6/12/12 “Two Level Island” -

Featured here is designer McCunes, two level island piece. This creates a defined space for guests and preperation; something many kitchens do not posses.

After walking through the space, the first thing we needed to tackle was the traffic pattern from the garage to the kitchen. The door to the garage was in a very congested area, the minute you set foot in the door there was a powder room to the right and the laundry room door to the left and the kitchen had two entrances, one directly in front of the garage door and one off the same hallway leading to the dinning room.  The laundry had been moved prior to this visit, which left a catch all room adjacent to the powder room.  The beginning of the solution was to close off the garage door from the small congested entrance and move it into the catch all/ ex-laundry space, by doing this, traffic is directed through the unused ex-laundry space to create a drop zone for coats, shoes, cell phone’s, purse’s etc.  This also relieves the hall space of one entrance and a door swinging into the middle of it to decongest that space.  We shut off one of the entrances to the kitchen and widened the other, this allowed us to again divert traffic and create an uninterrupted work space for the cook in the kitchen.

The client also felt the space in the house was not proportioned from room to room to maximize today’s progressive lifestyle. The dinning room is too small, the living room was too big and the hearth off the kitchen space (which was used the most) was cramped from the small table in the kitchen.  We decided to exchange the living/ piano room into a very large family style dinning room and the old dinning room into the piano room. With two more issue’s out of the way we go back to the kitchen to address the last request.

When planning the kitchen, the hood over the pro cook top was the likely candidate to become the focal point, so we removed the kitchen sink window (since we already had an abundance of natural light) to take advantage of our dominate wall. We then introduced the furniture-like island to harbor the single bowl apron sink, the dishwasher, provide a ton of prep area and bar seating.  The solution for the table was to integrate it into the island and delete a traffic pattern on one side of the table. The oven cabinet was set into the wall with the plaster retuning into it to give it a European feel and pocket doors to cover the ovens to conceal them when they were not in use. The pantry and refrigerator/ wine/ freezer where decked out in a distressed armoire furniture look to maintain the euro/country feel and we put the final touches to the space with distressed hand hewn beams, textured and glazed walls and a hand painted backsplash with glass accents.

The existing kitchen had a non-bearing header that separated the kitchen from the hearth room, essentially creating two separate rooms. A large open area in the center of the kitchen prevented it from being utilized for anything other than a walk-way, making the space virtually unusable. By removing the non-bearing header and adding a grid-like soffit above, we were able to extend the kitchen into the hearth room without diminishing the size of the hearth room. This allowed us to give the space more open feel, since the transition from kitchen to hearth room had no definite separation. We placed a large custom island in the center of the room, creating a centralized prep area with loads of storage below. Fully-integrated appliances allowed us to create a furniture-like, built-in look to the custom cabinetry. Texture, paint and wood floors were added to the adjacent rooms for a beautiful flawless transition.

The goal was to open up the kitchen, dining room and living room to produce the space needed to reconfigure traffic patterns to ensure flow and accessibility. Both of the homeowners love to cook, so we increased the total countertop workspace and installed fully-integrated, top of the line appliances, which blend in seamlessly with the furniture grade cabinetry. By removing the existing walls that separated the kitchen, dining room and living room, we were able to open up the entire space and create a fully-functional, distinctive space with all of for as long as they own their home.

We combined a sleek, clean line hood with a custom glass waterfall to create a dramatic focal point. Taking advantage of the true adobe structure, we incorporated true wood vegas and authentic plastered soffits to define the space without closing it off to the adjacent rooms. A rustic tree-stump island support piece was used to add to the overall aesthetic interest, and also to bring in a touch of natural texture. The hand hewn mesquite wood floors and fully-integrated appliances, combined with the distressed custom cabinetry, produced a truly one of a kind space that reflects the clients personal style and taste.

Without boring you by listing all of the ways you and your family might use this space, I want to emphasize how important the kitchen is in the overall function of your home.   If we were to set aside the kitchen design, and assume it is going to receive the kind of attention it deserves in relation to creative space planning, state-of-the-art technology with all product selections, artistic esthetics supporting the function and reflecting the homeowner’s personality.

The first and probably most important thing we need to address is the traffic patterns and the flow from the garage through the house, and how they influence the overall kitchen floor plan.  This will establish the guidelines to design the kitchen space and how it integrates into that flow.   We need to look at the way we use the space today as well as in the future. It’s important to remember that our family’s needs will definitely vary over time in this home whether you plan on living there for five years or the rest of your life, so we need to accommodate this evolution process through innovative design.  For instance we need to consider the ergonomics and function of the space between the garage and the kitchen.  Is this a space where we need to manage coats, shoes, backpacks, cell phones and communication or is this really where we need to do the laundry?  As technology progresses we should be open to ideas that are logical solutions but not always conventional to making our lives easier.

Every family is different with diverse needs, motives, aspirations and goals as they apply to their kitchen space. And, those almost certainly will change with each episode in our lives. In planning a project we should always try to predict or visualize the path your life might take, and plan for the inevitable changes to influence your decisions.   Remember the goal is to simplify and advance our quality of life in the space that we live.  Design trends, style, lighting, future products, promotion of health, well-being and universal design are all important subjects that need to be considered as the evolution of the plan takes place.

This article was published in the July/August 2007 Issue of KCH&G Magazine under the Sound Advice article.