A growing number of Hawai‘i’s luxury homes evoke the lü‘au with outdoor kitchens, says Susan Palmer of Susan Palmer Designs (Honolulu). “Outdoor kitchens are becoming popular across the Islands,” she says. “Homeowners can choose from a growing menu of excellent products to extend their home into the natural environment.”

A former president of Hawai‘i’s chapter of NKBA, Palmer notes that manufacturers of commercial kitchen appliances (as well as other products designed for restaurants and bars) are increasingly introducing residential versions of heavy-duty outdoor items, prettified with softer, more attractive lines and surfaces. Palmer’s second showroom, completing construction this summer, features an outdoor kitchen display with a selection of stainless steel sinks, under-counter refrigerators, bar sinks, beer taps, and the like – all designed for länais, gardens, poolside decks, and backyards.

Indoors, the latest kitchens in luxury Island homes increasingly feature open floor plans. Architects and designers now often create large pass-through windows to other rooms in the home. Remodeling typically entails knocking down entire walls to let the kitchen “breathe” as its space and sightlines flow into adjacent living and dining areas. Large windows and French or pocket doors open to länais, gardens, or distant views, inviting nature to drift right in and stand beside the cook.

“We who live in Hawai‘i sometimes laugh and ask ourselves, why do we even bother to have living rooms?” Palmer chuckles. “Our kitchens and the länais are where we really live. Formal dining rooms are disappearing as family rooms, dining rooms, and kitchens mix into one big room for casual, family-style living.”

Another growing current in Island interior design blends the kitchen’s traditional food preparation function with that of a stylish entertainment center. Installed right along with the Sub-Zero refrigerators, Viking freezers, and GE convection microwaves and warming ovens are flatscreen, hi-definition televisions, lavish sound systems, personal computers, and other hi-tech media.

“We’re seeing more and more entertainment centers being built into kitchens so homeowners can sit and cook, relax, watch TV, listen to music, and enjoy meals with family and friends,” comments Michael Smith of Kitchen Concepts Plus (Honolulu), who served eight years as a national director of NKBA. “It’s smart living, too, because the kitchen is where everyone spends their time anyway.”

Technology does not dictate a particular design theme, designers agree. An endless variety of interior styles now flourish in the Islands, with high-end homes featuring everything from traditional Hawaiian motifs to Old World European traditional flavors, Asian fusion themes, Mediterranean, or even Victorian English sensibilities and furnishings. From Kaua‘i to the Big Island, computers, HDTVs, and other hi-tech gadgets may be – and have been -- artfully hidden away in kitchens boasting all of these design styles.

One key to successful kitchen design is thematic integration -- not only with the natural environment, but also with the rest of the home, says Carol Ann von Hake of von Hake, Ltd. (Kailua-Kona). “The kitchen is the heart of the home,” she offers. “It’s where people start their day, end their day, and entertain. Ideally, when a remodeled kitchen merges into the great room, the end result will look like it was always there, integral to the rest of house and reflecting the client’s individual taste and style.”

The eclectic range of styles now seen in Hawaiian homes is embraced by most designers, if subtly modulated by some with a view toward honoring cultural and natural settings. “Our mission is to design in context,” says Richard Peterson of Richard Peterson Design (Honolulu). “Everything we create in Hawai‘i needs to be in the context of living in the Islands with an indoor-outdoor tropical lifestyle. Even with a remodeling project of a contemporary structure that may not have many Hawaiian elements, our approach is to take whatever Island influence is there and capitalize on it, expanding it to ensure every home is beautiful, comfortable, and healing. Often, this can be achieved with the serenity of organic materials and the calmness of a natural color palette featuring greens and golds.”

If the ultimate Hawaiian kitchen strives to emulate a hi-tech lü‘au, then perhaps the ultimate Hawaiian bath sometimes resembles an appliance-driven simulation of a waterfall. Outdoor showers have always been popular in the Aloha State, especially for oceanfront homes whose owners need to rinse off the sand before returning from the beach. But indoor showers can also create a delightful waterfall or mist effect, says Michael Smith.

“Popular elements inside luxury showers can involve shower trees and body sprays, so that you feel like you’re standing in the rain, soaking up the natural precipitation,” Smith points out. ”We do many walk-in showers. They don’t have to be enclosed or boxy-feeling. They can be wide open or have glass panels.”

“Many people tell us they want that ‘spa feeling’ in their bathroom,” says yet another award-winning designer. Richard Cowan is a principal of Archipelago Refined Island Interiors (Honolulu). “To me, a residential bath that feels like a spa is one that offers spacious accommodations, a Jacuzzi soaking tub, a soothing, muted color palette that tends toward the monochromatic with lots of tile, a glass enclosure for the shower, or -- if space permits -- a walk-in shower feeling with no door.”

“Design is not just about function and visual appeal; it’s about lifestyle,” says Judy Dawson, owner and principal of Designer Kitchens and Baths (Honolulu). “The bathroom is where you can pamper yourself at the end of a busy day. It’s like having your own private spa.”

In a smaller bathroom, just a touch of well-chosen theming can create outsized impact. One charming example: the carved wooden Hawaiian canoe paddle used as a towel rack in a bath designed by Richard Cowan. Equally effective are the bubbling outdoor garden fountains, audible in a master bath designed by Gina Willman, ASID, of W Interiors (Kamuela). The beautifully primitive simplicity of Hawaiian petroglyphs on the walls of a bath created by Carol Ann von Hake offers living culture as well as elegant retreat.

Elements of great Hawaiian baths, von Hake believes, include tranquility, softness, luxury, timeless elegance, quality, and ease of maintenance. “Lighting is critical to any design, but especially in a bathroom where both privacy and illumination are valued,” she says. “In every bath that we design, we explore the areas that our clients wish to highlight. We work closely with architects to ensure that artificial lighting is carefully placed. Glass block walls and high windows can admit natural light while continuing to offer seclusion. Skylights can also be a welcome portal to the elements, even in this most interior of rooms.”

Like Hawaiian kitchens, today’s Hawaiian baths don’t all resemble tourist-poster Aloha; they range from ultra-contemporary to Asian, European, Victorian and many others. Yet no matter how technology and trends may change, and no matter what mode or style a homeowner selects, the ideal Hawaiian bath will always remain a timeless retreat where visitors can cleanse the kino (body), beautify the maka (face), and soothe the 'uhane (soul).

Similarly, the true Hawaiian kitchen will always serve as the central gathering spot where ohana nourish both kino and 'uhane -- body and soul. In the best of all possible worlds, Hawaiian kitchens and baths recharge and revitalize all who enter by reconnecting them to nature – that is, by honoring the classic indoor-outdoor lifestyle that is so much the essence of the Islands.