apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

this kitchen is so totally gorgeous! I love the wall size blackboard and the off-center clock, and the cabinets with the paired fixtures, the exhaust hood thingy, the dark floor (which is made of what?) beautiful.

My goodness, this is the best kitchen yet and it is from NYC - the home of the tiny, and normally little used, kitchen.

Love the zebra wood and non panelled doors (despite my preference for non-wood kitchens this looks very clean and modern), love all the horizontal handles, love secret compartments, and I love the fact that the look is very modern and the colors are simple but the whole effect still looks warm - the floor helps a lot here.

We had the same lights as you over our kitchen island (the ones you have over your dining table) but not in the group of three - just two singles - so I also love those lights ;)

BTW, is the counter top Carrera marble? I've always like that also but my wife doesn't so I always have to admire it from a distance.

Any chance you could post a link for those door handles on your secret wall. I need to do something similar for our new place and I like the overall look.

This is not quite my dream kitchen. I think there should be a ballot for really, really nice because it is better than just one really. In fact it might be as close as anyone (beside me in my head) will get. Is it possible to recast the vote or is that cheating?

Yes, please talk about the countertop! If it IS marble, how do you like it? I would love it in my kitchen, but always receive looks of "Are you INSANE, do you know how that stains!??" when I mention it to anyone.

I adore this kitchen. My only question is do you ever regret the bright white? I have all white cabinets and find I am never far from the sprayer and sponge. It's either maddening or meditative.
Thanks for posting. I'm soothed just looking at these pictures.

That's a really beautiful kitchen... I love the hidden wall of storage... Are we going to get any Manhattanites, though?

I agree on the drawers comment -- my former kitchen had absolutely no drawers, and shelves only get you so far. Every single piece of silverware was out in the open.

Wow, I'd call it fabulous, but I do have a few quibbles. I'm not a fan of the open storage/bookcase thing that looks like its next to the sink. Also it's not clear in these photos how much counter space you have. It looks as if the fridge is right up against the stove. Is there counter between them? If not that leaves only what looks to be a small area to the right of the stove before the sink. Is it adequate?

Was this designed for you for this space (who?) or did you do it yourself, did it come this way when you moved into the home? House or apt.?

This kitchen is too cold and sterile. I looks like a scary operating room.

This is the best yet! Well-designed and great looking. I am in the throes of redoing my own kitchen, and will take your advice on the really deep sink!

i like the zebra wood too. damnit, why can't i afford a nice kitchen?

Very, very nice. Just a note about "drawers, drawers, drawers"-- the joinery required to make drawers adds considerably to the price of cabinetry. But this does not look like a budget job anyhow.

Also want to know what the floors are, since I love 'em. Is this all DIY or did you work with a planner/designer/architect?

Note regarding photo submission-- the magnets scattered all over the magnet side of the divider really detract from the shot (imho), since this kitchen relies on clean lines to really work its magic. C'mon, people, let's think like photo stylists when submitting these photos!! I'm all for showing "signs of life" in shots, but there might be better ways to convey that in the photography.

I really like the kitchen - modern yet not too sterile and cold. And the way it opens into the living area is great.

I agree that I normally wouldn't go for white cabinets though, but it seems to work here

I think that why white cabinets work here is because they "read" as wall instead of more visual clutter. Are they lacquer or laminate?

So, with this kitchen, Jamiepup's (former) bathroom, and Chad's bedroom, my dream NY apartment is almost complete! ;)

It's nice but it needs life. Green. Plants. Signs of humans. I appreciate very much that kid art and magnetic letters are allowed, so it's a family kitchen vs. a designer kitchen...but it still feels very.... cold.

I really think kitchens can afford to be this visually spare because of the nature of them in when they are in use... activitiy, noise, smell, the color and variety of food, kids with juice boxes, etc.... I think all this activity needs this kind of minimal framework as a "stage". Don't change a thing, Aida!!! Especially since it looks like you got the lighting so right. This, to me, is also a kitchen where stainless steel really works, and not just in response to trend. Zebrawood quickly becoming a favorite, btw.

LOL Patrick! Very funny. I agree about Chad's bedroom and this kitchen.

We seem to be agreeing a lot recently which is a very good sign because our first skirmish over twin strollers was not pretty ;)

I'm not trying to be combative, but just as a second opinion, I really like the letters and magnets! To me, clean lines function here as a frame for the colorful life that kids bring into the picture.

Also, I think it's a good way to give kids something to do in the kitchen without having nudge them out of the way whenever you want to open the fridge.

I really like this space - in my rather untutored opinion, it's a great combo of modern design and family friendliness (which often seems to be completely lacking in contemporary design...).

I like the magnets too. I like the signs of life, and thought it was a nifty way to build some function into form.

I usually have concerns about an open kithchen, but this room
is completly integrated with the space it occupies. It really looks great.

Jamie Pup--
Hah, about the stroller skirmish. But don't get me started again! ;) Raquel almost had to put out a restraining order!

And check out some of the links/samples joseph has posted in Open Thread 7 as he tackles a major overhaul. I think you'd like it a lot also.

re-- the magnets
Was speaking strictly in critiquing the photo, not the way the space lives/needs to live. But if the owner's aesthetic is this finely attuned already, why not really cool magnets from MoMA? Works of art from your budding Picassos? The scatter of (empty) magnets in the photo, to me, reads as distracting clutter, or a detail overlooked. And when all the OTHER details seem dead-on, (to me) that matters. Sorry I'm getting all hung up on this. To reiterate-- I love this kitchen.

Patrick, we must have the same taste, because I also really liked this kitchen, jamiepup's (former bathroom), and Chad's bedroom. I think it looks spare in a good way, and actually, while I think things can be "too spare" sometimes, I don't think spare is bad in a kitchen. It just makes it easier to clean and maintain, in my opinion.

i really like this kitchen but feel like somewhere out there is a person or family that just has something better. (i'm saving my highest vote for that one)

this to me is very beautiful in many ways but is just lacking something that i can't quite pinpoint. it's beautiful in kind of a generic way, almost as if it is a high-end model apartment. aside from the magnets, it's missing an element of life.

Hi.
Thanks for all the great compliments. Just to answer some questions.
1. It's not actually zebrawood. It's carmelized bamboo plywood. Highly sustainable, and not too expensive.
2. The countertop is not carrera but another Italian white marble [no name assigned to it] with warm grey veining. As far as staining, we haven't had a problem. The honed finish is susceptible to "blemishes" from citrus [it eats away the surface]. The issue we have had is that it chips at the edges if you bang something into it. Both of these problems can be ameliorated with some maintenance.
3. The finish on the cabinets is paint, rolled on. And they are a warm white [Benjamin Moore Elmira White]. Hard to tell from the photos.
4. The flooring is cork.
5. Finally, I am an architect. Is that cheating somehow? My husband and I designed it. I can just feel everyone out there rolling their eyes.
Thanks for the kind thoughts!

One last thing. There is counterspace between the fridge and stove [impossible to tell from the photo]. We have 2 work stations of 30" wide and a third over the dishwasher. I spend most of my time at the corner between the sink and range.

We have acquired a few more magnets since these shots were taken, some dinasours and farm animals. I'm afraid the MOMA magnets could be a choking hazard. Besides, I'm no Adolf Loos.

Aida--
I don't think you're cheating at all-- ESPECIALLY since designing for one's self is very often the hardest task of all.
I just asked about the designers so the talented "doers" could get their props!

Wow! That is some kitchen! Who thought of the chalk board/hidden wall concept. You must have worked with very gifted architects. Who were they?

Aida, great kitchen. Do you remember the Bejamin Moore paint colors/finishes? You mention the cabinets being Elmira White, are they semi-gloss?

is the ceiling a brighter white than the wall?

I just painted my kitchen cabinets with a white gloss oil based paint that turned yellow after only a few months, I wanted a clear bright white it wasnt Ben Moore, just something I picked up a home depot. I used Benjamin moore, on the walls, one shade darker than Alpaca but thought that any white would do. I was wrong.

thanks, Mike

A POTTY CHART? IN THE KITCHEN! COME ON...I LOVE MY KIDS BUT SOME THINGS ARE BETTER LEFT TO MEMORY...HM-R

I have eaten in this kitchen, and it was good.

The cork floors are a stroke of genius because they are so welcoming to the foot and dampen noise.

Love Aida cooking in the middle of the kitchen and can talk to her from either diningroom table or living room couch.

You should next check out the completly Zen bathroom right off the kitchen - you will never want to leave this apartment.

Whatever it takes to get the kid to use the toilet.

Yuo know I never would have guessed cork floors. However, I do now remember watching a Debbie Travis' Facelift where she was going to use white tile on a living room floor but the husband said his wife would hate it (he didn't like it either) so Debbie came up with laminated cork floor boards that clipped together like Pergo. They looked amazing as do your floors.

That is just a fabulous kitchen, ready for the Fine Living network. I'm considering a cork floor in my bedroom. Please share details about yours.

I would love to see some large-scale piece of art relating to/near/in the space. That would bump it up to the "dream kitchen" category for me.

(actually, I wold love to "style" this kitchen for a photo shoot!)

er, "would", that is.

Love the kitchen, but hate all the magnets. takes away from the clean lines.

very nice. one thing i especially appreciate is the placement of the kitchen, between the dining room and the living room, yet all three maintain separate spacial identities. way to go, aida, in making a long, narrow space feel funcional, connected and liveable. who cares about the magnets when everything else seems so well planned? a question about your covered cabinets. are the spaces inside usable or do you have to remove the kitchenaid or food processor to the counter in order to use it? i, for one, would love to see beyond those sliding doors...

What makes this kitchen and saves it from sterility and makes it a space of design and beauty is the harmony of the rectangles formed by the doors on the hidden wall next to the slateboard.

This is the kind of detail we amateurs never get right.