Our clients’ home, situated on a picturesque lakeshore lot in Maplewood is ideal for their young active family. However, the home built in 1969, with a four-level addition added in 1988, had many design issues to contend with. The addition created a spacious dining room with vaulted ceiling, but left the original kitchen intact removing its only source of direct sunlight, leaving the room dark and closed off from the rest of the house with a bare, underutilized dinette area. The kitchen layout also wasn’t efficient for today’s lifestyle of cooking and entertaining.
Our goal was to create a warm, open, light-filled area combining the kitchen, dining room and dinette into a space for family cooking, dining and hosting of large gatherings. We positioned a new window, above the new sink location, to bring in morning sunlight and removed the wall dividing the dining room and kitchen. We visually connected the space using the same paint color and wood flooring in both rooms.
The large island containing the cooktop, spacious cookware drawers and open cookbook storage with four stools, is a highly functional esthetic focal point.
The old dinette area was transformed into a built-in butler’s pantry and home-office space. An open spice-rack beautifully hides the existing chimney while creating enhanced functionality. Soffits were removed and replaced with ceiling-height cabinets providing clean visual lines and maximum storage.
The kitchen, now naturally illuminated, merges with the other rooms, provides efficient cooking / dining space, as well as an inviting area for large gatherings.
