Interior designer Steve Justrich is inspired by color. When he renovated his tiny San Francisco kitchen, he drew his primary inspiration from the colorful art that lines his walls and makes his kitchen such an interesting place to cook. He says, "I wanted a kitchen that would be colorful and delightful to be in but still be a professional, working kitchen." Well, in our opinion he more than succeeded. The result is a dramatic transformation and one of the most pleasant small kitchens we've seen in a long time.
Here's a tour from Steve through his kitchen, his cooking style, and the resources he used to transform his space.
1. What's your cooking style?
Inspired by Michael Pollan and Alice Waters I try to be a fresh, organic, local and seasonal whole food cook – not so hard to do in California.
2. What inspires your kitchen?
Colors. The kitchen was inspired by the colors in two pieces of art and the Heath Ceramics colors French Grey (walls), Linen (countertop and splash), Aqua (Venetian plaster ceiling), and Avocado (door). Yellow (cabinets) and magenta (outside bench) colors are used from the oil painting given to me by a friend in New Mexico, and a piece by local artist Alex Garcia that combines stained wood, metal and resin. An Alex Garcia piece in the photo with the mixer has stainless steel, recycled grey barn wood, and pale aqua paint on wood. The open shelving displays the Heathware. I wanted a kitchen that would be colorful and delightful to be in but still be a professional, working kitchen — with major appliances out to be used — yet still retain a styled and orderly look.
3. Favorite tool or element?
Favorite element: angled sink counter towards the new big window and the exterior aluminum framed display planter — photo shows native grasses on the shelf — I change the plants out according to what’s cool looking and in season.
4. Best cooking advice or tip you ever received:
Hmmm — keep your stock heated before you add it to the risotto.
5. Biggest challenge in your kitchen:
Space! Making a small kitchen seem BIG — I built-in the refrigerator into a second doorway into the kitchen, with lots of windows and no upper cabinets, and made the sink work as counter space with integrated cutting board and strainer. My philosophy is not to have to walk more than three steps between counters and appliances, and have everything within a fully extended arms reach — I can have my left hand on a pot handle on the stove and my right hand on the sink faucet at the same time.
6. Biggest indulgence:
The Leibherr refrigerator and the Venetian plaster ceiling.
7. Dream tool or splurge:
Vita-Mix blender.
8. What are you cooking this week?
Meatloaf with a cherry tomato, fennel, red wine and balsamic dressing, and Dijon mustard mashed potatoes, curried eggs with sweet potatoes, avocado, and goat cheese, and kale slaw with peanut dressing
9. Desert island cookbook?
I saw it on your website and will have to check it out.
10. Favorite meal cooked here:
Pork pozole stew inspired from memories of my life in New Mexico with roasted green tomatillos, and Serrano and Poblano chili.
Resources
I tried to be eco-friendly and maintenance conscious in my selection of materials. My appliance selections are mostly European because they tend to be space and energy savers.
1. No grout! Floor is Forbo Marmoleum sheet goods, counter splash is Fireclay ceramic tile, Claymonde Series, large format, super thin crackle glaze tile.
2. Countertop is Caesarstone “Blizzard White”- keeps the kitchen bright and clean looking and merges with the color of the splash.
3. Ceiling is aqua-colored Venetian plaster – not something that you normally see in a kitchen that adds color and an unexpected touch.
4. Cabinets are Finnish (Finply) yellow plywood – I wanted to see wood grain but with color – finply is a pre-finished industrial grade plywood with exposed edges – and a material that would be durable and not have to be re-finished or painted. Fine steel wool will not even harm the finish.
5. Cabinet pulls are from Omnia, in stainless steel - I liked the retro look.
Appliances:
1. Liebherr refrigerator – at 30” x 80”, it was built into a second doorway into the kitchen.
2. American Range 30” range – commercial grade look for half the price, with cast iron grates and the largest gas oven for a 30” range. The stainless shelf keeps pots at hand and not taking up room in the cabinets.
3. Faber exhaust hood
4. Miele 18” Slimline dishwasher with concealed controls – it will do 9 full place settings in a half load (just the top shelf)
5. GE spacesaver microwave
6. Julien 30” sink with cutting board and strainer - the bigger the sink the better, and never two compartments – use tubs and strainers if you want to compartmentalize the sink. The sink should be able to fit the oven racks, exhaust hood filters and refrigerator shelves for cleaning.
7. THG faucet and spray
Lighting:
1. Up-down lights are Leucos, Yellow dome fixture is CB2
Thank you for sharing your lovely kitchen, Steve! And another big thank you to James Hall for the photos.
(Images: Before photos: Steve Justrich; After photos: James Hall Photography)
I think this is my favorite kitchen remodel. It's not over the top, looks clean and fresh and makes me want to go in there and bake a pie. Lovely.
view Nikita's profile
Beautiful job! Those up-down lights are super cool. I think you've inspired me to bring in a couple of my Ikea plants to put in my kitchen for the winter.
Really nice.
view art's profile
Ditto about this being a favourite remodel - and the before pictures remind me of my kitchen, which I'm planning to redo quite soon, so this one gives me a lot to think about.
What struck me is that the countertops have cooking implements on them - it's so refreshing to see an architect who is also a cook. While I love looking at beautiful photos of kitchens unburdened by clutter, I am painfully aware that this is not even remotely possible if you cook a lot, or at least, not in my life. This kitchen strikes a good balance between a clean look and a real cooking environment.
view bakingstone's profile
You did a fabulous job! Congrats! I never get tired of looking at it. Hard to believe it ever looked any other way.
When are you inviting me over for meatloaf? (I owe you an invitation too.)
view reb's profile
Just wonderful. SO cheery and inviting.
view GirlInATower's profile
Wow! It's so beautiful! I am unbelievably jealous.
view fib's profile
awesome
view mlleErica's profile
This kitchen is all sorts of wonderfulness! Can I come over? I love it.
view KSW711's profile
This space sings (it rocks, too!)
Steve, how did you get the yellow color on the Finnish plywood? Is that a stain?
Visual poetry that "works". Thanks for sharing.
view ocha's profile
great kitchen! Love the overhead shot.
view Sassy in SF's profile
What a marvelous design. The angled sink/counter top is merely to die for, and oh so clever. It must be a remarkable experience to cook a full meal, or simply make friends a cup of peppermint tea.
Congratulation! Bon appetite - CoreyLee
view coreyleeinla's profile
What a delightful remodel - and not a stick of IKEA in sight!!!
view bepsf's profile
I like the clean simple design. My only question is where do you store your food? Is there a hidden pantry? Where do you keep all your oversize pots? And odds and ends? Other than that....I like the look....
view latinwaterpolo's profile
The www.fincolorply.com comes in 7 pre-finished colors.
Where do you put the food? was a great question - in the refrigerator! This is very much a lifestyle issue - I shop about twice a week, so there is very little stored food, but the drawers of different depths store canned goods,bulk food in IKEA containers, and in 12" deep drawers. The pots I use frequently are left out and others are in the two corner base cabinets.
view sajust's profile
I don't know whether I like the kitchen more or the photographs.
And I love how you gave yourself anonymity, but still let the giant internet see the scale of the kitchen.
Nice touch on your fresh food lifestyle. Tiny kitchen designs talk a lot about editing the number of appliances, pots, pans, and dishes, but little on reducing pantry storage and refrigerator/freezer storage.
view cashba's profile
It's a pleasant enough kitchen, but I'm mainly seeing white walls/counters and black floor and natural wood cabinets.
If *COLOR* was a goal, why oh why did the homeowner rip out the lovely vintage yellow/green tiles?
view mirandabee's profile
This is simple and stunning. I love it.
view Eekster's profile
Gorgeous.
view Pixie's profile
Wow! I love this so much.
view anmar's profile
WOW, what an AMAZING transformation! I love that the sink is dropped in at a slant! That's awesome!
view juju73's profile
Gorgeous and inspirational!
view Maybert's profile
Steve is showing such briliiance in design with subtlety. Taking a small space, using a few non primary colors on smooth, solid surfaces, creates the frame for the functional art of the kitchen. This allows for the appliances to be a welcome inclusion in the space. Placing the window planter box outside draws you into nature, expanding the inside space. Brilliant!
Wait til you see the bathrooms he is designing for us.
view martymorgenrath's profile
Cool :)
Firma Rehberi
view firmalar's profile
I like this quite a bit myself and I love the subtle yellow color in the cabinets and they DO have that vintage/retro vibe going.
I find the white helps the other colors, especially in the pottery and the yellow pendent to pop more and I love the yellow tinted plywood cabinet fronts.
I can see that the original kitchen was charming in its own way but also antiquated in how the space was utilized. I love how the basic layout proved to be quite good, but with a little tweaking, such as repositioning the fridge in an extra doorway to add more to the counters.
I can see this kitchen being such a joy to cook in now and as a reader who enjoys cooking myself as a hobby, I can see myself wanting to cook more than I am now and my inspiration is being utilized elsewhere at the moment sadly so I don't get as creative in my little kitchen as I'd like.
view ciddyguy's profile
Marvelous!
And hurrah for comments about not needing the food storage. I cleaned out my pantry with last year's Kitchn Cure and haven't looked back. I still have empty cupboards.
Quick question about the flooring. Is that wood grain piece a Marmoleum as well? Or is that a floor cloth or something else?
view Mama Ark's profile
To Mama Ark,
Thanks for your support on the goal of minimum food storage. I was inspired to reorganize a little and found that the drawers are even more empty. The big refrigerator is half empty and I turn the freezer off (separate controls) much of the time. The only way to fill up the storage space is to stock up on earthquake provisions (I should do that) or have lots of Thanksgiving leftovers.
The floor mat is from www.chilewich.com made from woven vinyl on resilient rubber matting that can be hosed down in the yard. I am happy to see that they have added some more color to their line, but are in mostly neutral tones.
view sajust's profile
I LOVE the clock that is hanging on the wall in the kitchen!! It is perfect! Where did you get that? I would love to have one in my kitchen. :)
view ClaireCarper's profile
Claire,
The Areaware two sided "Twice Once" clock is available from www.lumens.com
view sajust's profile
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view Coagulant's profile
Can you please tell me what floating shelves did you use in your kitchen? I am looking for something that can bear load and yours hold microwave easily.
Thanks,
griva
view griva's profile
Love all your choices! It's given me a bunch of ideas for my tiny kitchen in Mill Valley. Nice job.
view Kris Mulkey's profile
Griva,
The shelves were custom made by the cabinetmaker. They are anchored into the wall with long bolts and the side wall support helps. I found it was the only way to do it - I like the IKEA and Westelm floating shelves, but they weren't deep enough and can't be adequately attached to the wall for the weight.
Steve
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