This year’s House Beautiful Kitchen of the Year was designed by Jeff Lewis of Bravo’s Flipping Out. To reflect his personal aesthetic, Jeff Lewis says he took a “California modern” approach to designing this year’s kitchen.

To play off of his observation, we’ve put together a list of ten characteristics of a modern kitchen as they are found in House Beautiful’s 2010 Kitchen of the Year.

1. Dark Wood – The cabinets are a rich brown that stretch throughout the kitchen.
2. Metal – Hints of metal are scattered from the island stools to the stainless steel appliances to the counter accessories.
3. Openness – Jeff Lewis said overbuilt cabinets create claustrophobia, so he chose door-less shelves to create an open feel.
4. Wood + White – Clean white countertops break up the dark wood cabinetry and the light wood flooring.
5. Functionality – The open wine storage wall lets in tons of natural light while doubling as a place to store wine and other bottled beverages.



6. Natural Light – Already mentioned in number 5, the wall-storage wall, in addition to the light colors, allow for plenty of natural light.
7. Pops of Color – Red panels on the far wall add an element of surprise.
8. Eco-friendly – The kitchen table is made from reclaimed wood taken from an old polo barn.
9. Minimalistic Pieces – The polished metal island stools, the chairs at the kitchen table, the interesting light fixture are all simple and stylish pieces.
10. Storage – There is a ton of storage space in this kitchen with cabinets on both sides of the countertops that eliminate visible clutter.

What are some other modern characteristics you see in the 2010 Kitchen of the Year?

The rest is here: sixdifferentways.com

Materials: Fastbo Panels, Ikea Stainless Doors, Numerar Countertop

Description: We repurposed an existing vanity (builders beige) by removing the doors, then affixing the Fastbo panels to suit the Ikea standard kitchen cabinet stainless doors (not alot of work) – (sorry don’t have the Ikea name of the stainless doors- they have a copper now but I havent seen the stainless in doors in a while.)

We then used Ikea butchers block NUMERAR countertop, stained it in ebony minwax stain and varnished with 5 coats polyurethane in high gloss.

Then added square sinks from Rona and faucets as well.

~ Colette Lepine-www.homedesignworx.com, Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Jason Fox owns Purpose Restoration , a furniture design company that not only saves old pieces from going to the landfill, but makes them into one-of-a-kind modern treasures. He also creates custom pieces featuring his own artwork, which is inspired by graffiti and Japanese tattoo art. An ugly TV stand is transformed into a kitchen cart — I wouldn’t have thought of that! A client commission, this desk incorporates some of the client’s favorite sayings. This piece was a boring, box-store dresser, but Jason created it into an urban graffiti-inspired painting. ©2010 Design Milk | Posted by Jaime in Home Furnishings | Permalink | 4 comments | Tweet This | Share on Facebook More Milk: Art Milk | Dog Milk

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Purpose Restoration

What better way to follow up a Christmas tree made of beer than with a kitchen made of Legos!  Having shopped recently for countertop options, Legos may really be the way to go.  Cool look at a relatively inexpensive price… if they can withstand my hot coffee mug I just may be sold!

This kitchen is from the home of Parisian designers Simon Pillard and Philippe Rosetti. They purchased a basic kitchen island from IKEA and then covered it with over 20,000 Lego pieces. See more here.

Read the original: sixdifferentways.com