THE PERFECT RECIPE

THE BAR PULLS OR THE CONE-SHAPED KNOBS?

Glass tile for the backsplash or dimensional ceramic? Renovating my midcentury kitchen two years ago had questions like these swirling through my mind at night like a broken record. Or rather squawking in my brain on repeat like a parrot taunting me into submitting—or committing—to one or the other finally. Yes, making design decisions for your home can be fraught with stress. But truth is, it’s the best kind of stress, isn’t it? Pouring over this color or that, that finish or this is tremendous fun. It’s part of what lures us into buying that fixer-upper in the first place. That we mere contemporary mortals could have such a great impact on the legacy of a post-war gem and leave it—hopefully—in better condition than we found it. (If we could ever bring ourselves to leave it at all.)

That’s what this Kitchen issue of Atomic Ranch is dedicated to helping you do. We tour a variety of kitchens with design decisions that run the gamut of elegant midcentury style. Robert Maurer’s kitchen, whose home graces our cover this issue, is a gorgeous example of an original kitchen whose potential has been fully realized for today’s use. All these homeowners have poured themselves into restoring, renovating and updating their incredible architectural specimens into something better than they found. I hope you find the inspiration—and motivation—you need to keep working away at your kitchen’s design recipe.