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YEAR BUILT / REMODELED:
1910 / 2006
STYLE OF KITCHEN/BATH:
VICTORIAN
CABINETRY:
MEADOWLARK BUILDERS CUSTOM CHERRY CABINETRY
EUROPEAN FULL OVERLAY FRAME AND PANEL DOORS
5-PIECE END PANELS
COUNTERS:
CRANBERRY TAN POLISHED GRANITE
FLOORING SURFACE:
ORIGINAL HARDWOOD FLOORING
UNIQUE FEATURES:
ROLL-OUT CUTTING BOARD/BAKING RACK CABINET
CUSTOM COPPER AND WROUGHT IRON HOOD
END CAP DRAWERS
CAT FOOD/WATER STATION
BUILT-IN HOOSIER CABINET
BUILT-IN KNIFE BLOCK
EXPOSED ORIGINAL CHIMNEY
This kitchen was a dream project for a professional chef who had been waiting to remodel her kitchen until it could be done just right. The original kitchen was closed off from the rest of the first floor, had very little counter space, and a poor layout.
Our client actually stored most of her cooking gear in the basement, and would have to make several trips up and down the stairs for every project. A collector of Fiesta Ware, these dishes were also boxed up in the basement.
Our first goal was to find a suitable layout for making the rest of the house communicate with the kitchen for socializing. Next, we needed more storage - lots of it - in a 10-foot by 12-foot room. Last, we needed to shore up the structure which was compromised from this home previously being a 2-unit rental house.
Since this house now was a single family home, the first thing we did was to turn the full bath into a powder room, and use the bathtub space to expand the kitchen. By making a U-shaped kitchen and expanding the opening to the kitchen, we could also incorporate a sit-to counter which would encourage people to socialize, and give our client a way to talk to people in other areas of the first floor.
We removed a window from the North wall of the kitchen and filled the back wall with storage cabinets. The refrigerator also resides here to keep it close to the action, but out of the way of traffic flow.
Since the chimney was an immovable block in the center of the area, we decided to use it as an anchor for the kitchen, exposing the brick and re-pointing it. It is the end of a built-in hoosier cabinet that helps transition the kitchen into other first floor spaces. It also completes the wrap-around sit-to counter. The cherry and copper accent and enhance the color of the old brick.
We explored the structure before starting the job to determine where the framing was and in what condition before removing walls. While determining how we would re-route mechanicals to the second floor, we found some scary things from a butchered remodeling project when the house was first converted to a rental some 40 years before, clearly with unqualified contractors. This would be an opportunity to make this beautiful home’s bones as good as new.
Working closely with our client we developed a great floor plan for her cooking needs, and then started picking our finish materials. Cherry and copper were chosen as the palette, with cranberry tan granite tying them together. By developing rendered 3-D images of the finished space, our client could feel confident that the kitchen would achieve the look she was after.
We didn’t know if we would be able to save the original beech flooring which had been under linoleum for at least 40 years with heavy water damage. It was a labor of love, but we were able to scavenge and recycle the old flooring to repair the floor for all but about 10 square feet of the finished kitchen. We installed new maple in this out of the way area, and had a finishing specialist come in and make it look identical to the original beech, even coloring in “gaps” in the flooring boards to make it look older.
The cabinetry was scribed to the walls, no easy feat along the chimney, and with a few old walls that wanted to take their own twists and turns. In the end, it fit like a glove the first time around, one of the many benefits of computer modeling.
Special features abound in this kitchen, including hidden cutting boards, roll-away cabinets, special hardware features that make using the cabinets easy, and a special “cat station” to keep the pets food and water needs satisfied while not in full view of the kitchen.
