By moving the powder room, the kitchen is now visible upon entry, highlighted by an art wall that is welcoming and visually interesting to guests.

Similar to the entry, the dining room has a visually interesting sightline of the range alcove. The alcove is framed by an arch inspired by the home’s heritage detailing. Due to dimensional constraints, the arch is derivative of the home’s other arches not a direct match. The curves and trim casing are a modification of the heritage details, as opposed to a new design language.

The kitchen is made visually interesting by the absence of upper cabinetry. Because the kitchen is now visible from multiply rooms and the front entry, it needed a different storage strategy than a typical kitchen. As the home’s new focal point, the kitchen needed to feel more like a living room. The solution was to free up the wall space—the challenge was providing storage. The island became the main storage solution. Other storage areas are a walk-in pantry, a visually hidden vertical appliance cabinet and a coffee/tea station. An important new design element is the new archway to the family room. Like the range arch, its doesn’t match the home’s existing heritage arches, but was modified to meet unique geometry requirements. The trim profile matches the heritage casing but the arch is wider and curves are a subtly different. This was achieved by lowering the arch spring point and changing the radius while maintaining its proportion.

To enhance the kitchen’s openness, thin LED pendants were selected. They can also be tilted to change the mood and character of the room.

The overall kitchen design is visually clean. The range alcove became the eye-catching area of the kitchen. The arched opening with stylized casing and the teardrop tiles visually dominates the kitchen.

Over the years, the house accumulated a variety of interior door styles. The owners wanted a new door style that honored the home’s heritage but also complemented the subtly modern upgrades in the kitchen remodel. The solution derived from interior doors found in early 20th century homes along the North Shore—a 2-panel with a high cross-rail door with an ogee shoe profile. My contemporary version of this door was to change the ogee profile with a square edge profile with a kerf reveal.

The breakfast area was changed to include a banquette. This solution was part space-saving but more importantly freed the island of seating to allow for much needed storage.