15 Great Decor Ideas for Your Kitchen

For a new kitchen designed by Young Huh in Mount Kisco, New York, Shaker-style cabinets by Plain & Fancy, painted Teresa's Green by Farrow & Ball, have a wonderfully old-fashioned but surprisingly fresh look. Traditional pulls and latches from House of Antique Hardware. Soapstone counters and sink fabricated by Stepping Stones. Sub-Zero refrigerator. New White paint on walls and Pointing on trim, both by Farrow & Ball.

Designers Carey Maloney and Hermes Mallea created a vibrant kitchen in a New York town house. The Burgundy La Cornue Chateau 150 range is the kitchen's focal point and showstopper. "Everything else recedes into the background," Maloney says. "I mean look at that stove doing its thing — you don't need any more statements."

Farrow & Ball's Down Pipe on the island cabinetry grounds the otherwise all-white kitchen in a Greenwich, Connecticut, house decorated by Lee Ann Thornton. Pendant lights, the Urban Electric Co.

Dark, wire-brushed oak cabinets, cement plaster walls, marble counters, and sand-cast bronze hardware — "There's a sense of comfort that comes from the rustic materials," says Patrick Sutton, who designed this kitchen in the Maryland countryside. "The look is part farmhouse and part industrial, with that great trussed ceiling and a large steel window we found in a salvage yard. But everything is detailed in a modern way."

In a 48-square-foot kitchen designed by Stephanie Stokes, the "pantry" for dry goods consists of two cabinets that slide out over the countertop. Bins for trash and recyclables similarly pull out beside the sink.

In a New York City kitchen, designer Caroline Beaupère drew up the design for the custom tile mural to fit the space — the vines delicately go around the electrical outlet — and it was executed by Ann Sacks. A Grohe faucet with a pull-down spray stands at Kohler's Bakersfield sink. Microwave by Sharp.

The cabinets in the kitchen of this New York apartment by designer Miles Redd are lacquered in Bamboo Leaf by Fine Paints of Europe, as was the roller shade by Manhattan Shade & Glass. Redd says, "We pumped up the color just a scootch and lacquered it to give it life." Even the Sub-Zero refrigerator is painted green.

"Tomato-soup red" walls and hand-painted striped floors pack a lot of personality into Liza Pulitzer Calhoun's Palm Beach kitchen. Brown floor paint is Benjamin Moore's Bittersweet Chocolate. The kitchen roof was raised six feet, and cabinets were installed all the way to the ceiling. Painting the fronts a lighter shade of gray than the trim breaks up the wall of cabinetry. The pendants are salvaged boat spotlights. Wolf oven and hood.

In a Charlotte, North Carolina house, designer Lindsey Coral Harper made a Roman shade in the same fabric as the kitchen sofa, Thom Filicia's Prospect in Shadow for Kravet, to carry the ikat pattern across the room.

In a Marin County, California, beach house designed by Kim Dempster and Erin Martin, the blackboard on the breakfast bar is an opportunity for an intriguing quote. Subway tiles by Heath Ceramics remind Dempster of the inside of a shell. Gemini ceiling lights from Alfa. Paint throughout the house is Benjamin Moore's Snow on the Mountain.

A pink Smeg refrigerator from Sears is the showstopper in the guest-suite kitchen in a Newport Beach, California, house. Lina rug from Plastica. "How about that pink fridge? Isn't it great? It's tiny — perfect for a small kitchen," designer Krista Ewart says.

In his Los Angeles kitchen, designer William Hefner put in a small fireplace. "It's great. Like most people, my wife and I come home at night and go in the kitchen," he says. "The kitchen is really the only room we use during the week, so it had to have the things we wanted—a view of the yard and a fireplace. If we're spending so much time here, let's be able to build a fire and really enjoy it."

In a Purchase, New York, kitchen, designer Gideon Mendelson created a green gingham ceiling that was first painted on canvas by Silvère Boureau. Mendelson says, "It gives a classic white kitchen personality, and it brings extremely high ceilings down to a more comfortable place." To further animate the room, Mendelson designed the island and painted it a custom bright green.

In designer Sheila Bridges's New York City apartment, the glint of silver in the Torino Damask wallpaper by the designer works well with stainless steel: a Fisher & Paykel refrigerator, a Bosch dishwasher, a Bertazzoni range, and a GE microwave. Globe lantern by Alison Spear for Stephanie Odegard. Paint is Benjamin Moore's Hemlock on cabinets and Farrow & Ball's All White on floor.

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