Metamorphosis II
When I first met this home, redoing the kitchen was not even on the table (no pun intended). My clients moved to the area with new jobs and two very small children in tow moons ago. When they bought their home -a traditional-style spec house in a new neighborhood- it was right for a young, growing family, in spite of its lack of character. The house had the right number of bedrooms, a large yard for children to roam and romp and was in a great school district. Fast forward a “few” years and this couple was now busy with careers, children with driver’s licenses and prom pictures and well rooted into the community. It was now time to fix that master bathroom they never really loved. While we were working together to create their masterful bathroom, they asked the frequently asked, never boring, yet tricky to answer “Sally, what could be done to this house?” Then “What do you think should be done for resale?” And my favorite: “What would you do if this were your house?” Navigating those muddy waters, we all agreed that the hollow-core six panel doors with shiny faux brass hardware had to go, the trim and case work throughout the house were skimpy, the plumbing was plain, lighting fixtures screamed big box store 1990 and a handful of additional cosmetic details to include ridding the house of Waverly ivy wallpaper and anything hunter green. But most of all, the elephant in the room: the existing kitchen left a lot to be desired.
While functional and hardly dated, the simple kitchen lacked natural light, prohibited the cook from appreciating their large landscaped lot and was much too small. It was, as we say in my family, a one butt kitchen–enough space for a single cook to navigate, but not a couple, a large family and certainly not a dinner party. Sitting at the family’s breakfast table, we discussed several options and renovation strategies. Apparently something resonated. Several years later after accomplishing every other task on our to-do list, I had the privilege of giving my clients (and their once simple spec house) the kitchen they deserved.
The miraculous transformation of this kitchen is unusual for several reasons. First, and most importantly, it required an addition. Those who know me know that I prefer to work within the existing structure and like to exhaust all options before leaving the original footprint of a house. In this case, there was no way to get the necessary square footage needed for this kitchen renovation without building an addition. We were able to expand the space, now a “multi-butt kitchen,” as well as wrapping the room with windows.
The owners were interested in creating greater functionality with a more contemporary aesthetic. To that end, we added some amazing design features, including floating zebra wood veneer wall cabinets which draw the eye around the room and an absolutely cool-as-hell island with steel legs which we anchored directly into the floor joists and finished with a beautiful walnut top with breadboard ends. The lack of upper cabinets allowed for uninterrupted natural light to flood the cook-live space and give the kitchen an effortlessly clean, open feel.
