From Our Editor: Kitchen Artistry

Van Gogh, Cezanne and Monet are just a few of the artists inspired by kitchens—the colors, textures, composition and light. In this issue, we salute kitchen designers who possess a painter’s eye, creating works of art in a home’s hearth.

In Steamboat Springs, Andrew Pharis of Vertical Arts Architecture uses texture to create a masterful kitchen—richly tactile yet careful to avoid competing textures. The plaster range hood has a rough matte finish, cabinets are smooth with a tight grain, a polished quartzite slab crowns the island, and hardware has a knurled finish. “The parts you touch have a texture,” he says.

Taking it one step further, Pharis created his own work of art in the range hood, supported by curving corbels. The hood and surround went through a multistep construction process with the plaster completed by a local artist who added the final touches to this masterpiece.

In “The Secret Sauce”, four designers share the “final brushstroke” elements that make their kitchen designs special. In Beaver Creek, a barnwood wall conceals a kitchen elevator that is a workhorse for the four-floor townhome. An open and airy Snowmass Village kitchen includes a clever solution to appliance clutter: stored in a cabinet below, they rise to the countertop with the push of a button.

A Vail home’s “jewel box” kitchen design brings glamour to a smaller space with creamy slabs of gold-veined quartzite, gold-tone faucets and glass-and-brass lighting pendants. And in Ketchum, Idaho, specialty hardware adorns cabinets with metallic sparkle.  As super chef and artist Jacques Pepin said, “The first rule for me is to feel good in my kitchen.”  He might feel right at home in these artful spaces.

Darla Worden
Mountain Living Editor in Chief

See it all in Mountain Living’s March/April 2026 issue.