Kitchen confidential: Laguna Beach 'Flea Marketeers' invite us on in

 
Mission meets flea market in this Laguna Beach home owned by Mark and Cindy Evans. The couple wanted to create the ambience of the California missions they loved while making room for their favorite pastime: shopping flea markets. The couple call themselves the Flea Marketeers, and their eclectic home now is an entertaining mix of early California Monterey-style furnishings with collections of San Jose and Tlaquepaque pottery, Mexican yard art and their favorite Laguna Beach plein air paintings from the 1920s, '30s and '40s.

Asked if anything in the house is not from a flea market, Cindy jokes, "the bed and the coffee maker."

The kitchen, above, is a warm and delightful homage to Cindy's Mexican grandmother: green ceramic tile counters, bright red refrigerator, Mexican pavers and colorful Mexican pottery. Among the surprises: beer trays from the 1940s nailed to some of the cabinet fronts. Lisa Boone brings you this photo gallery tour of the home: "Mission meets flea market: A Laguna home's amusing mix."

Photo: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times

Kitchen confidential: A Venice bungalow made modern

 
Lisa Little was working toward her master's at the Southern California Institute of Architecture when she and husband Phil Brennan bought a tiny lot in Venice that barely fit two tiny houses: an 850-square-foot bungalow built in 1905 and a 450-square-foot rental built in 1912. The goal: Keep the scale and period feel of the facade, but make the interiors larger, more modern and more functional.

They wanted to do as much interior renovation work as possible themselves. In the kitchen, they combined tomato-red IKEA cabinets with custom stainless countertops to striking effect.

The final result: a new-old Crafsman. (And wait to you see what color they painted the exterior. Click here.)

--Rene Lynch
twitter / renelynch

Photo: Katie Falkenberg / For the Los Angeles Times

Kitchen Confidential: Storybook cottage living

 
There are an estimated three dozen "Moody cottages": Pixie homes, most built in the 1930s and '40s, that dot Santa Barbara and Montecito. They are the legacy left by four free-spirited Moody sisters who were born in the 1890s and pioneered a style of property development that was ahead of its time.

Owners of Moody cottages today dote on their whimsical homes and forgive the inconveniences that come with the eccentricities. They love the odd mishmash of recycled house parts and adore the enchanted gardens — all part of the vision of Harriet, Mildred, Brenda and Wilma.

Take a look inside the cottages -- we have a 39-picture photo gallery -- in this week's Home section:

Photo credit: A Moody cottage kitchen that still has its original mahogany countertop. Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times

Kitchen Confidential: Drag queen Jackie Beat's Highland Park home

 
You'd expect Jackie Beat, L.A. drag queen extraordinaire, to have an over-the-top house. But in the kitchen, visitors will find a method to the drag madness. Collections are organized and displayed by theme or color: dog figurines in a shadow box in the hallway, glass objects catching sunlight here on the kitchen windowsill. Here's a photo gallery look at Beat's colorful abode and David Keeps' article on Beat in Saturday's Home section.

--Rene Lynch
Twitter / renelynch

Photo credit: Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times 

Kitchen Confidential: Recapturing that hacienda vibe

 
Lucinda and David Schiff bought a classic 1920s hacienda in Pacific Palisades. The problem? Previous owners made additions that ... let's just say they needed to be undone. That included completely reconfiguring the kitchen, an area that was made up of three small rooms. Among the crafty moves: Metal bars that were found in the attic of the house were repurposed as foot rails for the island. Click here for a photo gallery of the remodel in our Home section.

-- Rene Lynch
twitter.com / renelynch

Photo: Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times

'Kitchen Impossible' with Danny Bonaduce

I have a bit of a Danny Bonaduce obsession. Maybe it's because I watched the former child star on "The Partridge Family." Or because I got sucked into "Breaking Bonaduce." Or because he was a natural drive time deejay with "Jamie and Danny" on Star 98. Bonaduce himself would probably say it's because his life, at times, has been like a drug-and-alcohol-induced train wreck and it's impossible to look away.

And I also have a thing about kitchen remodeling: I've never seen a shiny kitchen appliance that I didn't want to ooh and aah over.

So I gladly watched a sneak peek of tonight's "Kitchen Impossible" episode on DIY Network, where Bonaduce -- now deejaying in Philadelphia, remakes the postage-stamp-size kitchen atop his three-story, 200-year-old brick home.

It doesn't hurt to look: High-end kitchen appliances

For some people, it might be TVs or cars or garden furniture. For me, it’s kitchens.

And it was a little like being let loose in a top-notch candy store at the new showroom for Sub-Zero and Wolf at the Pacific Design Center the other day.

The showroom is full of built-in refrigerators that are filled with compartments, and refrigerator drawers that could go in a den or near a counter. Wine storage pieces can be set at one temperature for the top third and another for the bottom two-thirds.

The luxury companies Sub-Zero Inc. and Wolf Appliance Inc. opened the showroom on Wednesday. The idea is to be a counter to the rows of refrigerators or ovens that shoppers face in appliance stores; the showroom has the appliances set up the way they might be used in a kitchen, with sinks and work stations – making them, of course, all the more alluring. See more here.

-- Mary MacVean

Photo credit: Sub-Zero

Kitchen Confidential: 1929 Spanish Colonial Revival

 

This week's home of the week is a lovingly restored 1929 Spanish Colonial Revival in San Clemente. The kitchen is cozy -- and awfully cute. Check out the rest of the home -- with its Mission-style arched double doors, Moorish-style wood-burning fireplace and a stunning staircase tower with circular wrought-iron chandelier -- here.

-- Rene Lynch

Photo: George Briggs

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Kitchen confidential: $9.9 million Point Dume home

When a multimillion-dollar home -- or any home, actually -- lands on the market, the Daily Dish has just one question:

What does the kitchen look like?

An island breakfast bar overlooks the kitchen in this Point Dume contemporary that is on the market for $9.9 million and offers breathtaking views of the Pacific.The kitchen, with maple flooring, features granite countertops and customized, built-in appliances such as a steamer, an espresso maker and a rotisserie.

Adjacent to the kitchen is a butler's pantry -- always handy, don't you think? See the rest of the home here.

-- Rene Lynch

Photo: Mike McNamara