A Kitchen Modeled after a San Francisco Restaurant Dwell

If you're a fan of industrial-looking kitchens that still feel suited to a warm, family home... you're welcome. There are a lot of inspiring things about this kitchen (the open shelving with sliding doors, for one), and we love that the family hired the designer who did the interior of a favorite restaurant. San Franciscans: Can you tell which one?

It's the Universal Café in the Mission. The homeowners ate, saw, and decided that the look of the restaurant was exactly what they wanted in their new kitchen. So they hired Larissa Sand, the architectural designer who did Universal Café.

This is no budget renovation, for sure. But we also don't look at it as over-the-top luxurious. There are some very posh materials—marble countertops, walnut shelving—but the "cabinetry" is relatively minimal. No floor-to-ceiling custom built-ins here. The simple shelves are intermittently hidden behind sliding glass panels that look like mini garage doors.

We also love the deep farmhouse sink and the way the room feels so open and uncluttered.

• Read the article and see the full slideshow: Victorian Revival, at Dwell

(Images: Cesar Rubio/Dwell)

Comments (18)

I...want...this...kitchen...now.

Gorgeous!

although very pretty, those frosted sliding doors have very little function and seem mostly like they'd get in the way. They don't keep the dishes on the shelves any cleaner, and wouldn't disguise a mess behind them....

I agree. Not very functional for a whole lot of reasons. But it sure is spectacular as a design exercise.

l.o.v.e. this..

the panels are an simply aesthetic touch & should be appreciated as just that.

Love the look and feel, but would you not need a kitchen exhaust for the space?

Did I miss it?

Andy, you're right. There doesn't seem to be a fan of any kind, which is really weird. Maybe they don't cook much?

Perhaps it's a downdraft cooktop? I had one in my old house, and it worked wonderfully.

I too noticed the lack of an exhaust -- and no, there is no downdraft exhaust on that stovetop. That combined with the spices and foodstuffs right on top of the stove area (note that they are all in cannisters for easy wiping), make it a bit impractical.

I suspect that it is an aesthetic decision, which makes me sad, because it undermines the design for me -- I demand functionality. If you look closely, you'll see the side window, which probably determined the stove placement due to fire code issues. But the designer did not want to lose the arresting visual effect of those shelves, much less clutter them up with an exhaust, and so continued them over the stove.

The stove could probably have fit where the butcher table is, but then where would that have gone? (maybe in the eating area?)

Disappointing...

Aesthetically gorgeous, but I agree not very functional,
unless you don't cook.
With shelves just above the stove, the open glass panels will not prevent items getting full of grease and grit.

A kitchen like this, is better to admire in someone else's home.

Without an exhaust hood, I gotta wonder if the owners do much cooking beyond boiling pasta and reheating the contents of doggy-bags...

...clearly a Trophy Kitchen.

The glass panels *look* awesome but serve no purpose as far as I can tell. Maybe they are giant recipe holders?? Just scotch tape Gramma's chicken pie recipe up there and slide it down your workstation as you need it? I generally like industrial-looking design but this one is dumb.

Forgot to add... love that industrial-looking butcher block table on casters. Love love love.

very pretty. and i've enjoyed my own time at the universal cafe.

i designed a kitchen for a client several years back where the client chose not to install the exhaust over the stove. it irritated me, but there is no code requirement for one, so i couldn't force the issue beyond the obvious concerns about steam, grease and odors.

but with all those open shelves, the apparent lack of an exhaust is a major functional issue.

This is exactly what I'd like to do with my kitchen – not the look, the renovation geared to look like a restaurant kitchen. Yeah, why should restaurants get the awesome glamorous kitchens that I have to pay someone else to go see? I want to experience that same awe-inspiring and incredible feeling in my own home.

I'm surprised I haven't seen more of this.