Detroit Home Design Awards award-winning kitchen. Even a modest footprint and dual design challenges can yield high style and function. It’s all about having a plan, thinking beyond the kitchen walls, and choosing a palette of tone and texture that sets the desired mood.

Addressing the main objectives of the homeowners in a footprint of nearly 500 sq. ft. required the designer to take some liberties with the existing footprint, maximizing the available floor space by creating a recessed bank of cabinetry using a non-bearing wall. By covering the entire space with monochromatic cabinetry, the wall adds to the feeling of spaciousness. This area stores dishes and pantry items, plus a full-sized double door refrigerator/freezer. To vary the visual effect, one cabinet is cleverly disguised as a tower of shallow drawers. Another recessed cabinet flanks the sink, and additional dish and pot and pan drawers are placed under the counter and in the island, increasing easy-access storage.

The owners were mainly interested in a contemporary design that was still a comfortable place to work and gather with friends and family.

Combining sleek stainless appliances and concrete surfaces with rich  cabinetry and softened lines creates warmth within the clients’ style parameters. For example, gentle arches complement the linear elements of the space, making the recessed range alcove reminiscent of an old-world hearth situated under a dark beamed ceiling. Thus, the design, a meld of urban minimalism with the suggestion of the traditional, imparts an abundance of interior warmth in this light-filled workspace.