Small and Efficient Kitchen Offices

When kids are in the picture, the kitchen office can be part writing desk, part high-tech hub, part first-aid center. That's the case with this multitasker designed by Greenwich, Connecticut, architect Jay Haverson: The lower cabinets in the teak-topped desk store office supplies, phone books, and recipes. Emergency supplies, including medicines and flashlights, as well as electronics, are hidden up high behind touch-latch cabinet doors. The homeowners work on their laptop, which is connected via a cable port in the wall to a modem hidden in the basement. To coordinate the style, Haverson accented the white-painted maple desk with the same turned table legs that he used on the nearby island.