I stumbled upon an inspiring photo in Elle Decor a few years ago when we were in the process of renovating our kitchen. It was just the corner of a room, but unlike a lot of the spaces featured in shelter magazines, it looked like someone lived there. There was childrensโ artwork on the refrigerator (tastefully arranged), some raffia wallpaper covering a small desk area, and a round table surrounded by red Eames chairs. The Eames part of those red chairs was not in the budget, but I stuck that photo to my bulletin board and it got the ball rolling on the designing. Nevermind that I didnโt pay an ounce of attention to the dishwasher door blocking the cabinets (forcing us to put away our glasses in two steps) or the fact that it will be the year 2029 before my children will be able to reach to the ice tray in the freezer or be able to open the 200-pound pull-out pantry door by themselves. I got my red chairs and I love my kitchen to this day.
But I love the kitchens featured in Design*Spongeโs at Home โ the book based on the blog thatย everyone except maybe two people in the world are obsessed with โ even more. Grace Bonney, the founder and author, takes the concept of inspiration to a whole new level here with page after page of gorgeous personal spaces along with personal stories that explain how the lucky owners managed to execute their visions. The kitchens, of course, were my favorite. For instance, if I had stumbled upon the photo above a few years ago, there is a 100% chance that Iโd be sitting in a yellow kitchen with a painted checkerboard floor right now.
Artisan was nice enough to send along a sneak peak of some of the kitchens featured inย Design*Sponge At Home and toย celebrate its publication, DALS is giving away a free copy of the book to one lucky commenter below*. Winner will be chosen at random next week, but special consideration goes to anyone who shares a cool family kitchen design idea. Even special-er consideration goes to any commenter who followsย DALS on facebook.
I love the red on red here. Itโs the 2011 answer toย Julia Childโs museum-worthy pegboard.
I have white cabinets, subway tiles, marble countertops, and yetโฆmy kitchen does not remotely resemble this one. It must be the floor โ would you look at how cool those tiles are? Well, the floor and the wine. Mine is always much more accessible.
Can you see the chalkboard panel attached to the side of the refrigerator? How fun would that be for a kid?
My favorite detail in this one: The little reading nook. Phoebe would lose her mind.
*Thanks for playing everyone. Lori wins the book.
Iโm totally cool-kitchen-design-idea retarded, so I canโt share an idea or a photo. But I could desperately use the book so I can have some cool-kitchen-design-ideas to fix my not-so-cool-kitchen-design.
I love a beautiful kitchen but for me it needs to have function too. What can I say? Organization makes me drool! Here are two great ideas Iโve had in my Pinterest for awhile. The first link is a solution to those animal food bowls tucked in the corner and the second is an awesome, but simple and affordable, pantry makeover that makes me wonder why I didnโt think of it myself. http://pinterest.com/pin/13693243/ http://pinterest.com/pin/13826887/ Thanks for the great giveaway!
Our kitchen is really tiny and I too have to unload the dishwasher in two steps! And there can only be one person in there if you want to open the fridge, LOL. BUT I have a great window above our sink that is great for little pots of herbs. ๐ I would love to win this for some inspiration!
After several frustrating rounds of looking at uninspiring โclean and modernโ kitchens, I found this, on Design*sponge no less. http://www.designsponge.com/2011/07/sneak-peek-jess-dustin-of-vermont-farm-table.html
We are now going with a cabinet/shelf combo, and building (where neccessary) from plywood and reclaimed boards. I was so inspired by how they managed to create this homey, incremental look on a limited budget and with limited skills and time. And by giving us the courage to break away from built-in, prefab cabinets, we came up with a great reuse of an old apothecary cabinetโฆso excited to get started. (As soon as we finish about a thousand other projects in our late-seventies, carpenter-built, undesigned house.)
Iโm with jodi, totally lacking cool ideas. I NEED the book to help me.
I would love to have some inspiration in this department. Since I have been with my husband we have moved 14 times. Honestly, this is the longest I have every lived in one city (6 1/2 yrs). Because we had to move so often my houses have always stayed neutral and โemptyโ design-wise. We (and by we I mean โIโ), have been talking about making this house seem more like a home, not just a place to stay until the next stop. I love this house, and my kitchen has a lot of potential. It is open and a great place to entertain, now if I could just make it look entertainment worthy!
We live in a philly row house with a rather small galley kitchen. When we remodeled in 2008, many people suggested we open it up but one wall was a loadbearing wall and I didnโt want to lose the separateness of our dining room not to mention a location to place our refrigerator in the actual vicinity of our other appliances. I did come up with a plan that, to this day, is pretty, pretty genius. We knocked down the little wall and doorway to open up the space which essentially made a short hallway part of the kitchen. Also, we took out the shelfs that were in the closet leading to the basement to make room for 2 pull-out pantries along a blank wall between said dining room and kitchen. A whole lotta goodness fits in there. I recall your post about cooking with limited tools in Paris. I feel the same way about square footage. My galley kitchen is perfect for us.
Mine is not-so-much a design idea but a โget me through cooking dinner with kidsโ idea. I have a lower kitchen cabinet with one of those large flat shelves that slides out for large pots and pans. I took a box lid, covered it in silver contact paper, drew some burners and knobs on it. Used command hooks for hanging up kid sized kitchen mitts inside the doors and loaded it up with utensils, empty spice bottles, and a couple of Ikea kiddie kitchen accessories. And I now have a play kitchen that keeps the kids out of my hair (mostly) and clean up is a snap because I just slide it back in and shut the doors. The trickiest part was figuring out where I would put my big pots and pans.
How will you know that Iโm on your facebook fan page too? I donโt use the same nameโฆ
But still, I would love to have this book. We just moved into a new appartment where, while not being the owners, we have a fair control of the decoration and design/renovation processes. Our kitchen is small and I need ideas. Badly!
Plus Iโm a long time fan of design*sponge.
My dadโs a former high school science teacher. When he retired last year, he brought home all his personal lab equipment that heโd collected over the years. My mother begged me to take some of the stuff out of her house, though my own wife balked at the idea of cluttering our homeโฆ until she saw the freestanding beakers with caps on them! We use them all over our kitchen. For pasta, rice, cereal.. you name it. The kids even painted the tops of the caps to add some color. And when I look at them, it reminds me of my dad.. nice.
Oh, Design*Sponge, so inspiring. I save it for Friday nights with the glass of wine at the computer after the kids have gone to bed โ and then dream about all the beautiful things I see. Alas, the biggest thing Iโve done to our kitchen in 8 years is paint the pegboard a gorgeous Tiffany-box blue โฆ but just yesterday, fed up with my pre-fab cabinets (yet not having the cash right now for even an Ikea redo), I picked up a paint sample of a lovely gray to paint them. A winter project!
Oh, weโre having our house painted now and deciding on a color. Iโve been looking at design*sponge for inspiration, and would so love to have their book!
Our kitchen now is blessedly quite functional, but one day we want to build a home and of course Iโve given the kitchen the most thought. One thing I definitely want is a fireplace and a very long wooden table with benches for big groups. I definitely want (good! accessible!) cookbook storage and a family hub center (cubbies and racks for all!) adjacent. Just hoping we can build before my kids are in college โฆ
i painted our freezer with chalkboard paint so that i could keep an inventory on the front which is great for organizing and meal planning. plus, it looks awesome. also, instead of building a kitchen island in our 1895 farm kitchen โ i bought a stainless steel prep table from a kitchen supply store. cheaper and it works beautifully.
Iโm hoping to redo our kitchen in the next year. Iโd love kid friendly ideas, but right now Iโm coveting a grown-up friendly wood counter like this one: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/marketplace/modern-kitchens-by-the-brooklyn-home-company-designer-profile-146846?image_id=2556808
My 1946 kitchen was redone by a previous owner โ all in white, white everything, cabinets, counters and floor. With two kids, two cats, a dog and a husband who apparently canโt see the mess on the counters, Iโd love some inspiration. Paint on the lower cabinets is going to happen. Soon.
The kitchen is the heart of the home. I am getting married early next year, and when we are able to buy our first home together, I will most definitely focus everything on the kitchen. This is by far the raddest kitchen ever. I love the chandelier and the fact that they put a faucet over the stove!
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/kitchen-spotlight/the-bruns-breathtaking-bucolic-colonial-kitchen-kitchen-spotlight-120273
I think I am one of the two people who isnโt obsessed with this blogโฆ but I will be now! I love DALS for the very reason that I am constantly finding new websites and blogs to love! I would love the book for inspiration since I usually rip things out of magazines and, um, โorganizeโ them in a binder. We gutted and remodeled our 10 x 10 kitchen and did all the work ourselves and it was always my very favorite room, even though it was the smallest!
Oh Iโve been wanting to order this book โ thanks for the offer. As for kitchens we are just recovering from totally gutting two rooms to build a large new white kitchen. While we all put on some weight from three months of take out it is all forgotten now that it is finally done. My favorite part is a built in corner banquet where the kids read, do art or homework and where we all gather for dinner. Cozy and the heart of the home.
First, Stephanie, thanks for those cool links. I may have to try something like that pet dish arrangement if I can talk my handy hubby into the workshop.
Iโm terrible with design and decorating. My walls stay white because I canโt make up my mind even about a can of paint. However, I have two handy organization tips. First, I have read that a great solution for re-doing your kitchen on the cheap is to clear out all cupboards and re-think the way you use them and what goes where. Iโve tried this a couple of different times and been amazed at the space and convenience Iโve found.
Second idea is an old one from my mom. When my kids were small, I had a drawer in my kitchen devoted just to small toys they could play with while I was cooking, on the phone, etc. When I was really on top of things, Iโd occasionally switch out the toys or introduce something new. It went some way toward keeping me sane during those years. We just returned to our house after a year abroad and in re-stocking my kitchen I opted not to re-fill the toy drawer now that my youngest are starting kindergarten. Makes me a little sentimental, actually, and I havenโt filled the drawer with anything else yet!
Even though chalkboards are kinda been there, I have a teeny one and it is the most fun thing for kids โ I think now itโs like a staple instead of a trend!
I think this kitchen is the prettiest one Iโve seen in awhile: http://pinterest.com/pin/65012871/ I love kitchen with a wallpaper accent wall somewhere nearby โOh I totally liked you on Facebook a while ago! I canโt wait to see that DS book, one way or another!
I have a tiny Manhattan kitchen. My favorite feature is a dish rack mounted on the wall above the sink. It is a brilliant use of limited space.
The โbarโ area, which sits on one end of our small kitchen, is the place where my kids sit & snack & draw & play while I cook & clean up the kitchen. I love that they can be close enough to talk to but technically out of the kitchen. Our bar area is about 6 inches higher than the counter so it also shields the rest of the room from the kitchen counter mess when we donโt have time to clean up!
Thanks for the great blog!
I did not come up with this idea (saw it in a magazine) and it was not particularly cheap but it gave our kitchen a very finished look. We had a refrigerator oriented so the (black) side was โvery presentโ so I had a carpenter create a very shallow set of cupboards -which were just deep enough for say a box of Annieโs mac and cheese- to cover and enclose it. This was all that wood fit but you would be amazed how efficient that depth actually is. (Near East rice box, Sugar in the Raw box, Arm and Hammer Baking soda boxโฆnot to mention, canned goodsโฆ). P.S. I love your posts. My girls are five and seven and like to cook but hate to eat / love to be read to but not interested in reading. ๐
Someday I will have a house with an off the kitchen reading nook! Love the photos, need some suggestions!
BTW, we are having your corn and bacon pasta for dinner tonightโyum!