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Kitchen Tour Spectacular
August 2006 Special Sections
Laurel Behning, ASID, CID Interior designer Laurel Behning began the renovation of this Plymouth home by enlarging the doorway between the kitchen and old den (which became an adjacent sitting room) and tearing out the peninsula-shaped counter and the cabinets. With the extra breathing room, Behning met the homeowners’ request for a casual dining area in the kitchen, featuring a built-in upholstered banquette with storage, a custom-made table, and pendant and spiral-track low-voltage lighting over the table. The colors throughout the eating area, kitchen, and sitting room are neutral with soft green base cabinets and red accents. When the homeowners chose a white oak stripwood flooring, Behning suggested a soft green stain for the base cabinets to avoid wood overload, since the refrigerator, oven, and upper cabinets have a fruitwood finish. “That’s the look in kitchens now—using different finishes or materials on some cabinets or the center island,” Behning says. With no room for a center island, storage and counter space were at a premium. To make the most of the space they had, Behning made all of the custom-made base cabinets and Cambria counters extra deep—twenty-eight inches—and incorporated three Cambria pullout work surfaces under the countertops. One challenge still remained, however: finding a good spot for the cats to eat. Behning’s solution? “I made a kitty cutout in the sink base cabinet, where the food is stored,” she says. “[The cutout] looks like a cat, the cat goes in, and its tail sticks out.” Lynn Monson, ASID, CID, and Sandy Monson, ASID, CID The formerly separate kitchen and dining room were reconfigured into an open space that accommodates multiple guests and gives the cook plenty of working room. Because the homeowners wanted a large, open area but at times wished for privacy from the kitchen, designers Lynn and Sandy Monson replaced the wall between the kitchen and dining room with four translucent sliding glass doors that can be stacked open or closed for intimacy. A cozy sitting area with a built-in fireplace is a subtle transition between the dining room and kitchen. The Monsons created an eclectic look, blending old and new styles, which is particularly evident in the kitchen. The traditional wall cabinets have a linen-colored glaze finish that gives an antique look, and the lighted upper display cabinets contain the same glass used in the sliding doors. The base cabinets are a modern design from Japanese cabinetmaker Sokee and are made of beech wood with a dark wenge finish. The floor throughout the entire area—from the entryway of the home, past a powder room and pantry, and on to the kitchen and dining room—is large-scale slate tile in warm matte tones.
Valcucine is known for its environmentally friendly, technologically advanced, and ergonomically correct kitchens, and Smith incorporated these features in his design. But to avoid looking like an industrial kitchen, Smith chose a rich color palette for the wood cabinets, which have a dark, wenge-looking finish. An inlaid aluminum pinstripe detail on the cabinet faces adds more sophistication, and the upper cabinets lift and stay up to prevent the repetitive motion of opening and closing doors. Most of the lower cabinets contain four-foot-wide drawers, and the drawer beneath the sink features a built-in recycling center. Unlike the Crystallite main counter, a quartz-based product manufactured by Valcucine, the center island has a stainless steel countertop for an urban feel, and its center channel is equipped with wet and dry storage containers, cutting boards, and a knife rack. While it’s progressive and modern, the kitchen is far from sterile. “I think there’s a huge misconception that a contemporary kitchen is going to be cold and white and plastic,” Smith says. “But with the wood [cabinets] and stone counters, this kitchen is really sophisticated and really beautiful, but it’s also very contemporary.” David Heide, Allied Member ASID, Associate, AIA Throughout the area, painted v-groove wainscoting brings back the Old World feel, as does the Queen Anne sash-style stained glass in the window behind the sink. A modern rendition of a butler’s pantry links the kitchen and dining area, complete with a china cabinet and large walk-in food pantry. Also important to retain the 1880s feel was Heide’s goal of keeping everything in scale. “Part of this project is our philosophy to create spaces that are appropriate in scale to the existing house,” he says. “It’s not this 1880s cottage in front with a huge great room in back. We’re looking to further the aesthetic of the house in keeping with its proportion.” The end result is a compact kitchen with a clean-cut floor plan. “The traffic circulation is such that people can pass through the room from the back door and have access to the house without disturbing the cook, who is safely protected by the island,” Heide says.
Bonnie Birnbaum from enlarging the home’s footprint on the lakeside during its remodel, she needed a creative design that would open the home to take full advantage of the kitchen’s spectacular views. The original kitchen, built in 1971, had dark cabinetry, orange-and-blue-striped wallpaper, and dark brown indoor-outdoor carpeting. “The kitchen created a difficult space-planning problem,” Birnbaum says. “Because the size of the space was predetermined, it was like putting together a puzzle.” By taking the adjacent laundry and bathroom spaces and adding them onto the kitchen, Birnbaum opened the room and created a wonderful hearth-like cooking area. “I wanted the character of the room to be 1885, with a country, lake-cottage feel,” she says. To accomplish that, she chose inset cabinet doors and a broken, brick patterned tile for the backsplash, both in a calm, creamy yellow. Several unique features make cooking in this kitchen a treat. First, the island is on castors, which allows the chef to bring it to the refrigerator for loading, then to the sink for prep, and finally over to the cook area. The generous cook area, with its double ovens, grill, and six burners, is offset from the rest of the light and airy kitchen with dark cherry cabinetry. The area is further differentiated by a hand-painted tile mural of a rural vineyard and nearby clean-up sink. Mark Nelson, Allied Member ASID, AIA The kitchen, eating, and living areas were gutted to create one large room. Mark Nelson, the designer and homeowner, wanted the focus to be on the living room, so he devised the kitchen as a backdrop to the living area. “The idea was that because the kitchen was open to the other living spaces, it should have a library sort of feel, sort of sedate, with clean lines,” Nelson says. The kitchen is an extension of the living room and shares the same oak parquet floor, but it is also slightly set apart by a change of scale in the ceiling (it’s lower than the living room ceiling) and use of black appliances and finishes in the kitchen and off-white paint in the living area to define the space. The island triples as a workspace, buffet, and bar, all of which are conducive to the cocktails-and-hors d’oeuvres type of entertaining Nelson prefers. “I like how the kitchen functions in that I can work at the island and watch TV or look at the city view,” he says, “and it works very well for entertaining because people can sit at the bar and chat while I’m cooking.” The cherry wood cabinets were custom-designed by David Heide Design Studio, and Nelson changed all of the doors in the home to match them.
The real hotspot of the house was an eating nook off the kitchen that looked out over a nature preserve. “People love to be right here,” she says sitting at the kitchen table. “No one moves from this space, but it was very, very tight.” The logical solution was to expand the kitchen into the dining room and make the eating space off the kitchen roomier for casual and formal entertaining. Dockter now has a wealth of cupboards for storage, including two pull-out pantries and two large file drawers. The countertops and full backsplash are a warm golden granite with prominent darker seams that are illuminated by under-cabinet lights. A new stone fireplace, faux finish on the walls, and bamboo floors give the kitchen a classic feel, while stainless steel appliances and pendant lights over a new breakfast bar add a modern touch. Finally, Dockter’s colorful art collection pulls it all together into a warm and vibrant mix. “When you’re a designer, you know what you want,” she says. “This is a clean kitchen. No mess, no fuss.” Amy Kos, Allied Member ASID Tying together the colors are blown-glass pendant lights with shades of brown, gold, and rust. “The kitchen is not super contemporary but not traditional; a transitional style really fit the bill,” Kos says. While the cabinets stayed, Kos had a custom cabinet-maker insert glass panels into a bank of small cupboards running along the ceiling, as well as a corner cabinet door, to add visual interest to the space. The most significant structural change to the kitchen was the elimination of cupboards over the peninsula to open up the space and let in the light from the window. Finally, a highlight of the new room is the two-tone American walnut flooring, which the homeowner says is probably her favorite part of the kitchen for its beauty and durability with a dog and three kids. “I really wanted something that I didn’t have to be neurotic about,” she says.
“Minneapolis homes don’t have first-floor family rooms attached to the kitchens like homes in the suburbs,” Olive says. “So we wanted to create a space where we could have friends and family gather while we were cooking.” Olive and her architect husband decided to add 220 square feet of kitchen space by extending the room into the yard. They had several design goals. They wanted to reuse whatever material they could, as well as retain the integrity of the home, both inside and out. “Everything had to have a purpose,” says Olive. She placed the wine cooler in the island and she added tray storage next to the workspace, a convenient tray specifically for spices, and trash and recycling bins in a hidden cabinet instead of under the sink. A chandelier above the table, dimming lights, under-cabinet lighting, and plenty of windows that let natural light flood the room help create different moods in this Old World kitchen. Bead board—repeated on the built-in benches that surround two sides of the kitchen table, in the nearby powder room, and on the facing of the island—pulls the work and gathering spaces together. Distressed alder cabinetry with inset doors and a distressed, faux-painted island designed as a stand-alone piece of furniture help retain the integrity of the home by complimenting its architectural era. Emily Little, Allied Member ASID “It is so fun to be in this kitchen, now,” Little says. “I like the traffic flow a lot better.” The angled island opens the room giving it a much larger feel. A roll-top appliance garage, six in-counter storage containers in the bar area, jumbo drawers that replace hinged cabinets, three large pantries, and a corner cabinet with pull-out shelving all add to the sleek Italian look and feel of the room. “It’s very clean and contemporary,” says Little. The main features of this striking kitchen are its bright red island, sleek black granite counters, and spacious yet conveniently shallow refrigerator/freezer. “So as not to overloaded the senses,” she adds, “we kept the design very clean.”
“We had three main goals,” says designer Cindy Ojczyk. “We wanted to open the kitchen to make it feel more light and airy, while still keeping a distinct sense of space. We wanted to blend the surrounding rooms, which meant complimenting the soft apricots and sages of the family room and the bold reds of the living and dining rooms. And we wanted to match the homeowners’ environmental values with the project.” Linoleum flooring, chosen because of its sustainable yet high-design characteristics, extends from the foyer into the kitchen and partway into the family room. A large wave pattern in the flooring of multi-hued orange and deep red wine matches the adjacent rooms, while blending effortlessly with the natural alder cabinetry and bronze patina Corian counters. Ojczyk and her design partner, Adam Tills of House of Dreams, pulled the room together by adding wine-colored custom bead molding to the Shaker cabinets. Mary Jane Pappas, ASID, CID To create a transitional space between the kitchen and the living area, Pappas converted the former butler’s pantry space into a mudroom/pantry and the oversized mudroom into the dining area. “We then did a pass-through between the kitchen and the dining room, created a sitting area next to the higher range-top work area, and created an overall more balanced design,” she notes. Aside from the symmetrical design, Pappas gave the kitchen a warm feel using two-tone knotty alder cabinets and flooring made from reclaimed barn timber. Pappas also included a “protected working geometry” in which the cook has access to all appliances and work areas while being protected from guest interference. This is accomplished by giving guests a comfortable place to sit and access to beverages without having to penetrate the work area. “The use of arches, both at the entry to the kitchen and above the sink area, helps soften the very rectilinear space,” Pappas says. “There’s a wonderful rhythm to the space, repetition of design, and an openness, yet coziness, in the room.”
Purposefully understated, this remodel consisted of a reconfiguration of both the existing space and the natural lighting. “We made the island narrower to improve the traffic pattern and extended the storage,” says designer Mary Jane Pappas. The homeowner also wanted to keep clutter to a minimum while paying close attention to detail. Thus a large appliance garage hides typical kitchen clutter, the microwave trim is custom-made and stained to match the cabinets, and even the hardware on the cabinetry matches the hardware on the double ovens and refrigerator, making the entire room easy on the senses. Warm limestone-colored quartz countertops on both the island and work area offer a striking contrast to the cabinetry. To offset the stand-alone vignette, Pappas uses glass cabinet doors with in-cabinet lighting and a bolder polished quartz countertop. “Under-cabinet lighting is used everywhere task lighting is needed and decorative lighting, which is also task-oriented, is used over the island,” says Pappas. “Spaces just don’t make as much sense if they can’t be lived in properly.” Shirley Bolduc, ASID One of the chief goals in the redesign of the kitchen was to work within the existing footprint but give it a functional layout. “Everything was kind of scattered around the kitchen so it didn’t feel like a very user-friendly workspace,” Bolduc says. The cooktop had been on the island, where it impeded traffic flow and made it difficult to multitask. The homeowner wanted the range next to the sink so she could concentrate on cooking and leave the island for serving and casual dining. She also opted for custom cabinets with plenty of creative storage space—including a much-appreciated hidden mail center. While the footprint barely changed, the kitchen’s style did: the room now blends Tuscan Old World style with a modern flair. Bolduc replaced the dark cabinets with custom cherry cabinets that tie together with the rest of the house and feature soft under-cabinet lighting; wide-plank white oak floors took the place of off-white tiles; and warm granite in Venetian Gold replaces the old laminate countertops. New stainless steel appliances add a modern touch. Finally, the kitchen gains an eclectic twist with white painted cabinets and molding on the island, pendant lights, decorative leaf tiles behind the range, and a unique plaster range overhang with gracefully sloped sides.
Larson made that a reality with a butcher-block-topped island with cherry cabinets that have a red aniline dye, ensuring a mellow hue that doesn’t clash with the rest of the room. Larson didn’t bother with island seating, but she did add a matching leaf onto the island that can easily be raised for buffets or vegetable chopping. A nearby bench, table, and chairs create a charming dining space. The perimeter countertops are a black soapstone, which gives the kitchen a vintage feel and is easy to maintain with regular oiling—contrary to popular belief, Larson says. “It is more fragile, but it matches the aged look better,” she says. Custom cherry cabinets blend well with reclaimed heart pine in the floor and reclaimed old-growth fir trim. The vaulted ceiling matches the vaulting at the front entryway and ties the new room with the rest of the home, along with creating architectural interest. “We wanted to keep the scale so it would match the existing house,” she says. Larson has also incorporated many of the items she and her husband have collected in their travels and in antique stores, including an antique pendant light over the sink and a mortise-and-tenon door from New Mexico. Lola Watson, Allied Member ASID The first step in the design process was to antique and glaze the existing cupboards and add crown molding to give the kitchen some European traditional flavor, since the homeowners didn’t love the modern style of the cherry cupboards and solid surface countertops. The kitchen now boasts Cambria countertops along the perimeter, granite on the island, and elegant blown-glass pendants to match. The island has an additional sink, built-in bar, plenty of storage space, and a perfect spot to sit and have breakfast or get some work done. “Have you ever seen ‘Cheers?’” the homeowner asks. “This is my ‘Norm’ chair. This is where I sit—it’s my command post!” Antique plates collected in Old Jerusalem line the soffit above the cabinetry, and other treasures she and her husband collected in their travels feature prominently in the design. Watson also came up with creative cabinetry solutions that make the smaller kitchen more functional. A large Sub-Zero refrigerator is complemented by two freezer drawers on one side of the living room’s stone fireplace and a beverage refrigerator drawer and wine cellar on the other—but you’d never know it to look at them. Open a hidden closet off the front door and you’ll find a perfect storage place for smaller kitchen appliances. “It really functions as well as any of my big kitchens ever did,” the homeowner says. To meet the needs of their busy family, the homeowners needed plenty of counter space with distinct work areas so one person could bake cookies while another prepared lunch and yet another worked on a science fair project, Heide says. The family also sits down together for as many meals as possible, and they wanted to do so without being in the middle of the kitchen. Heide designed the space to include an informal dining area on one side and a breakfast room on the other. He views the whole space as “one big room with cabinets inserted in the middle that became the kitchen portion of a much larger room that is about fifty feet long.” The homeowners wanted a light kitchen, so Heide used a fair-colored finish on the maple cabinets and chose stainless steel appliances that reflect light. He also talked the homeowners into painting the oak wainscot a cream color in the eating areas to maintain the brightness. The overhead cabinets on both sides of the kitchen have pass-through areas, which makes it easy to transport dishes between the kitchen and both dining areas. Other handy features for an active family include two dishwashers, double wall ovens, and separate full-size refrigerator and freezer.
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The challenge is a common one: transform an outdated, closed-off kitchen into a vibrant, open space for family and entertaining. 
When it comes to fashion and design, many of us would like to forget the eighties. It’s no surprise, then, that the homeowners of this 1980s-designed kitchen were ready for an update, not to mention an improved space for their gourmet cooking and entertaining needs.
Dan Smith, Allied Member ASID
The old Whitney Hotel—a former mill built near St. Anthony Falls in 1879—is undergoing a major loft transformation that will eventually be the upscale Whitney Landmark Residences. Dan Smith, a designer with the Italian kitchen company Valcucine, created a progressive, modern kitchen in a model unit.
Even though the previous kitchen in this home was fairly new, a remodel was necessary due to poor insulation and cramped spaces. The homeowners were doing a complete addition to the basement and first and second floors, and designer David Heide looked at the project plans to incorporate an open kitchen with adjacent breakfast area that was in keeping with the spirit of the 1880s home.
Surrounded by water on three sides, this home offers panoramic views of Lake Minnetonka, but that wasn’t always the case. Since city regulations prevented designer 
True to the era in which it was built, this 1960s condo was defined by partitions and separate spaces. But with a view of downtown Minneapolis from the living room, the walls simply had to go to fully enjoy the cityscape from other areas of the home.
When this Eden Prairie home was built in 1989, the kitchen featured black formica countertops, white cabinets, a black-and-white tile fireplace, and vinyl floors. But the styles of the eighties haven’t exactly withstood the test of time. As a designer, Heidi Dockter knew her kitchen could use a style update; as a frequent cook, she also wanted it to be more functional. She had been using the landing in the basement stairwell as a makeshift pantry, and the dining room more often served as an office than a formal room for entertaining. 
The lure of this Eden Prairie house was its large lot on Mitchell Lake in an appealing neighborhood. While the kitchen wasn’t in bad shape, it did need new appliances along with some updating to open it up and take advantage of the abundant natural light. Working with Bremen Builders, Amy Kos chose a buttery yellow hue for the walls to bring a warm element into the kitchen. They got rid of the laminate countertops and chose a vibrant granite in Imperial Gold along with modern stainless steel appliances. 
Designer Gigi Olive’s home, a stately 1926 English Tudor in the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis, offers the convenience and character of city living. However, it also came with a small galley-style kitchen. 
The owners of this soft contemporary Minnetonka home wanted a livelier look than what they had in their off-white, neutral, and very linear former kitchen, so they went to Valcucine Minneapolis designer Emily Little with a color palette of red, blue, purple, and parchment. “The homeowners have great energy,” says Little. “The bold design of their new kitchen is much more suitable for them.” While working within the allotted space, the most dramatic changes Little made were to create an angular island that echoes the geometry of the living room and to convert the former eat-in area into a bar space. “The amazing thing about this project is how quickly it came together,” Little says. The homeowners, acting as the contractor, took care of the bulk of the construction details.
This soft contemporary remodel—and the first Wisconsin Environmental Initiative-certified Green Built Home remodel in Minnesota—began with a broken refrigerator. The family of four had lived with their painted cabinets, laminate countertops, flowered wallpaper and vinyl flooring for seven years, but when the small refrigerator died, they’d had enough. “The refrigerator was surrounded by cabinets and a new one would have had to have been the same size,” says the homeowner. “It really was too small.” Moreover, the kitchen felt somewhat dark and closed-in, particularly with its dropped ceiling.
Space planning and soft architectural details give this traditional kitchen a balanced, inviting feel. Located in the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis, this kitchen is part of a newly built home. Working from existing architectural plans, designer Mary Jane Pappas reconfigured some of the spaces to make the main floor more livable. “When we got the plans, there was no dining room, just a large walk-in pantry and mudroom,” she notes. 
This sleek, uncomplicated European kitchen fits so perfectly with the homeowner’s love of simplicity that it’s hard to believe that the room’s rich, warm colors were at first a stretch. “I’m Scandinavian,” the homeowner says. “I like white. I’ve always had white cabinets.” The dark truffle stained cabinetry defines the space and brings warmth into the room. “I like the people in my home to be the focus,” says the homeowner. “I want everything else to fade into the background.”
With plenty of space and a view of her big, lush backyard, this Bloomington kitchen should have been light and expansive; instead, its dark cabinets gave it an outdated feel and the poor organization made it less functional than it could have been. Designer Shirley Bolduc set out to open up the kitchen, make it easier to use, and give it a more classic style.
Rita Larson’s Edina home was originally built for returning World War II veterans in 1950, when large kitchens weren’t exactly the rage. But what the house lacked in space, the tree-lined neighborhood made up for in charm. To make the home a reflection of their design sensibilities, Larson and her builder husband, Jeff Larson, set out to give it a Craftsman revamp, including a new kitchen added onto the back of the house. When it came to designing it, Larson started with one key feature: she wanted a red island. 
An entertainer and avid chef, this homeowner and her husband have lived in houses with some very big kitchens. But as theybegan to spend more time traveling, they decided to simplify and bought a smaller home in Edina with a scaled-back but open kitchen. With the help of designer Lola Watson, their kitchen is now both fully functional and reflects their unique style. 
After many years of searching for the perfect home for their large family, the homeowners found just what they wanted in this spacious American foursquare home from the 1910s. The only problem was it desperately needed repair, so designer David Heide did a total house renovation, including a two-story addition where the kitchen is located.
© 2011 MSP Communications, Inc. All rights reserved