The Kitchen Issue: A mix of styles and statements
Credit to Author: Mary Beth Roberts| Date: Sat, 08 Feb 2020 14:42:15 +0000
For the owners, this contemporary farmhouse-inspired kitchen in a custom-built Victoria residence is the heart of the home—a place to spend time making meals for family and friends.
“Cooking is a huge part of their lives, so the kitchen was a very important space to not only look beautiful, but to also function with their needs in mind,” says Mari O’Meara, principal designer at Mari Kushino Design, who created the kitchen in this home built by Falcon Heights Contracting. It is a Georgie Award finalist in the Best Single Family Kitchen Over $150,000 category.
High-end appliances and double island make this kitchen a space that is as good for cooking as it is for entertaining.
With functionality—and the view across Juan de Fuca Strait to the Olympic Mountains—at top of mind, O’Meara included two eight-by-four-foot islands in the kitchen.
“This is a great way to divide the island with seating and the prep island and to maximize storage. Every time you stand at the island, you are immediately drawn to the beautiful ocean views—any other orientation would have limited this sightline,” she says.
O’Meara selected dark cabinets for the large, 19-by-19-foot kitchen, with contrasting light marble-look countertops.
“We felt the large open space could take on a darker palette and it would also pick up on some of the black accents found throughout the rest of the home, including the railing, custom steel bookcase, the windows and the interior door hardware,” she says.
The cabinet design is a custom shaker profile made from white oak and stained black, allowing the wood grain to show through on the door fronts. Glass doors on several upper cabinets provide some display space and enhance the cosy yet clean ambience the homeowner was looking for.
The kitchen opens on to spectacular sea views.
The countertops are a 12-millimetre-thick Neolith porcelain material built up to have more presence in the space, says O’Meara, noting the backsplash is the same material except for the accent tiles above the range. (Appliances are high-end ones from Wolf and Sub-Zero.)
These Moroccan-inspired eight-by-eight-inch encaustic tiles were sourced by the homeowner, who searched online to find a tile that appeared a little aged and would add an authentic design element to the space. The tile is also used in the adjoining pantry, which has extra floor-to-ceiling storage along with an additional dishwasher, sink and washer-dryer.
The hardwood flooring, supplied by Wide Plank Hardwood, complements that authenticity. The oil-finished white oak is a combination of random widths of wood that range between four and eight inches.
The distressed plank floor anchors the contemporary farmhouse-inspired kitchen.
Half the planks have been distressed and antiqued with varying heavy wire brushwork, 25 per cent are lighter skip-sawn and the balance comprises heavy skip-sawn planks with antiquing and a whitewash French bleed, a technique that gives the floor an aged appearance.
O’Meara took advantage of the 11-foot ceilings to provide plenty of extra storage; to access these seldom-used items, she added a ladder that is also practical for the tall custom bookcase found off the main hallway.
As lead designer at Eurohouse Group, Lumy Ous knows all the rules. But when she was planning this kitchen for a new build in West Vancouver, she knew she might need to break some of them.
Polished marble floor tiles bounce light and contrast with the matte cabinetry.
She would need to be innovative, mix finishes and incorporate unusual materials to create a functional and striking space to complement the luxurious 8,100-square-foot house in the British Properties.
While the home enjoys magnificent views of Lions Gate Bridge and English Bay, the kitchen itself is long and narrow—about 13 by 28 feet—and doesn’t enjoy the same panoramic views as those from the rest of the main floor.
To define the elongated space, Ous designed an L-shaped kitchen with a 36-inch Miele refrigerator and freezer, a 24-inch Miele wine fridge and a Blanco sink on the short wall, and added a small dining area to mark the end of the long side.
A mix of shapes and textures—including a mirrored backsplash, white marble floor tiles, and cabinets in palisander wood veneer and matte bronze satin glass—breaks all the traditional rules to create a kitchen that is as dynamic as it is elegant.
A nearly white marble on the island, with its waterfall edges, cuts down on contrast in the centre of the kitchen so that it doesn’t detract from other design features and makes the kitchen appear airy and less crowded.
Meanwhile, the extension in Antico Wood Marble adds visual interest. “The extension is a place for a quick snack or a coffee. I didn’t match the two types of marble because the island and the extension serve different purposes and using the same marble on both could have been boring,” says Ous.
The perimeter countertops are the same Antico Wood Marble as the extension, while the floor is laid with over-sized, 36-by-36-inch polished marble tiles. They are appropriate for the scale of the room and reflect light while providing an interesting contrast with the matte cabinetry, says Ous.
In an unusual application, Ous and the home’s architect, David Christopher of FX40 Building Design, decided on a tempered mirror backsplash.
“The mirror lightens the kitchen and gives the narrow space the appearance of more depth,” she says, adding it also enhances the luxurious and glamourous ambience they were aiming for.
Reflected luxury: The tempered mirror backsplash adds a glamorous touch to the space and enhances the perception of depth in the narrow kitchen.
To ensure there was no visual monotony, she played with the depth and finishes of the cabinetry, which was manufactured in Italy by Cucine Biefbi and installed by Eurohouse. She selected two finishes: an Indian palisander wood veneer and a matte bronze satin glass for the uppers.
The lower perimeter cabinets and the tall units are the standard 24 inches deep, while the cabinets in the 10-foot dining area at the end of the kitchen and the floating upper glass-finished cabinets are only 12 inches deep.
Ous says the bronze satin glass doesn’t show fingerprints and the cabinets, with their Servo-Drive mechanisms by Blum, open easily with a fingertip touch.
The same materials and finishes were used in the wok kitchen alongside the main kitchen,
Reflecting on the kitchen, named as a Georgie Award finalist in the Best Single Family Kitchen Over $150,000 category, Ous says while some design choices may have broken the rules, the end result—a combination of materials, colour and the play of light—“pleases the eye and the senses.”
The making of a dream kitchen: Start with a sea view, add a spacious 18-by-26-foot floor plan and combine with clear design vision.
The double islands provide an extra prep area and a place for people to gather when entertaining.
Paramax Homes’ interior designer Jane Dabrowski worked with this West Vancouver homeowner to create the kitchen of her dreams—an elegant space large enough to host visiting family and friends and imbued with Tuscan and French-inspired details and materials.
The striking floor—24-by-24-inch grey marble tiles laid on the diagonal in a grid pattern, with a contrasting Carrara marble border—anchors the design.
“There’s always a negotiation with one’s self when deciding to use a natural material. When you feel real marble, it’s not something you can replicate in a porcelain. It feels different and she wanted the real thing. The homeowner doesn’t mind the patina of the marble as it ages; if you think of places in Tuscany where the original marble floors are hundreds of years old, she accepts that,” says Dabrowski.
The striking marble floor design anchors a spacerich in French and Italian details.
The cabinetry, manufactured by Hi-Design Custom Cabinetry, has painted maple raised-panel mitred doors with antique glaze. One wall of cabinets is painted grey, Benjamin Moore’s Stormy Monday, with a custom glaze, while the rest of the cabinets are white.
“The grey cabinets look more like furniture and the glass doors and interior lighting give her the opportunity to display her pretty china,” says Dabrowski.
The tray ceiling allows cabinetry to be designed to ceiling height, she says. Adding the additional profile avoids having too much flat space at the same level and, given the many details elsewhere in the kitchen, balances the design.
The major appliances are Wolf and Sub-Zero and include a state-of-the-art refrigerator with glass and stainless-steel French doors.
The kitchen has two islands with marble countertops and traditional double ogee edges.
“Guests always seem to gather in the kitchen. Two islands provide both a work and prep area and a place for guests to gather that doesn’t interfere with the cooking,” says Dabrowski, who also notes the islands provide plenty of extra storage.
Glass pocket doors connect the spice kitchen, used for everyday cooking and meal preparation, with the main kitchen.
The countertops on the perimeter cabinets are engineered stone to avoid potential stains from cooking, while the backsplash comprises two-by-eight-inch marble tiles laid in a herringbone pattern.
Reproduction seed-glass hurricane pendant lights (from Lighting Warehouse) over the second island evoke a traditional ambience, but are included only for their decorative qualities. Pot lights provide the illumination in what is already a light and airy space.
While there are many design details and custom finishes in this kitchen, a Georgie Award finalist in the Best Single Family Kitchen Over $150,000 category, several features from other areas of the home are repeated to give the home a cohesive look. These include the soft arch above the window and the custom-designed wrought iron seen in in the home’s curved staircase and the doors that open onto the deck and an infinity pool.
Glass pocket doors connect the spice kitchen, used for everyday cooking and meal preparation, with the main kitchen.
History meets high-tech in this 1,000-square-foot kitchen in Whistler where two amateur chefs worked with interior designer Tamara Wouters to create a space that can produce a multi-course meal for up to 30 people.
The kitchen combines nostalgic notes like the exposed brick walls with a fundamentally practical design.
Paul Terry and Louise Turner, who have both completed chef’s courses, knew exactly what they wanted in the kitchen of their custom-built home with magnificent mountain and lake views.
“We had done a renovation in our previous home, so we knew what worked and we repeated some of those features in this kitchen,” says Terry.
One of those is the large square inner island where most of the cooking and food preparation takes place, adds Wouters. The inner island, in warm cherrywood with a granite countertop, is the working hub of the space.
“It’s the centrepiece of the kitchen where there is quick access to everything you need,” says Terry, pointing to the large hanging pot rack and the induction range that boils water in less than minute.
“We have a passion for cooking. We cook heavily and hard,” he adds. “We need a kitchen that looks good and works really well, too.”
Another lesson learned during the couple’s previous renovation and replicated here is that refrigerators fill up quickly with bottles. “We have a main fridge that can be used really efficiently for things like cooling down sauces and stocks while the two undercounter fridges on the other island are at the point where drinks are served. It’s important no one has to go across the kitchen to the main fridge,” says Terry.
There are no upper cabinets in this kitchen. This is in keeping with the homeowners’ need to have everything quickly accessible and not behind cupboard doors.
For Wouters, adding the swing doors to the pantry was a first.
“I’ve never put them into a residential kitchen before, but it makes perfect sense. There’s a reason restaurants have these doors, making it easy to move between spaces,” she says.
Recalling his British heritage, Terry, who grew up in a brick house in the UK, explains the reclaimed brick on the walls comes from a school in Richmond.
“It was cut into [horizontal] thirds and we used it to tile [the walls]. It helps the look and feel of the kitchen, so it is somewhere between the functionality of a commercial kitchen with the happiness of a home kitchen,” he says.
While over-sized south-facing windows and doors leading to the patios let in plenty of light, the lighting design for the kitchen ensures there are no shadows when chopping and prepping.
The house was designed so that you can see Whistler, Blackcomb and Black Tusk mountains from the kitchen.
The outlook was also important to the couple. “We spend so much time cooking, we wanted to enjoy the view. The house was designed so that you can see Whistler, Blackcomb and Black Tusk mountains from the kitchen,” says Terry.
While the kitchen, by RDC Fine Homes with associate company Sofo Kitchens, is a Georgie Award finalist in the Best Single Family Kitchen Over $150,000 category, and has all the modern conveniences, it also includes an important link to Terry’s past.
A brass bell from a Second World War Royal Navy frigate has pride of place in the kitchen. The bell was given to the warden at a sailing centre in the UK where Terry spent “every waking moment” from when he was about 10 years old until he went to university. When the warden, a father figure to Terry, retired, he took the bell with him and a decade ago gave it to Terry.
“It’s the most precious thing we own, and we use it to call people to dinner and ring it to signify important events,” he says.