Flooring: vinyl composition tiles, Armstrong; cabinets: custom, Big Branch Woodworking

Hammer & Hand

An arched alcove fits snugly round a retro-style Big Chill refrigerator.

Wall paint: Squish Squash, Benjamin Moore

Hammer & Hand

Custom inset face-framed cabinets mimic original built-ins throughout the remainder of the house. This convenient entry door hides the microwave and spices.

Drawer pulls, knobs: Rejuvenation

Hammer & Hand

The design group made use of the original niche cabinet for the home’s ironing board and built a customized plank of reclaimed Oregon fir. The owners prefer to use cloth tablecloths, so they use the plank (and the adjacent laundry chute) frequently.

Hammer & Hand

The new butler’s pantry is right outside the kitchen, on the road into the dining area. Chair rails highlight Spencer’s collection of vintage fruit crate labels, tin trays and framed art pieces.

Hammer & Hand

An old-fashioned telephone corner turned into a contemporary phone-charging channel (sockets are hidden beneath the shelf) with distance for a calendar and keys, also.

Hammer & Hand

Amid some unlucky structural surprises, the group found that an old dumbwaiter pulley system at a wall. Using a tiny bit of reconfiguring, they were able to use it for wine storage in the new butler’s pantry. “It’s always difficult to forecast the sins hidden behind older walls,” states Daisley.

Designers: National Arts; Alice Design
Builder: Hammer & Hand
Photographer: Mitchell Snyder

More: A Cottage-Chic Kitchen on a Budget

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When I started studying kitchen layout many (many!) Years ago, I heard all about the much-venerated kitchen work — in which the fridge, range and sink have been placed 4 to 9 feet apart, forming a roughly equilateral triangle. This design principle was developed back when many folks had smaller, closed-off kitchens, where only 1 person prepared and cleaned up dishes. It’s an efficient way to lay out appliances and the sink at a tiny closed or semiclosed kitchen.

The work triangle is still practical today, but with kitchens that now run the gamut from miniature single-wall galleys up to big open-plan kitchens, it is more helpful to think in terms of work zones rather.

Ward-Young Architecture & Planning – Truckee, CA

Work zones are just the normal evolution of the kitchen work triangle. As kitchens grew in size and opened up to additional rooms in the home, it became more of a challenge to place appliances at a neat triangular layout. In addition, we have more appliances than ever before — dishwashers, extra sinks, microwaves, independent cooktops and wall ovens — not to mention more individuals working and interacting in the space. By sectioning off your kitchen into work zones, you’ll maximize efficiency in a bigger space; more cooks, as well as their guests, will be adapted.

ID by Gwen

Group appliances and fixtures according to use. To set up work zones on your kitchen, think of the activities that you perform regularly: keeping food, homework, cooking, baking, serving, eating, cleaning, making coffee, chilling wine etc.. A work zone contains whatever you use to perform each job.

For example, you should place your dishwasher next to your sink, with a compost bin and a garbage bin nearby to streamline kitchen cleanup.

First Lamp

Store what you want where you want it most. As well as group appliances and fixtures according to use, give yourself sufficient storage in every zone for everything you want to perform the job.

This wood-topped baking zone is perfect for kneading bread or rolling out pizza dough. All the bread-making and baking tools can be kept in the cabinets under. Someone can quickly work at this channel while another individual prepares food in another portion of the kitchen.

Sinclair Associates Architects

Supply landing areas alongside significant appliances. For security and efficiency, consider putting a countertop landing place next to your major kitchen appliances, particularly the stove, cooktop, microwave and wall ovens.

That you want to be able to rapidly set something down hot without having to trek halfway across your kitchen. This will also give you a cooking work zone; you can store items like knives, cutting boards and pots and pans from the cabinets and use the countertops for cooking and chopping homework.

MAKE Design Studio

Produce a kids’ zone. When you have kids and a good-size space, set up a place from the kitchen where the children can hang out, do homework and eat snacks. This will make it possible for you to all be from the kitchen together with no little ones getting underfoot.

Fivecat Studio | Architecture

Take a zone for your guests. When you have an open kitchen and prefer to entertain frequently, you know how important it’s to have a place where guests can hang out and chat while you prepare meals and beverages. A huge island or peninsula works nicely for this, because it can work as a barrier that prevents individuals from getting in your way while also giving them a place to perch while you work. Again, consider the items you use for serving and entertaining, and keep them in the cabinets under so that you can readily access them.

Homes From Architects Tour

Widen the aisles. Whether you opt for the conventional work triangle or to divide your kitchen into work zones, pay attention to a kitchen aisle widths. The suggested minimum aisle width is 42 inches, however I prefer 48 inches, particularly in kitchens with numerous cooks. Should you cook and entertain frequently and have the distance, you can go as wide as 54 inches. Wider than that, though, and your distance will probably become ineffective, as you’ll spend more time walking than cooking.

Tell us Does your kitchen have a zones or triangle? How does the layout work (or not) for you?

Read more about kitchen designs

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There are the big 3 appliances — the fridge, range and dishwasher — which most of us know and which are must-haves for each kitchen. However, through the years, little, single-purpose appliances also have proliferated. Toasters, mixers, blenders, food processors, bread manufacturers, waffle makers, coffee machines and so a lot more gadgets have become a part of our kitchens.

However, where do we keep these appliances when they’re not being used? How do we keep them close at hand with no taking up precious counter space?

Darren James Interiors

An appliance garage. Utilize a smaller part of a tall cupboard if you don’t have a large cupboard or pantry space for all these appliances. Add cupboard doors which may move entirely out of the way, and place the appliances on a rollout shelf for easiest accessibility.

Sawhill Kitchens

With an outlet or two at the back wall, the appliances will be ready to use when needed and hidden from sight when not.

ROM architecture studio

Purpose-built closets. You can also dedicate a cupboard for a particular small appliance. Among the most typical uses it to shop mixers. Possessing the mixer on a pullout or lift-up shelf keeps the appliance useful and easily stored away. This is a really useful bit of cabinetry for an appliance used frequently.

Hulburd Design

Don’t forget to use every inch of space. It is rather simple to produce some unique and advanced small places with all the different kinds of cabinetry hardware accessible.

Bunker Workshop

A little appliance closet. A closet-like space may be a fantastic home to all your little appliances. Equipping the cupboard with strong rollout shelves may make obtaining at them simple. When you are finished blending, mixing or toasting, just return the appliance to its home and close the door.

Bud Dietrich, AIA

The most omnipresent little appliance needs to be the coffeemaker. More frequently than not, this superb little machine is placed in which it takes up precious counter space. Rather than let it get in the way, try placing it in a dedicated cabinet, away from the main work area. This manner that individual who desires another cup of morning joe remains out of the cook’s way.

The Woodshop of Avon

If a committed cabinet is not in the cards, then try placing the coffeemaker at a committed corner constructed into the corner.

Marie Newton

A shelf in the pantry. Putting these appliances at a dedicated space in a cabinet will work, particularly if the cabinet is well thought out and organized. A pair of pocket doors supplies ample access and turns the cabinet to what it must be: an expansion of the kitchen.

Chelsea Atelier Architect, PC

If budget permits, a built-in coffeemaker using a slide-out counter can’t be overcome.

Kitchen Thyme Design Studio Inc..

A corner counter. If your kitchen has the space for this, a committed work area will make using that coffee maker, mixer or panini press even more enjoyable — and make room for more than 1 cook in the kitchen.

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Few of us think about refrigerators, much less obsess about these, until we are faced with dropping $2,000 to $10,000 on one. And what a range in price for a home appliance that’s supposed to do one basic thing: keep your food cold. What accounts for the price differences? Stick around while we discuss the principal types of refrigerator designs to describe.

Southern Studio Interior Design

1. Counter-Depth Refrigerators

What it is: Counter thickness means the body of the unit is as heavy as the countertop but the doors extend past that due to the hinges. Counter-depth units are generally 32 to 36 inches wide, 24 to 26 inches deep (not including the doorway) and 68 to 71 inches tall. If you’re looking for a true built-in, a counter-depth refrigerator won’t cut it, but the price tag might: It’s often tens of thousands of dollars less than an authentic built-in refrigerator.

Variations: This fashion refrigerator comes in many forms. French doors are very popular today, and since the side-by-side doors are half as wide as one door, they’re fantastic for kitchens with tight clearances. Side-by-side and regular old bottom-freezer options also can be found. Like all the refrigerator types in this ideabook, they’re offered in a selection of finishes besides stainless steel.

When to use: This is a fantastic choice if you’re looking for something that looks sleek and more built in than a standard-depth refrigerator, that includes more clearance around the doorway and costs less than an authentic built-in refrigerator.

Rebekah Zaveloff | KitchenLab

Side-by-side counter-depth alternative. This counter-depth refrigerator is a 36-inch side-by-side. As you can see, the doors stand out past the side panels and cabinets to allow the doors to fully swing open.

Rebekah Zaveloff | KitchenLab

All-refrigerator or even all-freezer counter-depth alternative. This style of refrigerator or freezer provides you a ton of cubic storage without the price tag of high-end commercial-style ones, but of course, you want more room to have two in precisely the same location. Customizing your cabinets and panels can make these components look like custom built-ins for a modest extra cost.

AJ Madison

Electrolux IQ-Touch Series Counter-Depth French-Door Refrigerator

This really is a side-by-side refrigerator using a base freezer and French doors.

Contemporary Refrigerators – $2,199

There are numerous options for side-by-side versions with glossy water and ice dispensers and door handles.

AJ Madison

Fridgidaire Professional Series All Refrigerator – $1,543

A custom trim kit panel causes this 32-inch freestanding counter-depth unit look like one huge business refrigerator/freezer.

2. Full-Depth, or Standard, Refrigerator

What it is: A standard-depth refrigerator is roughly 68 to 71 inches tall and 31 to 35 inches deep into the surface of the doors.

Variations: These come in side-by-side, bottom-freezer and top-freezer options and stainless steel, black or white finishes.

When to use: When clearance is not a concern and you’re looking for the most amount of cubic storage with the smallest amount of width and height, the thickness is where you purchase it. This also is the most affordable option. For people used to a full-depth refrigerator, the interior storage using a counter-depth or built-in refrigerator may be a jolt. It’s a fantastic idea to compare cubic footage before you buy.

AJ Madison

Whirlpool Gold GSS30C6EY Side-by-Side Refrigerator – $1,704.60

From the front it is difficult to tell a standard-depth from a counter-depth refrigerator. The first clue will be the price tag: Counter-depth ones tend to cost more. Secondly, check the specs: A normal refrigerator can be 6 inches deeper. If you are looking at this alternative, consider your circulation path; a standard-depth refrigerator can really alter the flow and layout of a kitchen.

Tip: By creating the cabinets a customized thickness around the refrigerator, you can find the look of a custom built-in refrigerator without the hefty price tag.

Fivecat Studio | Architecture

3. Bottom-Freezer Built-In Refrigerator

What it is: Built-in units are generally 80 to 84 inches tall and 24 to 25 inches deep into the surface of the doorway. The entire unit, including the doorway, is flush with the thickness of the majority of standard cabinets. Bottom-freezer units can also be known as over/under refrigerators; they often come in 27-, 30- or 36-inch widths.

Variations:You can get most bottom-freezer built-ins in both stainless steel and panel-ready options, as well as glass fronts.

When to use: All these are fantastic for smaller kitchens due to the width. If you have a bigger kitchen, you can use two of these side by side. The best place for this kind of refrigerator is at the end of a cupboard run in which the door swings open into the work triangle. You can specify the single-door components to have a ideal hinge or a left hinge.

AJ Madison

Sub-Zero BI30U Built-In Bottom-Freezer Refrigerator

The traditional single-door bottom-freezer built-in model is still among my favorites. I like the produce I use every day to be up high and the suspended goods down below from the drawer.

1 2 S T U D I O . C O M

4. Built-In Side-by-Side Refrigerator

What it’s: A side-by-side unit gets the refrigerator on the right and the freezer on the left, using the breaker on top.

Variations: They come with and without water in the doorway and are generally 24 to 25 inches deep into the doorway; 36, 42 or 48 inches wide; and 84 inches tall. Most have a freezer that’s smaller than the refrigerator.They’re also available in stainless steel or panel-ready options, as well as some glass door options.

When to use: These are perfect for kitchens in which you have ample room for one big unit on another wall. They generally work well on the side of a wall of cupboards or perpendicular to the job triangle, as a result of fridge’s being around the right.

People frequently get “built-in” and “incorporated” confused. The principal distinction is a built-in may be flush into the cupboards and look glossy as can be, but it will not be completely concealed. The flange along the exterior of the unit and the grille on top will give it away as a refrigerator, even though it’s a matching cupboard panel.

Mrs. G TV & Appliances

Sub-Zero BI-42S Side-by-Side Refrigerator/Freezer

If you’d like a side-by-side, I suggest you opt for at least 42 inches of width — if you have room for 48 inches, even better. The 36-inch side-by-sides don’t have lots of cubic storage in the refrigerator section.

Rebekah Zaveloff | KitchenLab

Between the water and ice on the door and the C-channel pulls, this panel-front built-in side-by-side isn’t attempting to hide its identity. The chalkboard panels are a nice alternative to stainless steel, alleviating fingerprint worries for the busy household who uses it.

US Appliance

GE Profile Built-In Side-by-Side Refrigerator – $5,699

Here’s the same refrigerator with wood panels instead of a chalkboard finish. With the flange along the outside border and the water and ice in the door, it is not considered completely incorporated. (See next for one of these.)

Rebekah Zaveloff | KitchenLab

5. Fully Integrated Refrigerator and Freezer Column Units

What it is: Fully integrated grills can be completely concealed with cabinet-panel fronts. The hinge style, the absence of an exposed frame and a design that allows the door to conceal the compressor create this possible.Whereas all-refrigerator and all-freezer components have been around for a while in pubs, entirely integrated column-style components are relatively new on the residential industry. They allow for more flexibility since they can be placed together as a custom side-by-side mix or kept independent.

Variations: Although these units ideally have cupboard panels to conceal them completely, they also come in stainless steel. Typical widths are 18, 24, 30 and 36 inches; peaks range from 80 to 84 inches. They’re 24 to 25 inches deep.

When to use: Choose this style if you’re interested in the ultimate customization and flexibility, if you want to break up the place of your refrigerator or freezer, or if you want to produce your refrigerator completely vanish. In this kitchen, the 30-inch refrigerator is the white panel doorway to the best of their ovens, and the 24-inch freezer is the oak-paneled doorway in the foreground concealed within the pantry cabinetry.

US Appliance

Thermador 30-Inch Freedom Fresh Food Column

Column-style units can be stainless steel or board ready for complete concealment.

Design Moe Toilet & Kitchen / Heather Moe designer

Some of the completely integrated components have drawers as well. One more advantage of this style of refrigeration is that you can make furniture-style cabinetry.

AJ Madison

Sub-Zero 736TCI 36-Inch Built-In Bottom-Freezer Refrigerator

What’s nice about the Sub-Zero 700 series is that you can find an all-refrigerator, all-freezer or combo unit in which the freezer is in the base drawers.

What kind of refrigerator works best for you?

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I adore an all-white kitchen tiles, counters, cabinets. It is bright and clean and open. However, it may also be a bit sterile. My mother calls for these kitchens morgues. In other words, they can feel cold.

That is kind of the opposite of the way the core of the home is supposed to feel. Right?

However, you don’t have to forfeit your white kitchen along with your modern dreams. All you have to do is add a small natural wood grain to the mixture. And poof! — warmth that is instant.

These 11 kitchens are ideal examples of how you can maintain your modern lines and clean, open atmosphere while incorporating a modest natural glow.

Andrew Snow Photography

Red-Toned Wood

Mix it up. All cabinets do not have to be the same. 1 bank can be white; another bank can be wood grain. There’s nothing cold about this bright kitchen.

Tervola Designs

A wooden countertop on the island is a popular way to bring some natural grain to the mixture. As for me, I don’t adore wood next to water sources (stains, mould and warping), but I do love a big slab of shining wood in the midst of a kitchen.

Elad Gonen

Golden Wood

Wood with a very conspicuous grain is the modernist’s way to go. It is still hot, but it’s got those nice, almost symmetrical lines.

Works Photography Inc..

This wood peninsula has both hot golden tones and stylish horizontal lines.

Buckenmeyer Architecture

In this kitchen, the kitchen cabinets all match, but the countertops are blended.

Devlin McNally Construction

Sometimes just a lovely wood floor provides just the ideal warmth. It is that little milk of human kindness every kitchen needs.

Cardel Homes

Brown Wood

Dark wood tends to be more traditional (although not necessarily). This wood island keeps all that white tile out of making the kitchen seem like a laboratory.

Ilija Mirceski

Dark wood goes modern with horizontal lines. I adore the wood-backed shelves — unexpected and rich looking.

WORKSTEAD

Nothing brings an organic touch just like a gorgeous bit of live-edge wood. This one appears to be melting off the staircase. Gorgeous.

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Abbott Moon

A wood-grain table in an Granite kitchen gives this particular setup a homey feel. The wooden beams, cupboard design and wood floors all add up to a very comfy kitchen.

Siemasko + Verbridge

This kitchen isn’t even close to feeling like a morgue; the tooled legs on the staircase, cottage-style windows and recessed-panel cabinets take care of that. Nevertheless, the dark wood floors and the rugs rugs make it really warm. I really like Persian rugs at a wood and white kitchen.

More:
The situation for wood countertops
Browse white kitchen photos

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When I think about a plate rack, my mind goes to state design. I have a tendency to go more contemporary in my own design taste, but I’ve a soft spot for plate racks. It is their no-nonsense nature that appeals to my pragmatic side. They simply make sense! In my view, they ought to be used for easy access to everyday dishes, not for particular dishes which are infrequently used and may therefore become cluttered. Rather than pulling piled dishes from a wall cabinet, keeping them within individual slots allows one to grab them and put them away with ease, and without repainting! Here are 13 ways to make them work on your kitchen:

Venegas and Company

Unfitted and over the sink. This is a fairly common place for a plate rack. Not only does this feel more open than a cabinet with solid doors, but it’s in the ideal spot for unloading the dishwasher and putting plates away. I love the size and scale of this one and the simple fact that it’s unfitted, or drifting at the center of the wall. This gives it the look of becoming something inherited or discovered instead of designed with all the cabinets (even though it was!) .

Kenzer Furniture

Unfitted and away on its own. If you’ve got a unique space and do not actually have the option of having symmetrical wall cabinets on each side, an unfitted dish rack cabinet is a superb way to acquire storage without having to force the symmetry problem. This solution allows you to have your cake and eat it too: the cabinet itself is symmetrical, but it’s not symmetrical to the general space.

Rebekah Zaveloff | KitchenLab

Integrated with other wall cabinets. If you’re going to incorporate a plate rack to other routine wall cabinets, consider creating them glass so that the whole wall has a sense of openness and depth. Do not be afraid to show off your dishes, glassware and other kitchen things – it doesn’t all have to match!

Kitchens by Design

Adding an open shelf as part of a dish rack is a nice way to decorate a kitchen and keep it from looking too pragmatic.

Rebekah Zaveloff | KitchenLab

Even contemporary kitchens may incorporate a dish rack cabinet. Here, it’s flanked between aluminum and glass cabinets. What is nice about having a dish rack over a sink like this is that all the wall cabinets may be the same height over the countertops, because you don’t need to be worried about doors opening to your head when you’re in the sink. Most of the time when you see a cabinet with doors within the sink, it’s raised a little to give you enough clearance.

Paul Anater

Contrasting with a accent color. Plate-rack cabinets are all easy ways to incorporate an accent colour into a kitchen; it makes it feel much more unfitted and accumulated. Flanked by two windows, this plate rack produces a visual centre and feel of symmetry, although the base cabinets below are not symmetrical or aligned with what’s on top.

Fitzgerald Studio

This dish rack cabinet combines many features we’ve talked about : It has a contrasting colour and is placed asymmetrically in the kitchen, but is light on its own.

Elad Gonen

Talking of asymmetry, I love the usage of this dish rack off to the side because it balances the hutch cabinet on the opposite end. Both do not fit, but there is a relationship.

Kayron Brewer, CKD, CBD / Studio K B

Bring it down to the counter. I adore this plate stand incorporates into open shelves and an uber-functional storage wall in which the cabinets sit on the countertop. It is a mixed-use storage wall which makes sense for a small section of countertop which won’t be used for substantially prepping or tasking. The variety of door sizes and open-vs. -closed storage produce much more visual attention than a bunch of cabinet doors which are all the same size.

CAROLE MEYER

You don’t have to restrict yourself to a plate rack ; you can get more out of the cabinet by producing an appliance storage space under and open shelves over.

Divine Design+Build

Carve out a niche. The little bit of unused wall space produced by the wall and fireplace oven are a perfect spot to create storage in the form of a plate rack. Here it’s being used for both function and display.

K & M Designs

I had to incorporate several examples of plate racks in which the plates have been made to face outwards. Just because those are on display doesn’t mean they can not be used for functional serving dishes. Just a little niche created by unused wall depth is a great way to get additional storage.

Plate racks do not need to maintain kitchens — they can maintain a butler’s pantry or vestibule place as well. Stealing space that might be otherwise overlooked looks fantastic and provides an present kitchen much needed additional storage.

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Tradition Revisited: Plate Racks
24 Hot Suggestions for Storing Spices
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