Modernizing the Kitchen for Today's Lifestyle | HuffPost

This Huntington Beach home, just north of Newport Beach, California, is owned by a young couple who wanted a fresh look. The houses in this popular surfing location are primarily tract homes built in the 80s and 90s. Most of the houses have separate kitchen and living rooms with no open floor plan. This young and hip couple wanted something modern, warm and timeless for their family home that was just ten minutes from the beach.

The house was never redone since being built twenty years ago and it still had the original dated kitchen. Modernizing doesn't mean going away from your current style. It means updating and improving your style. No matter how big the space is, it's amazing what color, style and texture can do to transform the look and make it function better and look bigger.

We modernized this kitchen by using solid natural color countertops and more even-toned solid surfaces. The granite we picked had multiple horizontal veins. It was important that the lines in the granite matched up at the seams in the horizontal backsplash. We updated and increased the amount of lighting, converting to the current energy codes and changing to LED lighting everywhere. Without lighting, none of the colors will read properly and you can't function in the space efficiently.

Even if you don't have a lot of space, a well-designed custom kitchen will house all of your storage needs. Accurate space planning of the cabinets should be designed around the appliances you have and use. We redesigned the Island to make it not only a place for small appliances and quick prep meals, but also for different types of baking where you need a lot of room. Also, when entertaining it can be a buffet counter.

The banquet seating was done to increase the function of the space. The banquet table height is the same height as the Island and kitchen counters. This makes the banquet seating feel more equal with people who are standing in the room, cooking and serving. It also serves as another work area while standing. The barstools are a contemporary theme to go with the customized banquet table I built. The barstools were updated for more comfort and a clean and functional design.

Before the remodel, the kitchen had a wall with cabinetry on it between the kitchen and living room where the back of the sofa is. Along with the kitchen and living room, we did the backyard patio, which was directly outside the two rooms. There was a single door entrance from the kitchen and we took the small sliding French doors in the living room and opened it into a larger slider.

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