Kitchens & Baths that Clear up Chaos

5 designs intended to keep family life sane.
BHG.com
New Designs in Kitchens and Baths.
What happens when editors from the five most-respected home magazines put their ideas into demonstration sets in collaboration with the National Kitchen and Bath Association? The result is an extravagant display of the 24-hour kitchen and bath at the Design Idea Center built for the Kitchen/Bath Industry Show. The editors who shared their expertise are from Kitchen and Bath Ideas, Better Homes and Gardens, Midwest Living, Country Home, and Traditional Home.

Visitors to the Design Idea Center wind their way through a day in the life of a family typical of each individual magazine's readership. Kitchen and Bath Ideas begins the day; Better Homes and Gardens focuses on after school; Midwest Living caters to dinner parties, Country Home accommodates any-time-of-the-day activities, and Traditional Home wraps its space in end-of-the-day indulgence.

BHG.com interviewed each of these project editors and videotaped their creations so you can learn the concepts behind the designs, familiarize yourself with the ideas and materials employed, and see the result through streaming video on your computer screen. The clickable video links are listed at the end of each of the following story pages.

Greet the Day
Kitchen and Bath Ideas magazine presents a bath outfitted for two and a kitchen designed to cater to the needs of a busy family preparing for their day. Senior Editor Kit Seltzer drew her inspiration from her home, "where the alarm clock acts as a starters' gun, and the back door is the finish line. If the whole family can leave the house well groomed, well fed, and well equipped for the day, we claim victory!"

The master bath, designed for two, includes a walk-in shower with multiple showerheads. Matching closets obscure customized grooming centers, with a nearby juice bar with a sink and refrigerator drawers. The kitchen space divides morning tasks into two zones, which eases the morning rush. A unique design includes an L-shaped island that incorporates counter stools, as well as banquette seating.

Kit says, "We've incorporated a lot of ideas that will streamline the routine so that it's more efficient, more functional for the morning, but it's also about offering opportunities for more family connection."

After-School Kitchen
The Better Homes and Gardens kitchen, inspired by the after-school time period, is designed to host every activity from making snacks to science projects. Design highlights include a mudroom that serves a double function as a family work zone; a roll-out crafts cart that is handily stored in a cabinet; and a milk-and-cookies bar for after-school snacks. The central island encourages gathering with a curved bar counter. Adjacent to the island is a window-seat area that serves as a cozy room within a room, where kids can nap, read, or enjoy their own mini movie theater.

Senior Deputy Home Design Editor Oma Blaise Ford says this space is a "welcoming area that seamlessly incorporates everything from cooking and snacking to homework, school projects, crafts, games, TV watching, music practice, and family meetings...the hub of family life."

Anytime Entertaining
The Midwest Living team brought the outdoors inside an imagined third-floor, rooftop kitchen during dinner hour. Senior Home Editor Carol Schalla said, "The objective was to design a city kitchen and to simplify food preparation. This gives one the time to fully savor and experience a meal with people close to us with the soothing and spectacular benefits of nature and city views."

Various work stations accommodate and facilitate the cook's passion. In addition to efficiency, design highlights include contrasting glossy white and rich brown cabinetry and white Corian and dark Zodiaq countertops. Painted white brick walls, part of the original building, provide urban texture to this contemporary kitchen and example of vibrant city living.

Personal Pursuits
The Country Home kitchen isn't just a place to cook; it's "the go-to place for informal, end-of-of-the-day wind-downs," said Senior Building/Design Editor Meredith Ladik. The circular floor plan may take its architectural inspiration from the tradition of the knitting circle, but this modern space incorporates state-of-the-art appliances and a cozy fireplace fronted by a circle of cushy chairs.

Connected to the kitchen is a sky-lighted dining room/greenhouse for growing organic herbs and year-round vegetables. The kitchen features a long table that doubles as a workplace, with lots of room to spread out knitting projects and enjoy a meal. The space is accentuated with artisan-made pieces that will definitely satisfy any woman's craving for a creative family space.

Elegant Indulgence
Traditional Home's master bath, bedroom, and outdoor lanai are designed according to one underlying theme: relaxation. Senior Interior Design/Projects Editor Robert Young said the Traditional Home team was "inspired by Japanese, Chinese, and Balinese architecture and design along with the ambience found in a relaxing spa setting. Its products and amenities suggest things tropical, exotic, ethnic, organic, and handcrafted."

Design highlights consist of open entryways linking the bedroom, bath, and lanai, and connecting the indoors and outdoors. The bed's tall headboard doubles as a room divider and attractive storage unit, and the bath walls are like no other with custom leather tiles and a mosaic glass-tile wall mural. On the lanai, a "whirlpool tub patterned after a traditional Japanese soaking tub promises instant relaxation at any time of day," said Young.