Barbara Howard

While my personal style leans a bit toward layered, lived-in, even eclectic interiors with liberal pops of color, my preference for the kitchen is sleek, shining and, most often, white. This gorgeous example, created by Summerour & Associates for a couple in the Peachtree Battle area of Atlanta, is the one place I believe I could become a culinary queen. I would never want to leave!

Another Summerour kitchen, created for the 2008 Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles Designer Showhouse at The Reserve at Lake Keowee, exudes the quiet verve of Flemish style and feels extraordinarily inviting thanks to its delicious symmetry and neutral color scheme.

The feature on this sweet storybook of a home, owned by acclaimed metalsmith Andrew Crawford, was an absolute joy to write. His family's entire Westside cottage radiated with light and laughter which no doubt contributes to this kitchen's cheerful atmosphere.

In a designer model at Buckhead's Sovereign high-rise, Barbara Westbrook's selections for cabinetry, countertops and decorative accents offer the perfect balance of earthiness, depth and lightness.

Interior designer Bill Musso and Bryan Cooke's Alys Beach retreat features a custom kitchen decked out in streamlined walnut cabinetry and the optimal dose of shine, contributed by stainless steel appliances, acrylic bar stools and blown glass. The spacious and efficient space, Musso says, is fantastic for cooking.

Interior designer Alice Cramer delighted her client when she gave her a kitchen in her favorite shade of blue. I fell in love with this room first for how well the ivory, cool blue and stainless steel meld into a lovely color scheme, but once again when I discovered that my favorite retreat in WaterColor, Florida, boasts kitchen cabinetry in the same hue.

When Barbara Howard designed the Buckhead home of Mayer and Beau Buisson, she found that she loved the existing kitchen so much—designed by Lauren DeLoach of Lauren DeLoach Creative Studio—that she left it as-is. The soft taupey-gray and ivory blend seamlessly into the design scheme she conceived for the rest of their charming abode.

The rustic and ravishing kitchen in Mimi Williams' Highlands, North Carolina, mountain retreat is just the sort of place you'd like to kick back and catch up with extended family and friends over a long, leisurely evening.

Suzanne Kasler and William T. Baker conceived an awesome example of a neutral kitchen with open display cabinets, supreme fixtures, a well-placed work triangle and rich, weathered, walnut-stained floors for a showhouse at Lake Oconee's Reynolds Plantation.

Never one to miss the mark, Kasler flips her kitchen style 180 degrees for a colorful, contemporary approach at a second home in a Carillon Beach, Florida. Bolstered by the lovely pattern of Ernest Gaspard & Associates' "China Seas" fabric, the look feels fresh, young and vibrant.