As the heart of any dwelling, a great kitchen not only enhances one’s home life, but it may also very well transform it. That is what the owners of the kitchens featured here realized after their spaces were updated to include everything from better organizational devices to stylish finishes and hardware. Hence, if your goal is to create your own dream kitchen, a room not only for cooking but hosting momentous get-togethers, look no further than these examples to help you spruce up your cooking spaces.

Each kitchen incorporates major trends, whether it be an overall style or the space’s approach to reigning in the chaos of cooking up a feast. Rolling cabinet drawers, anyone? What a great new way to store cooking gadgets and doodads. Three Acadiana designers have helped transform each kitchen into the mainstay of their clients’ homes — and with staying power to boot. Read on to discover every element to getting the looks, along with a few ideas for how to make the styles your very own.

Adding to the crisp feel of this all-white kitchen, Shaker style cabinets offer clean lines that allow the refinished red brick floors and oak beams to take pride of place.

A mix of metals, the cabinet hardware hails from Top Knob and works with the pendant lights to offset the room’s predominately lighter hues.

Antique Touches

While predominantly traditional in style, this all-white kitchen gets a modern update in its accessories.

Were it assigned a category, this kitchen would probably fall under transitional, says designer Brianne Jenkins. Modern quartzite countertops suggest a more modern view of things, yet the refinished red brick floors and oak beams hugging the ceiling clearly link the space to the classic Southern kitchen. Not to mention, the all-white cabinets feel more timeless than the recently popular bold blue and green cooking spaces cropping up all over social media feeds.

But an all-white kitchen also offers the homeowner a brilliant foundation for endlessly changeable accents and accessories. In this kitchen, the hardware is minimal and clean. The faucet is a polished nickel, for instance, while the cabinetry pulls are either gold finished or antique brass — not stained to look antique. Jenkins chose to mix metals and finishes, blending the different colors to create a collected look that feels strikingly modern. “Homeowners should avoid anything too matchy-matchy,” says Jenkins. Building layers in this way will prevent the kitchen from feeling like it needs a refresh years down the line.

(Interior Design by Grayson Carter Design)

Fabricated locally in Lafayette, the stainless steel and nickel range hood was designed by Robin Thibodeaux and ties together the differing tones in the kitchen.

In the bar, the main tile is a picket shaped antique glass framed with a white quartz from Rickert Tile. Meanwhile, inside the bar cabinet itself, Thibodeaux used an oblong hexagon-shaped tile from Anatolia Tile to help bridge the kitchen and bar areas. To further jazz it up, she selected a Urethane grout from Bostik. This grout provides a softer look with subtle shimmer.

This unique Basketweave Panel comes from Fabrica, known for their hardwood. Ushering in an instant textural effect to an otherwise smooth surface, this 12 x 24 pre-woven panel, when assembled, creates a large-scale accent piece not to be missed. Craftsmen who assembled the panels also created and stained the finishing pieces and cased openings to match and complete the look.

Coastal Casual

A 25-year-old kitchen needed a little TLC in the form of a beach getaway.

Glance through this kitchen too quickly, and you may overlook the clever references to balmy beach weather and seashore shades. “The homeowners wanted a beachy look without the seashells,” says designer Robin Thibodeaux. “They wanted allusions and textures recalling the beach, but not scream, ‘I am at the beach!’ — this could feel a little dated after a while.”

Therefore, Thibodeaux brought in round shapes, undulating textures and hues evoking the sea’s rippling waves. The kitchen surround is a white Spanish tile by Equipe Ceramicás with a curved surface, providing a sense of movement and flow. The tile is likewise used in a grey color above the sink to create an accent wall and seemingly drifts up to the wall’s crown, affixing a dynamic look. As it would happen, this wall’s window peers out onto the backyard pool, further amplifying the feeling of flowing water in the kitchen.

Colors play a significant role to creating a beach feel. The island is painted a bluish-grey and complements the white marble countertops that includes a waterfall edge. The kitchen is centered with a statement hexagon mosaic (behind the stove) from SOHO Studio and features Carrera marble and moonstone. “All these little details make the look come together so perfectly,” says Thibodeaux.

(Interior design by Designs by Robin)

Designed by Lisa Bourque and built by Cabinets Unlimited, the new maple plywood cabinetry includes a clear satin finish to highlight the wood’s beautiful, natural wonders.

Being on the smaller side, this kitchen space was not only designed with pleasing aesthetics in mind, but also functionality. Tucked away inside the larger cabinets, rows of shelves make organization a cinch. At the same time, the appearance of counter clutter is reduced significantly by cabinet doors that hide numerous kitchen necessities, like the homeowner’s coffeemaker, cups and other items.

Classical Contemporary

Subtle colors make this kitchen’s collection of artwork pop.

Once cramped and gloomy, this now cheerfully airy kitchen bears little resemblance to what it once was. The challenge, says designer Lisa Bourque, was matching the kitchen with its accompanying family room. Both rooms shared the same footprint, so making them correspond automatically tricked the eye into seeing a bigger space. New maple cabinetry with a clear satin finish, designed by Bourque and built by Cabinets Unlimited in St. Martinville, would correspond to the living room’s maple built-in shelves, while ushering in a sense of warmth.

To illuminate the kitchen further, bricks painted white were freshened up with a new gloss coat. The instant shine set a calmer tone, while working as a backdrop for the cabinets’ honeyed hues and the curated collection of artwork. “The homeowner wanted cleaner lines and uncluttered spaces,” says Bourque, who points out myriad creative ways the kitchen renders organization a cinch. Built-in rolling drawers host all manner of cooking tools, while the lowered countertop functions as a quasi-desk. The large cabinet conceals a computer and printer. The lighter wood, popular in the 1990s, is currently making a return in the design world. But to keep the look timeless, Lisa opted for antique touches, like the satin brass pulls and other hardware — “These really elevate the wood. They’re like little pieces of jewelry you can touch.”

(Interior design by Lisa Bourque Design)

To see more photos of these chic kitchens visit AcadianaProfile.com