41 Beautiful Kitchens

This sleek, all-white space is spiced up with brass accents and vintage pieces.

The designer wanted guests to feel like they could just walk in and hang out in this space. All of the living areas connect, so to avoid cluttering the open floor plan with too many cabinets, almost everything—from flatware to everyday dishes—is well organized and stowed away in drawers. This also makes it easy for guests of all agest to access kitchen essentials.

Glass pendant lights over the bar mimic candles resting in huricane holders, an element typically found on outdoor dining tables.

The woven plastic seats and backs on the barstools by Serena & Lily hold up well against wet bathing suits.

Decorative touches—like green soapstone counters and tole fronts on the upper cabinets—add color and style to the white kitchen without taking up space. The marble-and-iron table also doubles as an island work surface.

Built around a centuries-old oak tree, this Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, kitchen offers a smart and sleek design created by architect Heather Wilson and designer Luann McCants.

A burst of citrus is a surefire way to add energy. A simple design with pops of green brings out the brighter side of this Arkansas kitchen.

Plenty of wood and old pottery keep this sleek kitchen's vibe down-to-earth.

After a hurricane flooded architect Wayne Good's 110-year-old Chesapeake Bay cottage, he seized the opportunity to design his dream fish camp-style kitchen in just over 150 square feet. The ceiling features repurposed exterior siding that was flipped to expose the richly worn wood.

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Typically used for barn roofing, the kitchen's corrugated material adds authentic farmhouse charm for only about $15 per sheet.

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Clean white floors complement the cabinetry and island in this kitchen. A minimal number of upper cabinets keeps the space open. In their place, cantilevered antique chestnut shelves, reminiscent of a ship's deck, add an organic touch. The shelves display plain white dishware against a wall of deep royal blue tile. The stainless steel appliances and large hanging light fixtures over the island call to mind metal boat fittings.

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To update this kitchen, the homeowner and decorator Phoebe Howard installed hardwoods to match the rest of the house, swapped the dark black granite and tile for Carrara marble counters and backsplash tiles, changed the cabinet hardware, put in a movable island, and painted just about everything.

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The thought of open shelves in a kitchen can send a chill down the spine of even the most organized homeowner. But here's the dish: The secret lies in the mix. It is easy to handle open display when you have enough closed space to hide the not-so-pretty items. The key is to know how much openness you can handle before it gets messy.

Nothing adds vintage, cottage appeal to a space like beaded board. Pair with warm wood, dusty green, and crisp white to complete the look.

This kitchen, added to the 1852 house in the 1940s, once served as an outdoor hitching station. The homeowners updated the room with whitewashed cabinetry, marble countertops, and a generous island.

To achieve vintage charm with modern function, the homeowners chose state-of-the-art components designed, whenever possible, in turn-of-the-century style.

Layered in wood from floor to ceiling, this kitchen would convert even the most ardent city slicker into a lover of all things handmade and hewn. Most of the wood for the kitchen cabinetry, as well as other built-ins in the house, was fashioned from salvaged, old-growth heart pine. The source for this sought-after material came about when the homeowner dismantled a nearby collapsing farmhouse. In the process, he also milled the lumber and then handed it over to his cabinetmaker to use during construction.

To avoid the expense of relocating the plumbing, the homeowner kept the room's original footprint but updated the cabinetry, appliances, and fixtures. He replaced the dated wood cabinets, which hung near the ceiling and were difficult to reach, with easy-to-access open shelving and Shaker-style lower cabinets—all painted crisp white. A ceramic subway-tile backsplash and sleek marble countertops complete the monochromatic look. Open shelving holds everyday basics; lower cabinets store pots and pans.

The Shaker elements―clean lines, plain trim, and no ornamentation―are great for contemporary decor. The timeless design is another plus. If the homeowners ever want a new look, the cabinets can adapt to a number of styles. Here, stainless appliances and hardware add industrial flair, as do steel tube legs on the island. Ceramic tile that looks like terra-cotta grounds the light space with warm color. It looks like the real thing but is easier to maintain. The countertops in a sand tone also add rich color.

This homeowner cleared the back wall of the kitchen and created an opening into the dining room. All white walls, cabinets, and countertops also make the space seem bigger. To keep the room from feeling too flat, she added color and texture with accessories such as curtains and a jute rug. She reinforced the vintage look of the house with a new tongue-and-groove wood-plank ceiling and a trio of oversize globe lights, a splurge item.

The sage green kitchen cabinetry has generous space for dinnerware and pantry items, and a fossilized countertop surface adds a sense of history to the space.

This homeowner took a simplified approach to decorating. She chose fabrics, colors, and furniture with a decidedly Swedish influence. Muted gray cabinetry with a distressed finish and open shelves reinforce the room's openness. The stainless steel appliances and sink add a sleek, metallic luster. Even the honed travertine marble countertops have a lightness. Her flooring choice—pine boards covered in a thin coat of watered-down paint—contributes to the ambience.

To balance out the traditional feel of the rest of the home, the kitchen's countertops, appliances, and cabinets are all clean and contemporary. A quartz material protects not only the top of the kitchen island but also the sides from daily bumps and dings.

In the kitchen, these homeowners chose Virginia slate countertops and then had a sink custom made out of the same dark slate. The color hides stains that would show on a white sink

The homeowner replaced the lower cabinets and gave the uppers new life with glass doors and brass hardware. Tired of white kitchens, she drenched the entire space in a custom deep, dark green in a glossy lacquered finish. Her collection of white dishes and serving pieces, an impressive La Cornue range, and a white subway-tile backsplash add interest and break up the swaths of green.

See more of this Before and After: Redo with Color!

This homeowner let the natural wood finish of her countertops shine by painting all of the other surfaces in the kitchen either gray or white.

Situating the kitchen along a 30-foot wall takes up less space and creates ample room for dining. To accommodate the wall of windows, the homeowner fit all the appliances under the countertops. When an entire home is one open space, it's important to limit materials for a cohesive look. All the walls are plaster, and new birch plywood was laid on the floors and living room ceiling. 

See the rest of this dance hall transformation

We called our kitchen 'the time warp' because it looked like it hadn't been touched since the 1960s," says homeowner Jessica Thuston. "The matching yellow laminate floors, cabinets, and countertops—I have a feeling it was pretty great back in its day." However, fast-forward 50 years and this space was in major need of an update. "We loved the size and basic layout, but everything else had to go," Jessica says. 

When Caroline and Andy Roeser purchased their Houston home, it was done with a love of the neighborhood and a lot of vision. Its windowless galley kitchen felt cold and dated, so the couple wasted no time renovating it to become a sunny, open space. 

Feeling a bit confined in their dated Hannibal, Missouri, kitchen, Lynn and Bobby Boland wanted a complete overhaul. Without adding an inch of square footage, designer Amie Corley gave them the stylish, family-friendly kitchen they were hoping for. 

To complement the rustic wood wall, Designer Richard Tubb chose freestanding restaurant-grade stainless steel cabinetry and enlisted blacksmith Darren Hardman to craft a custom steel island. Open shelving confines dishware to the essentials, while a row of bare Edison lightbulbs provides general and task lighting.

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Architect Ken Pursley repeated elements from the exterior of this rural cottage inside for a seamless and cohesive design.

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Hand-poured concrete countertops pick up the floor's gray tones in this kitchen designed by Heather Chadduck Hillegas.

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The main working part of the kitchen lines up front to back with twin cabinets capping both island ends and flanking the range.

See more design ideas from the 2012 Idea House

Dark, woodsy hues, such as the bark brown stain on interior walls and trim and driftwood gray on the cabinetry, set the mood. Well-chosen accents of red, chartreuse, and turquoise stand out from the subdued backdrop without interrupting the calm.

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Southern meets Swedish in the kitchen with blue gingham fabric and whimsical carved-wood pulls.

Birmingham interior designer Lindsey Bond Meadows simplified the space by hanging two large glass globes that don't block kitchen views.

Windows in the kitchen open to the central hallway and reflect original dogtrot architecture.

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A small but efficient island holds refrigerator drawers and a bookcase for cookbooks. Painted deep gray to contrast with the lighter color of the cabinets and topped with marble, it feels vintage and perhaps even original to the house. At the end sits an antique tea table where the couple eats breakfast.

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Combined with a classic farmhouse table and chairs, the clean-lined bench—attached to the island and painted the same color as the cabinets—saves valuable floorspace.

The entire stove niche is tiled with white ceramic subway tile for a clean look that blends seamlessly with the creamy walls (painted Intense White by Benjamin Moore). A single long, white shelf replaces open cabinetry and keeps dishes right at hand.

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Benjamin Moore's Galapagos Green in high-gloss oil coats the kitchen ceiling. The beautiful surrounding lake views are mimicked by the color palette in this nature-inspired kitchen.

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The walls, trim, cabinetry, and ceiling are all painted Benjamin Moore's Linen White in the same eggshell finish. Hammered metal pendant lights and newly refinished wood floors are a nice counterpoint to the mainly white space.

See more of the Lighten Up Kitchen Update