Let me share that building a new house is a project that requires making A LOT of decisions. An extremely important decision is the design and flow of the kitchen in the house. In this document I will share a lot of the decisions I made on my “The Adventure” project. So pull a chair and let’s get started
First: The original architectural kitchen design had a peninsula as part of the kitchen. I am assuming the aim was to enclose the kitchen or provide some sort of separation.
The architectural flow of the house, however, has the kitchen as the connecting bridge between the formal and informal rooms. In other words, to the right are the family room and breakfast nook, but to the left are the office, formal dining room and formal living room. I felt, therefore, that the flow was abruptly interrupted with the peninsula in place. And so, I decided to enhance the design and eliminate the peninsula.
Second: Following the architectural drawings I placed the stove in front of the island aligning it to the center of kitchen window and kept the refrigerator to the left. To balance the heavy structure of a paneled refrigerator, I placed a pantry cabinet to the right of the stove. And so the two structures framed the stove in the middle. Adjacent to the stove, I decided to put three drawers on each side to store pots and cooking utensils while the upper cabinets could be used to store spices and cooking ingredients. As you can see we now have a symmetrical design centering around the stove
Third: To create a smooth prep work area, I decided to put a sink in the island. I aligned that sink to the center of the kitchen window as I had done with the stove. Aiming at connecting the three counters by creating a straight line across per se, I now had a smooth work flow – fridge, sink, stove.
To finish this work flow, I put the microwave and a garbage cabinet in the island. Given that I wanted the microwave closest to the fridge, I then put the garbage to the far left putting space between the two items.
Fourth: Now, we had a frame around the stove, the microwave close to the fridge and not only a sink in the island but also a garbage cabinet. To enhance this further and because I had another passageway across the island, I decided to move the island slightly closer to the stove counter and placed it at 42” from the stove edge.
In eliminating the peninsula, I was able to expand the island and gain additional storage space. However, the island was no longer symmetrical. In other words, the sink was no longer in the center of the island. To balance that, I changed the design to incorporate a table. Hence, the left side of the island was built as a single leg table while the right side was an island with additional drawers and door cabinet.
The space for four (4) stools was on the left side creating a set up for potentially better conversations or more inclusion
Fifth: In aiming at using all the space the kitchen had, I created the final area – the cleaning area. To have a cleaning area, one must have a sink. And so, the sink went in aligned to the center of the kitchen window just as I had aligned the stove and island sink creating that line I wanted.
When I moved the island closer to the stove counter, I created a space of a little over 58” between the island and the window wall counter allowing me to easily open a dishwasher door and still provide enough space for someone to walk by. Furthermore, the window counter provided enough space to have not only one dishwasher but two – each placed on each side of the sink nicely framing it. To complete the cleaning area I put a second garbage cabinet on the right adjacent to the dishwasher.
Sixth: Now on to the looks. I tried to design a cozy and practical kitchen, but let us be real – a kitchen has to look beautiful.
The window counter area has the most number of upper cabinets. To provide interest and depth, the upper cabinets were split into two. The top uppers all have a glass door whereas the lower have solid wood doors. And to “expand” the look of the window I put the two cabinets framing the window to have glass doors. I generally like open shelves or glass doors to “open” the window more. However, I was already using open shelves in the butler pantry area (adjacent room).
Given the island size rather than using only two light pendants, I decided to install three (3), instead, to ensure all areas of the island were properly lit. Now, I love having a light around the sink. To balance the number of lights in the island, I installed three sconces above the window.
I designed the house to have a lot of natural light via the big windows, natural materials and soft colors. To ensure there was a pop I used brass finishes in the kitchen. The light fixtures above the island had an interior brass finish whereas the lights above the window had a brass finish, only – both interior and exterior were brass. In keeping with the same finish, both the plumbing fixtures and the hardware were also brass finish.
The house has a classic colonial look with transitional design. Cup holders and knobs were used as the cabinet hardware and the backsplash was a classic subway tile that nicely matched the natural , Taj Mahal, material used for the counter. To give it a cohesive feel the cabinets, ceiling and walls were all painted White Dove (BM). To provide a bit of interest in the ceiling, I added ship lap.
And there you have!
