The colder seasons are upon us, and while some busy themselves decorating for the holidays, many designers and homeowners are already planning ahead for larger 2026 projects. Kitchen overhauls, custom new builds, and home restorations, for example. So, what better time to look at some of the 2025 spaces that have inspired us most?
At the Junior League of Hartford 2025 Designer Show House, Presented by CTC&G, there was ample splendor to feast your eyes on. Unfolding within a graceful, Tudor-style manor, the showhouse was full of colorful rooms with personality and charm, including this kitchen designed by A Matter of Style Kitchens & Interiors.
An ode to spring, yet delightful and revitalizing year-round, the whimsical kitchen can get your mind churning with ideas for your next kitchen with its striking JennAir appliances and skillful updates that took minimal effort, but made a massive impact.
Lead designer of AMS, Martha Gargano, was initially brought on to design the showhouse’s mudroom and approached it with tasteful vibrance. Pink and green paisley wallpaper, magenta accents, gold finishes, and an endearing built-in bench with patterned pillows and drawers for storage foster an environment meant to make you smile. Playful and bold? Yes, but why not for a limitless design event like this? “Most clients are afraid of color, so it was so much fun to do this for the showhouse,” Gargano shares.
Interesting enough, when given total creative freedom, many of the other showhouse designers also gravitated toward exuberant hues completely independently. Gargano muses, “Maybe it’s because we were coming out of winter when this all started and just wanted pretty, enlivening colors.”
AMS was additionally asked to design the adjacent kitchen, and so weaving colors from the bubbly mudroom into that central space was a natural next step. Drawing on the home’s setting–there’s a gorgeous park right down the street and elegant landscaping out front–Gargano chose to continue the green palette, using blue as an accompanying color rather than pink.
“My inspiration was cottage core meets springtime in Hartford. At the start, the kitchen was somewhat dark and dismal, and I just felt it was ready to be fresh and light in color,” Gargano recalls.
For the sake of sustainability and ease, the existing kitchen cabinetry was wonderfully restored and repainted, showing that you don’t have to rip everything out to have your dream new kitchen. JennAir also made this possible, as it still carries appliance sizes to suit older homes that other brands have discontinued. Funny enough, the kitchen was actually full of old JennAir appliances from decades ago, so partnering with JennAir for the 2025 Showhouse truly felt meant to be.
In a full circle moment, they could replace the old JennAir appliances with the luxury brand’s boundary-pushing, indulgent current products to ingrain modern technology in a traditional home. JennAir’s RISE™ design expression was selected, which is especially loved for its brass bezels that suit timeless interior design. This encouraged Gargano to use brass hardware in the kitchen to keep that metallic thread consistent.
The kitchen had a freestanding 36-inch refrigerator that was sticking out into the walkway, an issue that could easily be fixed with JennAir‘s latest offerings. The JennAir team recommended AMS go with the 36″ Panel-Ready Built-In French Door Refrigerator, which is 24″ deep, flush with the cabinets, and much taller.
This solution was a win-win: The homeowner didn’t lose any refrigerator volume, while gaining cubic footage that opened up the kitchen beautifully. In fact, with the new refrigerator taking up less space, Gargano was able to add a café-like sitting area under the window and a stool at the end of the island for extra setting.
It was also pivotal to make sure this kitchen would be family and kid-friendly as the homeowners have small children. Where previously there was a gas range top, JennAir suggested AMS use their latest Induction Professional-Style Range so the homeowners needn’t worry about the cooktop. Taking away occasions for little daily stresses, there’s no fire for kids to play with or gas to be left on.
It has a wall oven underneath, as well as two additional wall ovens on an opposite wall so you can cook or warm many dishes at once. Another way AMS kept the family in mind was to use porcelain that mimics marble for the countertops, but is far more durable for everyday living and wear.
When it came to the decor, artwork from the homeowners, a pearlescent mosaic backsplash, and a delicate light fixture with two white lampshades all bolstered the warm, cottagecore aspect of the space. For some of the cabinets, panels were popped out and filled with glass so you can peek at favorite dishes inside. The wallpaper from the mudroom was added to the back of the glass cabinets, just for a subtle nod to the space that started it all.
AMS’s enchanting kitchen design is light-hearted and inviting for cozy family moments at home, but is also simultaneously cutting-edge and daring thanks to JennAir‘s products. One can merely open the refrigerator to see its unexpectedly rebellious obsidian interiors or preheat the oven from an app while relaxing in the living room to realize how modern this kitchen experience really is.
If you’re in the midst of putting together mood boards for clients or planning kitchen renovations for next year, you must check out JennAir’s innovative products and unique design possibilities. Dedicated to ushering in a new era for luxury homes, JennAir is proof of just how dazzling, and integral to design, appliances can be. Visit jennair.com to learn more.