On Design: Glass, Concrete & Stone

Hard-wearing materials cast in a new light

I love the song “Glass, Concrete, and Stone,” by David Byrne - but this post is about the beauty of hard-wearing materials for the home.

About a decade ago I purchased my first home in Charleston. It was the home of an architect, and she had installed stainless steel countertops in the kitchen. Having worked in restaurants my entire career, it was a material I knew and loved - easy to clean, durable, beautiful in its humble simplicity.

It was an absolute joy, ideal for someone who really cooks. The counters take anything you give them - a ripping hot pan right out of the oven, a bubbling pot straight from the stovetop, a batch of cookies left to cool. No trivets needed, no stains permanent.

I’ve moved a couple of times since then, but in every home I’ve had, I’ve ripped out the countertops and installed stainless steel. Using them for years, my love and appreciation has only grown, along with an appreciation for similar hard-wearing utilitarian materials like industrial rubber flooring, subway tile, and plywood.

Last year I bought the book High-Tech, which is billed as an “industrial style and source book for the home.” It’s proven an incredible resource, and one I’ve leaned on for my own home and for new projects in development. Perhaps owning restaurants has increased my love for these kinds of finishes. We walk a tightrope in a restaurant, a delicate balance between patina and wear in a space that seats hundreds of people daily. Stainless steel is the material that will hold up and still look sharp.

While my current kitchen is a mix of stainless countertops, a large oak island, and traditional wood cabinetry (with reeded glass, another material I love and use often), I’m keen to go all stainless at some point in the future.

This goal has gotten easier in the last several years, as the stainless kitchen is very much having a moment. Very Simple Kitchen is a newer resource on the scene, as are some of the options from Reform out of Copenhagen, including this beautiful one designed by Jean Nouvel.

Below are a few of my favorite examples of the look:

From the Very Simple Kitchen lookbook

E.A.T New York, briliantly updated by Charlap Hyman & Herrero for Eli Zabar.

The kitchen of Jack Ceglic, king of the stainless steel kitchen (and father of Dean & Deluca)

Another Jack Ceglic kitchen.

The all-stainless kitchen of Clare De Boer.

Kitchen by Nick Poe for Jacqueline Sullivan Gallery in NYC.

Rochelle Canteen in London, a brilliantly simple and eleganat dining room.

Lots of stainless and a hit of yellow at Canteen, in London.

Stainless door, tile walls at Nine Orchard.

All stainless bathroom at Roxy Hotel in Tribeca.

Glass bricks and chrome at Bridges in NYC, designed by Billy Cotton.