Our client is the owner of a restaurant supply company and everyday is surrounded by the products of any gourmet cook's dreams ... double ranges with multiple cooking surfaces, state-of-the-art cookware, convection ovens, and temperature controlled wine coolers.

At home, she plays chef for her entire extended family and loves to host dinner parties and bake cakes for the kids. Feasts for 40 and gourmet dinners put a strain on the existing kitchen.  The client wanted "commercial style" appliances and unified work & dining areas.

Solution

The work area in the existing kitchen was limited, the dinette nook cramped, and the wall (the right side of this picture) divided the kitchen from the large formal dining room.

We knocked out the load-bearing wall that separated the kitchen and dining room and replaced it with a micro-lam support beam enclosed by a soffit, thereby defining each space without separating them.  We spread the kitchen into the old eating nook and transformed the dining room into the primary eating and entertainment area.  We added a work island in the kitchen to provide more counter space and a family breakfast headquarters, while giving the cook a "central command" area.  This freed up wall space for the new double range and other appliances.  Abundant recessed can lighting (19 of them!), light maple cabinetry and finish work, Corian countertops, and beautifully finished maple flooring complete a new look that is elegant and modern, as well as homey and supremely functional.

We removed the wall to the kitchen (behind the breakfront on the left picture) to open the entire space.  The formal dining room was not particularly welcoming or beautiful, and there was little space for displaying china.  We designed and installed two custom-built solid maple hutches for the new dining room ... they accentuate the large picture window and add symmetry to the room.