With a toddler in tow and a penchant for the contemporary look of their East Coast roots, Kristin Santi and Matthew Diddy wanted a clean, bright and well-functioning kitchen in their Chesterfield home. Dana Dunbar of Lorrien Homes, the general contractor who spearheaded the young couple’s renovation, says the space felt slightly claustrophobic thanks to dim colors and its lack of light, natural and otherwise.

Changing your kitchen hardware is a small way to make a big impact on your space. There’s no better way to freshen your look than with a touch of brass in your knobs and pulls. 

It took four years of searching — yes, four whole years — but after watching and waiting for the right property to come on the market, Dana Jones, owner of Flavor Dance Studio and professional home renovator, finally found her dream kitchen hiding away in a historic Clayton duplex. And all she had to do to make it perfect was figure out how to navigate the red tape that comes with remodeling a historic home and complete a total conversion of said duplex into one, big cozy home. With the help of interior designer Joni Spear of Joni Spear Interior Design, it was a piece of cake.

Whether you’re building a new kitchen or remodeling the one you’ve got, choosing a countertop is a big – and expensive – decision. National Kitchen & Bath designer Ashleigh Schroeder weighs in on the pros and cons of five popular surface materials for your home’s busiest space. 

Ditch the upper cabinets in favor of sleek, open kitchen shelves that will display your dinnerware, pots, pans and more. Open shelving keeps your kitchen feeling light and airy.

1. Cook's kitchen, by Artichoke, Photography by Marcus Peel.

2. By Alspaugh Kitchen & Bath. Photography by Alise O'Brien.

3. By Mhouse, Inc. Photography by Stephani Buchman.

Last year, Pat Perotti downsized from a large home to her mother’s recently vacated villa. Her villa was the same as her neighbor’s, which was the same as their neighbor’s and so on, but that was not Perotti’s style. She wanted to make her new home her own and give it a touch of her feminine class. When she decided to re-do her mother’s old kitchen, she trusted interior designer Ellen Kurtz, of Ellen Kurtz Interiors, to pull off the new look.