Custom Home, May-June 2004 K+B Studio Custom Kitchen, New York…
Custom Home, May-June 2004 K+B Studio Custom Kitchen, New York Belmont Freeman Architects, New York At this 12-foot-by-8 foot kitchen in a Manhattan apartment, Belmont Freeman Architects placed storage drawers inside the island’s countertop, which floats atop a thin but strong steel support.
Christopher Wesnofske
Custom Home, May-June 2004 K+B Studio Custom Kitchen, New York…
Custom Home, May-June 2004 K+B Studio Custom Kitchen, New York Belmont Freeman Architects, New York Tucked into an alcove within the overall space, the kitchen does double duty as a coat closet and laundry room.
William Helsel Architectural Photography
2009 CHDA Eichler Kitchen Remodel, Palo Alto, Calif. Custom Ki…
2009 CHDA Eichler Kitchen Remodel, Palo Alto, Calif. Custom Kitchen / Merit Award Anne Phillips Architecture, Berkeley, Calif. Red-stained plywood and other reflective surfaces help distribute natural light throughout this Eichler kitchen remodel designed by Anne Phillips Architecture.
Bart Michiels
The new space integrates the kitchen into the main living space.
Bart Michiels
The unit features a simple palette of materials to convey a sens…
The unit features a simple palette of materials to convey a sense of calm and relaxation.
Ed Massery
Ed Massery
Alan Karchmer
Light, reflective materials such as the aluminum-framed window a…
Light, reflective materials such as the aluminum-framed window and glass-and-aluminum cabinet doors extend the space visually.
Alan Karchmer
Alan Karchmer
Translucent pocket doors help to mediate the modern kitchen and …
Translucent pocket doors help to mediate the modern kitchen and traditional dining room.
Julius Shulman + Juergen Nogai
Custom Home, March-April 2009 Kitchen & Bath Design Guide …
Custom Home, March-April 2009 Kitchen & Bath Design Guide Custom Kitchen, Los Angeles lee + mundwiler architects, Los Angeles A Los Angeles kitchen receives light and breezes from a louver-walled courtyard.
Julius Shulman + Juergen Nogai
Custom Home, March-April 2009 Kitchen & Bath Design Guide …
Custom Home, March-April 2009 Kitchen & Bath Design Guide Custom Kitchen, Los Angeles lee + mundwiler architects, Los Angeles The room’s horizontal window preserves privacy while still allowing cross-ventilation. A custom stainless steel counter tops the island.
Anice Hoachlander/Hoachlander Davis Photography
Three skylights guide the sunÕs rays into the apartment. Gurney…
Three skylights guide the sunÕs rays into the apartment. Gurney says the shapes and sizes of the mahogany-clad lightboxes were well planned. ÒTwo were set,Ó he says, Òand the form I felt worked best to balance them out was a pure square.Ó
Anice Hoachlander/Hoachlander Davis Photography
An unusually thick 2-inch slab of Burlington stone was speced fo…
An unusually thick 2-inch slab of Burlington stone was speced for the countertops as a counterweight to the thin plane of aluminum perched above it (top).
Custom Home, September-October 2004 K+B Studio Custom Kitchen,…
Custom Home, September-October 2004 K+B Studio Custom Kitchen, Aspen, Colo. Studio B Architects, Aspen Mahogany enclosures create defined areas for both the kitchen and a snug dinette. Studio B Architects found space for wine cubbies inside the half-walls separating the kitchen from the main living areas.
Michael Biondo
This remodeled kitchen represents an effort to project the vocab…
This remodeled kitchen represents an effort to project the vocabulary of Richard Neutra—the house’s original architect—into the present day.
Michael Biondo
Stainless steel columns—so slender that they are practically t…
Stainless steel columns—so slender that they are practically two-dimensional—mark the path of the partition that isolated the original kitchen from the living and dining areas.
Michael Biondo
Knife-edge stainless steel counters top the gloss-white base cab…
Knife-edge stainless steel counters top the gloss-white base cabinets. The uppers are acid-washed steel.
Asa Gilmore
Changes in cabinet depth indicate a subtle shift from living spa…
Changes in cabinet depth indicate a subtle shift from living space to kitchen.
Asa Gilmore
The metal stair leads from the second-floor main living space to…
The metal stair leads from the second-floor main living space to a reading loft. Custom cabinetry throughout the home stores kitchen and laundry supplies, as well as other secrets.
Smaller kitchens present their own distinct set of challenges. Storage, always an issue to begin with, becomes more crucial than ever. Making the space work for cooking and entertaining can prove tricky. And allowing natural light into a small kitchen tends to be difficult, especially in apartments and row houses.
So how do smart architects, like those featured in the accompanying slideshow, handle these situations? They create built-in storage wherever they can—under staircases and countertops, inside islands and overlooked nooks, atop slim refrigerators and drawer dishwashers. They design in flexibility: Islands serve as dining tables and prep surfaces, movable items let owners change things around to accommodate different situations, and kitchens moonlight as home offices and laundry rooms.
Opening up the kitchen to other spaces brings in light, and reflective or translucent surfaces help keep it there. High ceilings and pared-down materials palettes, two time-honored ways of making a small room feel larger, work particularly well in a kitchen. And thoughtful ceiling or floor treatments, as well as minor level changes, can effectively separate the kitchen from a living or dining area without cutting it off from those spaces.
See our featured projects for outstanding examples of these small-kitchen strategies.
