My client’s kitchen was only ten years old, but the cabinet doors were falling off the hinges. The kitchen was dark -- even on sunny days -- as there was a wall separating the four-season sunroom and the great room. The homeowner wanted to open up the area to create open living space. By doing so, the dining room table would be moved out to the four-season room. The kitchen would be expanded with a large island at bar height to hide the kitchen area. She wanted to add large appliances and more counter space, since she enjoys cooking and baking. With two children in middle school and sports and her own volunteering, she also needed a place to house the calendar (her "family Bible"), her cell phone and purse -- all out of sight, but not out of mind.
The family consists of the father, mother and two children. Since the father is a doctor and does not have a 9-to-5 day, they wanted a warming drawer to keep his dinner warm until he made it home. They are also very active (running, biking, boating), so they wanted an ice maker to avoid buying bagged ice every time they went out on the boat. They also requested instant hot and cold water and a beverage area out of the work triangle. I achieved their needs with:
- A small sink between the refrigerator and ovens and a hutch above. The sink has an instant hot and cold water tap, as well as a standard faucet.
- An ice maker to the right of the sink with a door on it to conceal the look.
- A Sub-Zero drawer refrigerator in the island with paneled drawer fronts to conceal the appliance.
The homeowners are 6’2” and 5’2”, so another challenge was to get storage and accessibility for both. I achieved this by:
- Lowering the wall cabinets to 16 1/4” above the counter. This allowed for the 14” high mixer to be stored in the appliance garage but made the upper cabinets more accessible to the bottom two shelves in the wall cabinets.
- Moving the microwave from above the stove into the island using Wolf’s drawer microwave.
- Adding a tall pull-out pantry to keep the storage of the homeowner’s spices close at hand.
- Perimeter selections were Georgian door style, along with 3” stiles and rails in cameo with mocha glaze. This makes the space appear brighter and look larger.
- The islands and hutch cabinetry selections are Embassy door-style, with splits and wormholes in a custom color on maple. A glaze anchors them in the room and ties in with the wood flooring.
Ultimate Goal Achieved
We opened the wall up, and kept the traditional look the homeowner wanted by using a large beam and pillars. The original floor in the kitchen was refinished and the hickory was extended into the great room area for continuity. I took out the lowered seating around the island and made it one big work surface, putting cabinets back to back and finishing with wainscot end panels. But rather than having a standard 1 ½” overhang on the center island tops, we created additional interest by repeating the radius on the ends as on the raised bar top. Since we used the cameo-painted cabinets with glaze on the perimeter and went with darker accent cabinets for the island, the space seemed larger thanks to the tie-in to the darker colors in the hickory floor.
In order to stay organized, “Mom” needed a place for a calendar to record all the family members' activities. I designed a raised counter where the top drawer houses her calendar. This allows a comfortable standing position. This area also holds her purse and cell phone when she arrives at home – a spot out of the way of food prep, but easily accessible. The family needed a place for the computer, so we placed a small desk in the corner of the four-season room, using entertainment hardware to conceal it when not in use. There are also cubbies for envelopes, stapler, etc. behind the right side door.
Finally – A place for everything and everything in its place.
Watching a design come to life—and seeing the smiles on my clients’ faces—is one of my greatest rewards!
- Lori Engelhart, CKD – Wisconsin Building Supply, La Crosse
This post originally appeared on the Holiday Kitchens blog.
Additional products featured in this kitchen project:
Flooring: Natural hickory
Countertops/Vanity Tops: Golden beach granite
Sinks: Elkay ELGULB3322
Faucets: Delta 980T-RB
Instant hot/cold faucet: Insink Erator Indulge™ Contemporary (F-HC1100)
Dishwasher: Bosch stainless steel
Cooktop: Wolf SRT364C-LP
Refrigerator: Sub-Zero BI-48S/S/TH
Beverage refrigerator: 700BR refg in island (with matching wood panels)
Oven: Wolf DO30U/S
Wolf MWD24 microwave drawer
Wolf warming drawer WWD30 (with matching wood panels)
Uline ice maker BI2115B (with matching wood panels)
