Ready to renovate? The designers behind these 6 spectacular kitchens offer their top tips to get started.

By Kerri Donaldson, Alyssa Hirose, Stacey McLachlan and Anicka Quin

 Warm wood loves colour.

The hood fan is quiet on two fronts: the Faber fan will quietly sweep away cooking odours, and it’s designed to be visually quiet, with a white drywall enclosure. “The central fan is a function of having your cooktop on the island, but by keeping it white, crisp and clean, it’s not where your eye is drawn,” says Ewanchyna. “Instead it’s drawn to the back, to the warm cherry and teal.”

The homeowners had been loving their BattersbyHowat-designed home in Vancouver for going on a dozen years when they had the thought: What if we could make the kitchen larger? With growing tween-aged kids and a family love for cooking and entertaining, they were in need of a little more elbow room. Architect Ian McLean and designer Andrea Ewanchyna of Andreajae Studio came on board and opened the space up to the adjoining living room, while maximizing storage in the design (think cabinets from Sofo Kitchens brought right to the ceiling, a dedicated pull-out spice rack, baking organization above the ovens and moving the cooktop to the new island). The renovation tackled the entire main floor, but the design team also wanted to ensure that the update didn’t feel out of place with the rest of the home. But one thing made that challenge a lot easier: “The clients were not afraid of colour, hallelujah!” says Ewanchyna with a laugh. The millwork throughout the upper floor is a warm cherry wood, so the team planned a kitchen design with perimeter cabinets in a gorgeous, cherry-loving teal (Newburgh Green from Benjamin Moore), with inset pulls in the same cherry wood as upstairs. And on the island? The complete reverse.

 Balance over-the-top statement pieces with practical functionality.

“Laid-back glamour” doesn’t have to be an oxymoron, as this chic Palm Beach kitchen from Vancouver-based interior designer Gillian Segal proves. “We wanted to create a space that was transitional from the intimate day-to-day of raising kids to hosting, connecting and entertaining,” says Segal. This warm, welcoming space features plenty of California luxury—like the swaggy glass-chain Trueing Studio fixture, the luxe asymmetrical waterfall marble countertop and the crisply tailored leather Thomas Hayes stools— but, at its heart, it’s also intensely family friendly. Hardwearing materials like leather and stone will weather gracefully through big parties and kid messes, and the streamlined palette of warm camels, golds and whites keep the room from feeling fussy.

 Yes, you can mix beautiful surfaces with durable surfaces in the same space.

Pre-renovation, this kitchen in Vancouver’s Yaletown neighbourhood dated back to the Expo 86 days. The homeowner spotted Atmosphere Interior Design’s work on Instagram, and recruited the Saskatoon-based firm to make her new space light, bright and contemporary: a palette of white and grey with glam pops of gold. And glam it is: heavily distressed mirrors on the upper cabinet doors are inspired by a Kelly Wearstler design in L.A. and help reflect light throughout the space. The natural marble on the backsplash was selected from a sample during those challenging pandemic days, but it ended up being the ideal fit for the space. “It was the perfect amount of grey and warm tones, with hints of gold in there,” says designer Curtis Elmy of Atmosphere. And while the design team went for a durable, grandkid-visit-friendly Caesarstone on working surfaces like the island and perimeter countertops, the natural marble still shows up in a creative installation on the lower part of the island. “It allowed us to interpret the stone in a unique way—and she doesn’t have to worry about it when she entertains,” says Elmy.

A Little Sparkle

The Kelly Wearstler sconces from Visual Comfort that sit on either side of the range help create an elegant transition from day mood to night. “We’re big fans of putting sconces into kitchens,” says Elmy.

Well Seated

“The right stool can make or break a kitchen,” says Elmy. “It’s the only furniture you see in the space, and they need to be both functional and comfortable—and it can be difficult to marry the two.” These beauties are from Gresham House, with a shagreen stamped leather on the seat. “The fabric is really durable,” says Elmy, “but has lots of visual interest with the greys and oyster shades.”

 Make your kitchen island perform double (or triple) duty.

This North Vancouver laneway home was too small for a dining table, so Rebecca Foster, director of design at Welton Design Group, and the builders at Revel Built Inc . decided to think big: with the kitchen island, that is. “We created an oversized island and incorporated seating on the side, so the homeowners are able to sit as a family,” says Foster. The island, which is nearly 11 feet long, has a built-in banquette, plus room to pull up bar seating and a high chair, allowing it to pull triple duty as a dining surface, food prep area and storage solution. To prevent the space from feeling too boxed-in, the designer opted for open shelving on the upper cabinetry. “We positioned that bottom shelf very strategically—it’s two inches above eye-height for the tallest person in the home,” Foster explains. “It lightens up the room, and doesn’t distract from views of the beautiful backyard.”

Line, Please

This kitchen embraces the linear in subtle (but intentional) ways. The horizontal lines created by the brick wall, for example, balance the vertical lines made by the shiplap that clads the island.

Pub Style

The clients’ own design taste leans toward an English pub vibe, which contrasted with the modern architecture of the home. To bring the two elements together, Foster opted for traditional exposed brick and contemporary pale green cabinetry (Benjamin Moore’s Nature Lover), and tied them together with the warm faux-leather banquette.

Shape Shifter

The West Coast ’70s architecture of this cabin created some very cool storage possibilities, and Barker took full advantage of them. The wall behind the green cabinets slopes back, so each drawer goes slightly deeper than the one above it. The orange cabinetry that conceals the fridge and pantry also holds shoes, recycling bins and firestarter logs.

Libation Station

The homeowner loves to host, so Barker created a place for guests to store and pour drinks without cluttering the countertop. The walnut credenza has room for glasses and bottles, plus an integrated fridge drawer, and it becomes a central hub when entertaining.

 Don’t be afraid to go bold with colour.

West Coast cabins traditionally abide by a certain palette: natural woods, forest greens, perhaps a river rock fireplace. But the kitchen in this home on Bowen Island, B.C., pops with bright orange and avocado green millwork—it’s an ode to the homeowner’s love for colour, and to the building’s 1970s roots. The Richard Henriquez home was renovated by Andrew Barker, principal designer of AJ Barker Design , with millwork by Momentum Millwork. After the client selected the orange, Barker chose the green: “The avocado colour was a nice counterpoint to the orange—it works with the wood and it’s relevant to the era of the house, but it’s not screaming out ’70s,” says the designer. The bright hues keep company with more neutral materials (Caesarstone countertops in a concrete hue, black slate tile floor, a sleek chrome faucet from Cantu), creating a space that’s both grounded and exciting.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

For a traditional kitchen design that’s still very functional, Martin turned to clever cabinetry and custom panelling. “We do the panel for the appliances so a lot of that more industrial feel is avoided and it feels a lot more like custom millwork,” says the designer. The cabinet framing serves as elegant camouflage for busy lives, and adds a classic feel.

Ageless Beauty

Like the cabinet pulls, the faucet that pairs with the kitchen’s farmhouse sink is unlacquered brass, meaning it will age naturally over time. “It gives it kind of an old European feel—which I think is charming and endearing and adds to the character of the whole home,” says the designer.

 Opt for natural, imperfect materials for a kitchen that tells a story.

Like many renovations, the design of this beachy coastal home in beautiful Oak Bay started in the kitchen. For Jenny Martin of Jenny Martin Design , making this modern build feel timeless meant using natural materials like brass and marble for an oldworld charm that, over time, would take on a life of its own. “We picked a lot of the materials that had a more handmade feel and were imperfect by nature,” says Martin. By adding materials that age gracefully— like the unlacquered brass handles on the cabinets that will darken and patina over time, or the marble countertops that will stain and scratch—the designer brings in an imperfection that gives a home its own characteristic beauty. “Every one of those little stains or marks is a story; it gives your house memories,” says Martin. “You go to Europe and you see a baker’s counter that they’ve been using for hundreds of years and it might have divots from all the work that has happened on it. But the patinas that it has are exactly what makes it so beautiful.”