15 Great Ideas for Kitchens

Time for an update? Pick your favorite style from our list of beautiful kitchen designs and get inspired.

James Carrier
Sunny kitchen remodel
The homeowners wanted to preserve and enhance the architectural style of their 1929 San Mateo house while opening the kitchen to the outdoors.
They selected concrete counters, a farmhouse-style sink, and white wood cabinets.
A long center island with a butcher-block surface and deep overhangs is great for two-person cooking, prep work, and entertaining.
More about this kitchen makeover

Thomas J. Story
Eco-conscious kitchen
Smooth slim concrete counters edge the kitchen's perimeter. A thick concrete slab on the island gets its texture and golden flecks of color from recycled rice hulls.

Terrence Moore
Wide-open kitchen
Big curved beams create a wide-open kitchen/family room. Clerestory windows bounce the light off the ceiling, brightening the space.

Edmund Barr
Playful farmhouse kitchen
Formerly a slender galley, this kitchen is now an open, multipurpose space with an adjacent hallway that serves as the drop zone for backpacks, mail, and shoes.
An antique barrister card catalog serves as an ingenious storage system for miscellaneous household items.
An 1887 tavern table serves as the island in this family-friendly kitchen. The 1920s utility sink is from a salvage yard.
Read more about this home

Sunset
Fresh, colorful kitchen
White Shaker-style cabinet fronts are a bright foil for the vibrant glass-tile backsplash. New niches display cobalt bowls. A two-toned, two-tiered concrete counter adds sleek style to the work and serving spaces.

Sunset
Green galley
Add a little, gain a lot. That's the lesson one couple learned when they made a small addition to the cramped galley kitchen in their Seattle home. Curves in the range hood and shelf-support brackets add softness to the geometric cabinets, tiles, and appliances. Open shelves keep cooking staples within easy reach.

John Granen
Jewel box kitchen
In this kitchen remodel, the architect removed visual barriers to the dining room and deck by replacing interior and exterior kitchen walls with elegant steel doors and large glass panes.
Within this transparent boxlike container, a center island accommodates a stainless steel cooktop and oven, and a work surface of fossilized limestone

Ericka McConnell
Open Craftsman kitchen
The ground floor of the once single-story house is now essentially one combined kitchen, dining area, living space, and home office, with bedrooms in an upstairs addition.

Thomas J. Story
Red kitchen island
A coat of brick-red paint makes the island the star of this kitchen.
For a sophisticated look, try pairing one red object with neutral tones. Here, dark-wood surfaces and stainless steel appliances do the trick.
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Patio kitchen
Patio kitchen
The architect opened up this house and connected it to a new outdoor dining space carved out of the front yard. It's where everyone wants to go.

Open kitchen shelving
Open kitchen shelving
Open shelves feel hospitable and force you to edit.
Try the following rule of thumb: "If you use it more than once a week, have it out. If you use it a few times a month, stick it in a cabinet. Once or twice a year? It belongs in the basement."

Thomas J. Story
Kitchen nook
A built-in banquette opposite the central cooking station is a cozy family gathering spot for games and casual meals.
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Thayer Allyson Gowdy
Updated Victorian kitchen
In the kitchen a Carrara marble counter and backsplash and black-and-white checkered flooring form graphic backdrops for this refurbished Victorian.

David Wakely
Light-infused kitchen
Built in 1869, this home needed an updated kitchen and more light in interior rooms.
The owner replaced a 1920s shed-roof addition at the back with a slightly larger addition that allowed the kitchen to move out of the historic part of the house.
She turned the new kitchen into a large light box with a translucent roof made of aluminum-and-fiberglass Kalwall panels. Widened openings between the major rooms further brighten the interior.

Thomas J. Story
A kitchen with layers of color
The clean design of this blue and white kitchen is layered with pops of energetic color. The red drum pendant from Croft & Little illuminates the bamboo island top from Teragren.
Glass-front cabinets provide a showcase for colorful pottery.
The bamboo-topped table on casters tucks under the island and can roll away for use throughout the house or outside. Mixing up the chair styles adds casual appeal.

More from Sunset:
Before and After: Kitchens
How to Refinish Kitchen Cabinets