Too many cooks in the kitchen?  Not here..

Project scope: Kitchen and dining room remodel

Construction completed: Summer 2006

Location: Elk Grove, California

This new kitchen was designed to accommodate a family who loves to cook, and guests who love to take part, or stand by and chat, or just lounge in the vicinity with drink and hors d’oeuvres in hand.

The original kitchen was squeezed into a room walled off from the dining room and only partially open to the family room in this 1980s two-story home. The homeowner wanted a kitchen that was the center of family life, that felt welcoming and open to guests and relatives, a space where anyone could jump in to help with meal preparation, or gather around to socialize without being in the way. The space was available, just not well used.

Most of the interior walls around the kitchen were removed. The lonely and underused dining room, and part of the even more lonely and underused living room, was incorporated into the greater space, and the family room was fully opened to the kitchen as well. The loss in upper cabinets (inevitable with the removal of walls) was made up for in the addition of a walk-in pantry as well as two islands. The addition of the two islands especially added to the functionality and easy accessibility. The openness of the space in itself managed to increase both the kitchen’s beauty and usefulness.