We love a gorgeous kitchen which meets our needs in the prepping, cooking, storage and baking department. But occasionally, a kitchen goes above and beyond the functional and enters the realm of the imaginative, revealing that inventiveness does not expire as soon as it leaves the home office, studio, living room or bedroom. Take a look at these kitchens exhibit artful imagination — all within an arm’s reach from the toaster, fridge or kitchen island.
blackLAB architects inc..
Manufactured Tile
Instead of upper cabinets filling the space above the cooker, the architects and homeowners of this minimalist home created a mosaic-like art piece made entirely of paint, they applied with a roller brush.
“We worked off of a floral pattern which we had printed out on a bit of paper, cut bits of tape according to the pattern, painted the wall, then peeled off the tape when the paint had dried — by far the most time-consuming area,” says designer Tony Round.
blackLAB architects inc..
Here’s a closer look in the evening art-project-turned-art installation.
“We intend on tiling the walls at some point in the future, but for today, I think that it makes for a great conversation piece,” says Round.
Incorporated
Fabric Backsplash
Designer Drew Stuart placed his client’s favorite Josef Frank fabric between two pieces of architectural glass above this cooker. “My client was thrilled that we used her favorite fabric — and amazed that it found a home in the kitchen,” he says. “Now the kitchen includes all this color and energy, exactly like the rest of the house.”
T.A.S Construction
Oversized Print
Here, a large map wrapped in raw steel with metal screws behind a white and yellow toile bench adds interest to this midcentury galley kitchen and ups the gravitas of this cozy breakfast nook.
California Home + Design
Pattern Mashup
This kitchen explodes with innovative use of color and pattern. The green mosaic backsplash extends the leafy foliage only beyond the door, and yellow ceiling stripes piled the yellow in the fruit and accessories. To top it off, an uneven mirror reflects the whole mashup.
Lisa Sorgini
Personal Mementos
The owners of this eclectic house show that personal curios can and ought to pepper a home well beyond the boundaries of this entryway console or bedside table.
Poppy, one of the homeowners, found the portrait hanging above the mantel to get a dollar; it is one of her prized possessions. “I can’t imagine the kitchen with no,” she says. Large bamboo branches arch over the door, highlighting the area’s height and lending the kitchen a stylish quality. It’s also a nod to Poppy’s career as a florist.
“Because we downsized considerably when we moved into this cottage, everything in the house carries some sort of meaning for us from the portrait all the way into the dining table,” says Poppy (who designed the table).
Mary Prince Photography
Designer Jenn Clapp’s kitchen showcases her love of owls, birds and published matter just as much as any other corner, wall or room inside her traditional-quirky home.
Pots hanging from the rack share the room with her owl collection, providing guests a taste of her whole house’s design as they gather around the kitchen island.
Going Home To Roost
Artful Deal
Everything things in this little cottage kitchen, so there’s not much space for fanciful decoration. Homeowner Bonnie Forkner composes sublime artful vignettes within such a tight area: vibrant measuring cups lineup the toaster sill and citrus containers from mint green into citrine sweeten the arrangement.
Going Home To Roost
Forkner sets a hodgepodge of vintage and newly bought jars in her vulnerable pantry, linking them all together with using circle Kraft labels — a subtle yet completely successful unifying element.
Lindsay von Hagel
Handmade and Thoughtfully Curated
The owners of this conventional home stenciled and hand-painted the Southwestern-inspired pattern onto their own kitchen walls, extending the plum and lavender ombre look of the rest of the home. A glitter-coated skull, ceramic poodle, a gilt pharaoh print plus a porcelain figurine show off the couple’s playful and imaginative side without needing too much attention away from the stencil pattern.
Do you have a creative kitchen? We would really like to see it. Post a picture and tell us a little about it in the Comments section below!