Get the Look of Professionally Designed Kitchens and Baths in Your Home

Kitchens and baths in every style — and how you can get the looks.

Photos by Aggie Cholewka

Modern and Bright

Designer: Lisa Tessler, Link Interiors
Where: Scarsdale

The Goal: “Dina and Eric’s goal was to build a kitchen that can hold 10 kids at any given moment and then be ready for a dinner party,” says designer Lisa Tessler of her clients the Grossmans. Dina is the owner of the Great Stuff chain of stores, while her husband is an Orthopedic Surgeon in Manhattan. As working parents with three children (in elementary, middle, and high school), they needed a high-performing kitchen with storage and durability — “no crying over a spilled drink here.”

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Tessler helped them transform a small galley into a space suited for big family gatherings, equipped with a double wall oven and a range. Focusing on easy-living mixed with modern style, Tessler spec’d large gray porcelain tiles for the floor, undulated white subway tile on the walls, black pietra cardoza counters, and custom cabinetry by Modern Classics.

Frosted glass cabinets on either side of the sink lend an element of sheen while concealing what’s inside; an appliance garage conceals the toaster, coffee maker, and more. The island is finished in wood laminate, which tolerates the wear and tear of kids’ shoes rubbing up against it.

Key Features

Best Seats in the House | The Saarinen oval table with brushed metal base can seat up to 10, and the Eames chairs around it are wipeable black fiberglass. “One swipe of paper towel and anything comes off.” Faux leather bar stools from CB2 at the island are equally low maintenance.

Metals of Honor | Black-and-brass faucets from Brizo with mesh spouts and handles “are like the crown jewels of the kitchen” and coordinate with the black cabinet pulls.

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Sunny Outlook | Yellow pendants from Urban Electric give the kitchen personality and reflect the fun nature of the homeowners, says Tessler. “They remind me of a ray of sunshine every time you walk into the kitchen.”

Photos by Adam Kane Macchia

An Eclectic Mix

Designer: Sarah Robertson, Studio Dearborn
Architect: Howard Albert
General Contractor: Daniel Cores, Elite Construction
Interior Decorating: Katharine Dufault, State of the Art Consulting & Design
Where: Larchmont

The Goal: This kitchen in a 1920s Tudor belonging to an empty nester couple needed updating and modernizing via a design that would respect the architectural details of the home.

Enter Sarah Robertson, who, along with architect Howard Albert, helped expand the kitchen, creating a smart layout with clever storage features and an eating area that offers both breakfast table and island seating. Plans called for doubling the size of the kitchen and adding windows for better light.

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“We kept the cabinetry quite simple so that the original architecture could be the feature,” says Robertson. The team replicated moldings and casings from the rest of the house in the new kitchen, picking up on the warm wood tones on the island, range hood, flooring, and doors, all complemented by brass hardware from Schoolhouse. “They’ve done a lovely job of keeping everything very restored but original,” and the new kitchen feels light and bright even as it blends seamlessly with the Tudor style.

Key Features

Advanced Placement | “She cooks quite a lot and wanted generous prep space with well-planned storage in the cooking area,” says Robertson of the wife. To meet those needs, there’s a prep sink in the island, which is topped with white macauba quartz. Next to the stove, one pullout houses oils and spices; another holds baking sheets. Two dishwashers make for easy cleanup after large meals.

Clutter Free | An appliance garage to the right of the sink conceals the toaster, coffee maker, and blender, keeping the counters clear.

Island Style | The custom island with brass feet allows for bar seating and houses a built-in steam oven plus dedicated drawers that take the place of a kitchen desk — one filing drawer for paperwork and one docking drawer with charging outlets for phones and tablets.

Photos by Philip Ennis

A New Take

Designer: Danielle Florie, Senior Designer, Bilotta Kitchens of Mount Kisco
Where: Katonah

The Goal: The family that cooks together has the most fun — especially when their kitchen is equipped with four ovens and tons of workspace. After a first-floor renovation of a home for a couple with four grown children, the new kitchen features high-tech appliances purchased through Royal Green and a custom island with a connected table to seat family, friends, and cooking spectators. An old dining room was eliminated, and the whole area was transformed into one open, L-shaped space with a bar and family room.

“They wanted to expand the kitchen and have more of an entertaining room for their family gatherings,” says designer Danielle Florie. She designed the kitchen so that two or three people can work at the same time, with a full sink in the island that’s big enough for cleaning vegetables or washing pots and pans.

Key Features

Well-Stocked Bar | The bar area adjacent to the kitchen doubles as a coffee center. Topped with a leathered brown marble, the bar houses the coffee maker as well as a wine refrigerator, beverage fridge, and built-in ice maker. Upholstered swivel chairs encourage people to gather and stay awhile.

Finishing Touches | Counters around the kitchen and the island are covered with a Cambria quartz that has the light, airy look the homeowners wanted and resists stains and scratches. A geometric marble tile backsplash is an eye-catching decorative element.

Into the Wood | The larger table in the kitchen was handmade for the family and matches the island base. On the floor, wood planks with a warm gray tone run diagonally for added interest.

Photos by Stefan Radtke

Feminine and Masculine

Designer: Deanne Walczak, 360 Degree Design
Contractor: ADC Group Inc.
Where: Rye Brook

The Goal: This luxe bathroom in an Arts and Crafts-style house in Rye Brook occupies some serious square footage, which designer Deanna Walczak put to excellent use. The clean look features many wood elements that complement the home overall, which Walczak says is “straight out of a Frank Lloyd Wright book.” She kept the loo — a high-end toilet imported from Europe — in a separate room, with a barn door for privacy, a must-have for the homeowners.

A custom acacia wood vanity built by From Chef to Table adds a wow factor and anchors the space; it’s topped with Glassos from CCS Stone and organic gray vessel sinks that pick up on the tones in the floor. Walczak spec’d a custom super-subtle pale blue for the walls and sourced a clawfoot tub (her client’s preference) with an art deco feel. She created schematics of the room to help the homeowners feel confident in decision making.

Key Features

Light Ideas | “We needed a touch of feminine to balance the more masculine feel of the design,” says Walczak, “something grand enough to hold the center of the room but not compete with the acacia wood.” The perfect fit: a fixture from Juniper Lighting in Brooklyn, a customized Love Me Not chandelier that the clients adore. Windows and skylights let in plenty of natural light.

Flexible Flooring | The teak floor in the shower stall sits on top of gray penny tiling, and the wood lifts out for easy cleaning (they can take it outside and power-wash if needed). The bathroom floor’s dark gray tiles feel warm underfoot, thanks to radiant heating throughout.

Power Tower | In place of a medicine cabinet, there’s a pullout between the sinks for everyday items; a tall storage cabinet to the left of the vanity houses all other bathroom essentials.

Photos by Emily Sidoti

Light and Airy

Designer: Cami Luppino, Lulu Home Design
Carpenter: Peters Carpentry
Contractor: Joe Luppino, Luppino Builder’s Corp.
Where: Chappaqua

The Goal: When a couple with two young boys moved up to the burbs from New York City, they wanted to renovate their newly purchased 1930s farmhouse without changing the footprint. They hired Lulu Home Design to tackle the job, including a complete overhaul of their master suite. For this master bath, the team borrowed the space of a closet in the bedroom (and built his-and-hers wardrobes) to make room for shelving and a cabinet that fit under the steeply pitched roof.

“The goal was to keep it very spalike and Zen,” says designer Cami Luppino, who selected an eye-catching chevron marble for the floor in an otherwise understated white and gray space. The wife, who’s a yoga instructor at a top studio in the city, likes to take baths every day, so the BainUltra tub was a priority. A small side table encourages long soaks. “It depends on the day whether there’s wine or a book on that table — or both,” says Luppino.

Key Features

Sink In | “We were careful about the scale of the vanity and wanted to lift it off the floor so that it’s more like a piece of furniture,” says Luppino of the custom Shaker-style piece with twin sinks. It’s finished with simple, clean-lined hardware from Phylrich.

Marble Masters | All of the tile in the bathroom is from Walker Zanger in Port Chester. The different types of marble add interest, with the bolder pattern in the chevron floor and very subtle raked marble tiles behind the tub.

Go With the Flow | Smart design touches include the glass-enclosed shower door, which sits in a little channel within the stone threshold. “It helps a tremendous amount with keeping the water from leaking out,” says Luppino. A pitched channel directs water back into the shower.