Featured Kitchens

New Homes and Ideas searched high and low to bring you four beautiful kitchens. These designer kitchens have up-to-date amenities, timesless designs, and a real flair of character. From Modern to Contemporary, Tuscan to Eclectic, our Featured Kitchens article will give you ideas on how you can change your kitchen
to reflect your own style.
 

Welcoming Warmth
Photo by Ray Strawbridge

Designer/Builder: H. Glazer Builder, Inc.
Style: Contemporary, art deco
Inspiration: A better match to family’s warm personality, more convenient for entertaining

Personality makes for great design inspiration. Take it from one family in North Raleigh: the uncomfortable feeling that the kitchen “just wasn’t us” sparked a flurry of creativity about what would reflect their lifestyle.

They had some experience with redefining space; the family had just renovated their Swan’s Mill home with a 750-square-foot, custom-screened back porch. With hard tile flooring, a 16-ft. vaulted ceiling, exposed cedar beams, permanent grill, wet bar, 42” flat-screen TV, fireplace and heaters, it was a porch fit for a family who took their fun and hospitality seriously. H. Glazer Builder, Inc. has won several gold STAR Awards in the past for his remodel work. Harold Glazer, owner, was also recently named the Remodeler of the Year.

Each time the homeowner made her way from that expansive, award-winning back porch to the rest of the house, her heart sunk. She had to pass through the kitchen in its vast, white blandness. The kitchen didn’t reflect the family’s closeness and their love for entertaining. She knew it was time for Glazer to move to project number two—building a dream kitchen that was every bit as warm and welcoming as the back porch.

The 900-square-foot space pulsed with potential. Glazer spent nearly three months in close consultation with the homeowner, designing and advising on every detail. He knew that a project of such magnitude required good listening of the homeowners’ vision, perfect clarity on how all the parts of the kitchen fit together and daily communication.

The new kitchen not only looks better, functions better and stores more; it actually expresses the family’s welcoming spirit. Glazer informally divided the kitchen into two areas—one part for working and one part for socializing. A piano-shaped bar with stools gives gentle definition to the two sections. Guests sitting at the granite-topped, curved bar can see each other and, more importantly, chat with the cook without being in their way. Recessed can lighting spaced evenly across the ceiling allows for flexible placement of the dining table, rather than a ‘put table here’ style chandelier. The ceiling stands out as one of the kitchen’s most distinctive and luxurious features. Glazer treated square, decorative tin tiles with a laborious five-step painting process that left them looking weathered and full of character, evoking a 1920s art deco appeal.

In the working area, an oversized custom range hood counteracts the lonely vastness of the old kitchen. With its large size and dramatic drop, the hood pulls the high ceiling down to a more manageable level, making the space feel cozy and intimate. While it serves the very functional purpose of ventilation, the hood is also quite attractive, covered with black wood panels and beautifully detailed, hand-carved supports for a display shelf lined with blue and white dishes.

Wish list features enhance the kitchen’s appeal, including heated tile flooring, pot fillers, a built-in espresso machine, self-closing natural cherry cabinets, a raised dishwasher that reduces the need to bend down and a double-sided fireplace connecting the kitchen to the living room.

This kitchen combines one-of-a-kind design and the best modern amenities, resulting in a room worthy of its calling as the heart of the home.

A Touch of Blue

Photograph courtesy of Triangle Design Kitchens

Designer/Builder: Triangle Design Kitchens
Style: Modern, European
Inspiration: A display the customer saw in Triangle Design Kitchen’s window

For a couple of doctors building their retirement home, the kitchen was a priority from the beginning. They knew exactly what they wanted.

“This was a new construction project,” said Bill Camp of Triangle Design Kitchens. “We were working from the architect’s preliminary drawings. But after we sat down with the homeowners to review the list of what they wanted, we had to make adjustments to accommodate everything.”

At the top of their wish list was an island… and another island. The first island would be in the main working area of the kitchen. Attached to the workspace was a lower countertop for seated dining. The second island was a wet bar, complete with barstools, storage cabinets, an icemaker and an additional dishwasher. Countertops were mixed, with granite in the colors absolute black granite and blue pearl, alternated high and low on each island.

Blue beams boldly act as the overall design theme. The homeowners discovered the idea from a display in the Triangle Design Kitchens window. Camp created the blue accent predominantly through the design of custom cabinetry. The cabinets are finished with a realistic-looking, European high-gloss applewood laminate and a custom blue gloss laminate. Cobalt blue low-voltage lights on a flex rail system provide a nice accent as well. An 18-inch porcelain tile floor was diagonally-set giving a nice clean look to the room.
 
In this particular home, great appliances ranked as a high priority. The homeowners chose a stainless steel refrigerator and professional-grade range and oven. In the main sink area against the back wall, Camp put together a custom stainless steel ensemble that spans the entire length of the window. It includes a double sink, dishwasher and double pull-out wastebasket. He finished the area with a custom stainless steel top including an integral backsplash that matches up with the window trim. A custom range hood of stacked rectangles and two stainless steel tapered columns, which support the bar, complete the sleek silver look.

One feature that reflects the homeowners’ personal taste is a built-in, subzero wine unit. The oversized, backlit cabinet keeps as many as 147 bottles of vintage wine cool and sweet for those warm summer nights.

With well-planned lighting fixtures—recessed cans throughout the ceiling and more silver hanging halogen lights on a flex-rail—the homeowners can easily control light to improve work area visibility or create a dramatic look at night.
 
This “touch of blue” kitchen works as flawlessly as it looks, and will surely keep the homeowners enjoying every minute of their retirement.

White Elegance

Photography courtesy of Trendmark, Inc.

Designer/Builder: Michael Blake Heath / Trendmark, Inc.
Style: Contemporary
Inspiration: More open layout for entertaining, better ability to see grandchildren outside

Everyone knows that grandchildren are fun to spoil. One Raleigh homeowner just found out that the little tykes can also make a great excuse for a major kitchen remodeling.

Joan Baker knew that if she could drastically reorient her kitchen and put the main sink in the island, she would be able to look out through the sunroom to the patio and swimming pool area to keep an eye on her grandchildren.

Her inspiration came from a beach home she and her husband used to own that was much more open and traffic-friendly than their primary home. Making the island rounded would also improve traffic flow between the adjoining sunroom and breakfast nook on either side.

“People always congregate in the kitchen,” said Baker. “Our goal was to create an island that kept pathways open, gave the cook plenty of room and allowed people to socialize.”

Keeping in mind their beach home kitchen layout, Baker’s vision took more shape once she saw some custom cabinetry that she liked in a magazine. She consulted with interior designer Michael Blake Heath to further develop the ideas, and hired Trendmark, Inc. to build the new kitchen.

The Bakers’ new kitchen conveys a unique combination of family-friendly coziness and simple elegance. The cream-colored cabinets feature raised panel glazed doors along with glass-enclosed cabinets throughout the room.

Inspired by the soapstone countertop she saw in a bar in Bald Head Island, N.C., Baker traveled with her interior designer to Vermont to choose unique soapstone for her own countertops. “The soapstone we have here in North Carolina is mostly gray, but we found a beautiful streaked variety in Vermont,” she said.

The Bakers also upgraded to professional-grade, gourmet-ready appliances including a new Franke stainless steel sink and a Pascal culinary faucet with Brizo smart technology for hands-free activation. Other stainless steel appliances, such as the refrigerator, feature custom cabinet panels, integrating them seamlessly with the soft, cream-colored wood.

Custom cabinetry was also used to cover a pull-out pantry. More storage can be found by the breakfast nook, where necessities like a toaster, coffee maker, small fridge and ice maker are all concealed behind doors. The kitchen also has a wet bar and a TV for the adults.

The floors are reclaimed oak hardwood, giving the space a traditional, timeworn and warm feel. The comfort is enhanced by one of Baker’s favorite features—cabinet lighting. One of the larger glass cabinets with a wood paneling design by Michael Blake Heath and shelf lighting serves as a built-in, matching china cabinet. Baker said she loves how the cabinet lighting casts a gentle glow in the kitchen at night.

For Trendmark, Inc., one of the more challenging aspects was turning the living room fireplace into a two-sided fireplace so that it could also be enjoyed from the kitchen. The builders constructed a temporary masonry support to hold the weight of the chimney while the back of the fireplace was removed and steel lintels were installed.

Now whether in the living room or kitchen, the Bakers, their grandchildren and any other friends and family can enjoy a beautiful fireplace that lights up their white, elegant, family-friendly kitchen.

After the kitchen was complete, Trendmark, Inc. was honored with the Gold STAR for Best Kitchen over $150,000 at the 2008 Remodelers Council STAR Awards banquet.

Italian Renaissance

Photograph courtesy of Carolina Kitchen Studios

Designer/Builder: Carolina Kitchen Studios
Style:  Tuscan, Venetian, old world
Inspiration: Family’s Italian heritage, sienna color, distressed furniture Renaissance

Over Andy and Ann Milner’s range hood hangs a green sign board with big, black lettering. It simply declares “bellisimo”—very beautiful. Indeed, their new Tuscan-style kitchen radiates warmth, echoes old world strength and invites family and friends to taste la vita dolce (the sweet life).

But it wasn’t always this way. For years, the Milners and their four children coped with a kitchen that didn’t meet their needs. A kitchen desk, with its lower countertop, became a troubling clutter zone for everything that needed to be put down. Angled countertops chopped valuable space into small, unhelpful areas.

There were plenty of cabinets, but their solid coverage of the wall made the room small and segmented. The stove was an electric coil top on a small island with no take-off space, and the oven was laughably apartment-sized—too small for even a cookie sheet or a turkey roasting pan. Overall the kitchen was stark, sterile white.

Ann dreamed of something better. “I love the style of Italian homes,” she said. “My grandparents and my dad are Italian. When I was growing up, we always had people over and the kitchen was an open meeting room. We wanted to create that more welcoming, friendly atmosphere in our kitchen.”

With her Tuscan inspiration at heart, Ann looked for a designer-builder to catch her vision. She found her creative visionaries in David and Lynn Thomas of Carolina Kitchen Studios. Still it was a partnership.

“Ann brought many of the key design elements,” said Lynn Thomas. “The beautiful sienna-colored walls were her idea. She hired an artist to apply the Venetian plaster finish by hand. The far end of her kitchen is a wall of windows, so during the day the room is bathed in sunlight. In the evening, the sienna color warms the whole room.”

The floor tiles also came from Ann. She already had the coffee bean-colored porcelain tile in her mudroom, and Thomas convinced her it would be better than the easily-scratched hardwood floors. Though years had passed since creating the mudroom, they were able to find the same tile again and lay it in a unique angled pattern under the island.

The countertops are made of verde bellamonte marble—a creamy white and sage green marble from Italy. It’s a rarity, no longer available for countertop use. Over the island, pull-down lights are suspended with pulleys that allow lighting as close to or far from the surface as desired.

An old piece of furniture in another room inspired the green bistro table in her kitchen. The Carolina Kitchen Studios team advised Ann not to make a butcher block table her entire island, arguing she would lose a large amount of valuable storage space. She’s glad they talked her out of it.

The island features a peg system for organizing plates and bowls—much better than her old system of stacking. Carolina Kitchen Studios was still able to add the furniture element. They designed, built, distressed and stained the bistro table to give it the perfect old Italian villa look.

After removing the old cabinets, Carolina Kitchen Studios created a big beautiful archway to look through to the living room. Ann can easily see and interact with her kids, making the kitchen feel expansive and central in the home.

The loss of cabinet space had to be minimized, however. The builder designed a tall, deep unit to sit on the countertop. It looks like an armoire and functions as a pantry. Deep, roll-out shelves make the space usable. “Storage is really more about accessibility than cubic feet of space,” said Thomas. “We made accessibility a priority so the homeowner can easily find what she needs.”

While the space is aesthetically pleasing, Ann is most excited about the appliances. Her new commercial stove has six gas burners and a griddle for making the pancakes and paninis her family loves. She has a baking center that keeps her mixer concealed yet accessible. She no longer has to keep the oven door open to cook a turkey, and baking dozens of cookies is a breeze. That’s a good thing—after all, what is a big Italian kitchen for if not cooking, eating and being together? 

JENNY FREDETTE IS A FREELANCE WRITER