The owners originally came to us desiring a transformation to their “boring” 1992 homes original kitchen. Their children were growing and while they constantly played in the great room off the breakfast area, they had no use for the formal dining room, as they were a “down-to-earth” family that had outgrown this small, dark, outdated space.
They had Stickley furniture in their home and wanted to incorporate that style into the new kitchen. They wanted a home based on the bedrock virtues of beauty, simplicity, utility and organic harmony.
We removed the walls between the kitchen and formal dining room and built barrel arches to the existing formal living room, front entrance hallway, and family room creating soft boundaries and visual interest between adjoining rooms. The interior is dominated by rich colors and inventive space-saving details that emphasize form and function. Space is conservatively and creatively used for living, with design elements utilizing wood and built-in spaces such as the glass bookshelves built into the barrel arches.
Additional natural lighting was brought in by installing a new casement and new 3 wide prairie grill awning windows in the kitchens sitting area. The variety of natural materials provides textures for the sunlight to play on.
We designed and built the handmade cabinets in traditional Stickley style, with simple lines along rural carpentry traditions, striking grain effects of planks of quarter sawn oak, meaning that additional decoration would be superfluous. However, the light fixtures, leaded glass doors, stem-ware holder, wine rack, and wrought iron decorative hardware relate as design elements. Juggling of these few simple elements created a striking effect.
The strong vertical and horizontal lines of Arts and Crafts cabinets and simple crown molding reflect the emphasis on simplicity and fitness for purpose in the architecture of the period and today in this home.
The owners had already laid somewhat new tile flooring in their kitchen area three years ago and wanted to keep it in the new kitchen. This was easier said than done because this tile had been discontinued. After much research this Atlante Baffin 12×12 tile was found and shipped from a warehouse in Canada.
Refinement of design, and quality of construction, and finish is also shown in the Giallo Napoleon Granite countertops, new stainless steel appliances, and placement of Multicolor Slate backsplash tiles at the stove and microwave area.
The new design meets the owners’ practical needs and their entertaining life-style. Family seated in the breakfast, formal living room, or informal family rooms are now a welcome part of the hosts’ preparations in this transformed kitchen!
