If you live in an older home, the process of remodeling can reveal hidden secrets that have been covered up by previous renovations, like original brick chimneys or stone walls. Monique Valeris is the home design director for Good Housekeeping, where she oversees the brand’s home decorating coverage across print and digital. Prior to joining GH in 2020, she was the digital editor at Elle Decor.
- Images and products used were current at the time of installation and are shown as examples of previous work undertaken.
- Modern kitchens are functional, stylish, and built for contemporary lifestyles.
- He’s been designing and project managing new kitchen installations for over 10 years.
- The benches can be tucked under the table when not in use to keep the space clutter-free and accessible.
Pantries have had an upgrade in 2024, an upgrade that looks to the past really as the back kitchen has become a coveted feature of a modern kitchen. A back kitchen is very similar to a pantry – it’s a way to keep more practical parts of a kitchen hidden and can be a great asset if you host a lot and want to keep prep, mess, and appliances out of sight. An antique farm table provides extra work space and anchors the kitchen at Chris Benz’s 1880s home on Long Island. He kept the home’s existing cabinets and refreshed them with Farrow & Ball’s Old White, with doors and trim in Ball Green.
Colorful Pops
This tendency extends beyond work hours, where she can often be found scrolling for inspiration, elbow-deep at an op-shop, moving her couch for the 70th time or mentally renovating every room she walks into. In this modern kitchen, shields and bowls the owners bought in Africa are earthy elements in the restrained palette. The kitchen is very much the heart of this home; to give it some gravitas, designer Morgan Ferry specified a muted blue-green for the joinery and Versilia marble for the benchtops and splashbacks. A butler’s pantry and laundry are cleverly concealed behind a pivot door. This beautiful kitchen was a finalist in 2022 at the Australian House & Garden Top 50 Rooms.
The kitchen flooring should be durable as well as easy to clean since the area can get messy easily. Choose from materials like ceramic tiles, vinyl, laminate, and wood to get the flooring and walls right. Look closely at the cabinetry of this Buffalo, Michigan, project, also designed by Wegman, and you’ll see it’s lined in plank panels. “We opted to paint them white to balance out the wood tones,” Wegman says. In the historic Livingston, New York, home of architect Jim Joseph and musical theater composer Scott Frankel, the white cabinets were fashioned from antique windows . Unexpected pendant lights and stone floors add a historic aura in white kitchen designs like this.