The original kitchen in this 1932 house had not been remodeled since the Sixties and was in bad need of a makeover. Besides being dated, the appliances were all in disrepair and the storage was woefully inadequate. A butler’s pantry provided some additional storage, but as a separate room, it was inconvenient. Additionally, the owners wanted an eat-in kitchen, which the existing space could not accommodate.

The solution I chose was to remove the wall between the kitchen and butler’s pantry to capture the additional space for the kitchen/breakfast room. The owners expressed a desire to have a second sink for cleaning up after dinners. We added the extra sink and were able to also build in an extra deep countertop and windowsill for houseplants. I replaced all of the inefficient steel windows with new insulated Pella units painted black on the exterior to mimic the look of the steel windows they replaced. The existing space had windows which, because of their location on the side of the house, provided an uninteresting view, and prevented the placement of wall cabinets where they were needed. I reoriented the room by enlarging the window opening and lowering the window sill at the rear of the space to allow the owners to look out into their private backyard from their breakfast table. I then closed off the undesired windows and replaced them with well-designed and much-needed cabinet space.

My objective in the project was to provide a modern functional kitchen, but one that fit with the architecture of the original house. This goal was achieved by designing traditionally-styled cabinets and then painting them on the job to produce the brushstrokes that were characteristic on older handmade cabinets. 

The floors throughout the house were terrazzo, so I used terrazzo in the new space but designed it to include dark red aggregate to tie in with the owner’s more modern choice of African Red granite for her countertops. I then worked with the owner to design stained glass windows for the cabinets as an architectural focal point by the second sink as well.

All the cabinets were custom built, which allowed for a higher than normal oven placement to accommodate the height of the owners. A pantry cabinet with pullouts provides plenty of storage for staples.