As the kitchen evolves from a contained room to a loosely defined functional area, its center of gravity tends to shift from the perimeter toward the center. In this new Los Angeles house, architect Zoltan Pali pushes the trend with a kitchen composed entirely of islands. Part of a linear layout that also includes living, dining, breakfast, and family areas, the kitchen distributes work space among three distinct units: a sink island with a raised seating counter, a cooking island, and a desk island that subtly screens kitchen work surfaces from the dining area. All three combine engineered stone counters and end panels with aluminum laminate cabinet fronts and stainless steel appliances. “It's all one big room,” Pali says. “The kitchen itself is designed as a piece of furniture within this larger space.”
But every kitchen needs storage above waist height, and Pali fills that requirement with two banks of freestanding cabinets that qualify as variations on the island theme. Faced in rift-sawn white oak, these “vertical islands” also house the wall ovens and refrigerator and separate the kitchen from an adjacent hallway. “The idea is that you store your stuff to the east,” Pali says. “There are no other uppers; everywhere else is work surface, kept low to keep the views open.” Those views, which stretch north for 50 miles over the San Fernando Valley and west to the Santa Monica Mountains, are worth the trouble. But this kitchen shines even with all the shades drawn.
Project Credits
Builder: Archetype, Los Angeles
Architect: Studio Pali Fekete, Culver City, Calif.
Project size: 700 square feet
Construction cost: Withheld
Photographer: Claudio Santini
Resources: Cabinets: SPF; Countertops: Caesarstone.
