Dream kitchen: William Hefner design clicks with Houzz readers

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Who’s got the fairest kitchen of all? Houzz.com offers one way of seeing the aspirational look of the moment -- the most envy-inducing arrangement of countertops, cabinets and bling. The Houzz website and app, which allow architects and interior designers to upload images of their work, operate like a dating site where homeowners can play the field a bit and see what strikes their design fancy before committing to a remodeling or building project. When readers see something they like, they can save images to a personal ‘ideabook’ that lives on the site. It’s the decorating equivalent of a ‘like’ to that impossibly cute cat photo on Facebook.

More than 75,000 design professionals have uploaded almost half a million images to the site since it was founded three years ago. And the Hancock Park house pictured here, designed by Studio William Hefner, is winning the popularity contest for kitchens hands down. It has been added to more than 19,000 ideabooks.

Hefner, a Los Angeles architect, said the success of this kitchen -- which reads like a classic French country kitchen with a glam makeover -- has been nothing short of overwhelming.

‘Although not a true believer, we uploaded of number of images to the site and it’s proved to be quite successful for us,’ Hefner said. So just what about this kitchen, as opposed to the thousands of others living on Houzz, has so many users clicking their approval? Is it the white oak cabinets in a translucent stain? Or the Calacatta marble countertops and backsplash?

There are no analytics to answer those questions, but Houzz’s vice president of marketing, Liza Hausman, said she was confident that what people loved about the kitchen ‘are the wall of windows with seamless door, and how the seating is situated to enjoy the light and outdoors. People also love the crisp white color scheme and bench seating.’

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-- Alexandria Abramian-Mott