Wayzata Kitchen and Family Room

PROJECT: Kitchen and Family Room
LOCATION: Wayzata
INTERIOR DESIGN: Engler Skogmo, 952-746-2007, englerskogmo.com
ARCHITECTURE: Domain Architecture & Design, 612-870-7507, domainarch.com
CONSTRUCTION: Building Assets, 612-825-0069

Creating a heart-of-the-home kitchen is a common goal for remodeling projects. To be within earshot of one another while cooking, reading, or doing homework was especially important for the active family that lives in this late 1970s contemporary home. “The time they spend here is precious and the spaces needed to work for them,” says the home’s interior designer, Talla Skogmo.

The project’s goal was achieved, at least in part, by combining the old kitchen and dining room into a single family-friendly space for work and gathering. Architectural plans were drawn to add a new dining room, via an addition, at one end of the kitchen. Meanwhile, on the other end of the room, a partial wall was created to set off the family room. The partial wall has the added bonus of allowing the room’s ceilings to flow seamlessly. It was “a simple move that kind of connected the spaces visually,” says architect Lars Peterssen, who collaborated on the architecture with associate Dan Peterson. “We tried to connect things so that if you’re in any room on the main level, you won’t feel cut off from everything else.”

At first, the open design—not to mention the home’s 1970s modern vintage—seemed at odds with what Skogmo describes as the owners’ more traditional tastes. But in the end, she says, “The style of the house was a nonfactor. The clients loved the house because of where it sits—on a woodland marsh.” And as interior walls came down, the owners started to see new connections between the outside world and their home’s evolving interior.

Materials and details were carefully picked to suit both the open, airy plan and the owners’ traditional style. For example, the clean-lined frame detail of the alder cabinetry was inspired by a design Peterssen saw in the historic Purcell-Cutts House in Minneapolis. Red birch floors and Typhoon Green granite countertops create a comfortable contrast of earthy colors. “It was important that it be clean and uncluttered and simple,” Skogmo says. “The owners wanted this to be their sanctuary.”

The family room follows the same comfortable path, with durable, transitional furnishings in warm wood tones and autumn colors that address the owners’ love of greens and browns and complement the home’s stunning natural site. “Now the inside looks like the outside,” Skogmo says. “It flows beautifully.”