Love and the Wolf Range

Just finished, unique kitchen. Clients had some fabulous ideas when I met them, almost a year ago     ( beautiful things take time) The cook, he wanted the incredible Wolf range and Subzero glass door frig. I didn't need to talk him into that. He also wanted brick with pot racks behind. I thought I'd died and went to heaven !  I did pick out door style, color and of course the cabinet lay out. Notice the 2 1/2 " thick black granite, it really makes the tops solid and rugged. That goes with the brick and out of this world appliances. All new porcelain tile floors in herringbone pattern.
 Cabinets Bellmont 1900 "Monticello" door in Veil finish.  Designer: Reginato Designs, Contractor : David Andrade

BEFORE, oak cabinets

 BEFORE  Bad lighting

BEFORE Dated cabinets and counter tops

BEFORE Bay window, no storage

AFTER , Wolf range and hood, reused butcher block, 2 1/2 " thick counters

AFTER, storage behind island, Petie likes it !

AFTER, porcelain tiles, Wolf range.

AFTER, 16 gauge farm sink, recycle unit to right, DW to left

AFTER, glass doors in Arts & Craft grid, with wavy glass

, Countertops :Romarts.

Zen and the Art of Kitchen Design, Before and Afters

Every now and then I get a client who knows exactly what they want. As much as I enjoy guiding the aesthetics it's always a joy to have decisions come easily. This is such a project. My main input was in the layout and cabinet selection.  We removed the peninsula with a sink and added an island. Sink moved to the wall and island has room for 2 seats. Before the clients never used the table on the other side of peninsula and 1/3 of the kitchen wasn't being used, pity. We doubled the pantry space and got rid of a deep, hard to reach corner with a tall pantry. Better lighting and a new spot for the TV. Now this space is really getting used !
Cabinets: Reginato Designs, Bellmont Cabinet Co.  1600 and 1900 lines, alabaster paint on Index door style. Construction and lighting layout : David Cattarusa, Cattarusa Builders.
Granite: Arizona Tile " White Ice " .Flooring from : Floors on First, Benicia. Tile: Western Tile, Concord. Appliances, Neel Patel at Freidmans.  Plus Lola, the Havanese

BEFORE> Seating area, not used much. 

BEFORE< Peninsula sink area, cut off flow of room. Feels crowded. 

BEFORE > narrow feel to kitchen, wall cabinets lined up without much interest. 

BEFORE> Peninsula cut off flow of room. Isolated table area. Not user friendly . 

BEFORE > Crowded feeling to space. Hard to reach corner right of frig. 

AFTER > opened up space, new flow. Peninsula removed and sink moved to wall with good view of TV. 

AFTER > Panel to match doors on back of island. Much better look than a sheet-rock wall. 

AFTER > lighter feeling to space. Traffic flow much improved.

AFTER > new island with seating at end, brighter, lighter space.  

AFTER > Entertainment area, prep area and seating. Very usable now. 

AFTER > Reused existing cooktop and hood but now we have storage for all the pots and pans. Food pantry to the right pulls out. 

AFTER > lots of countertop space, lighter feel to kitchen. Definite style of "Arts and Craft" gives room panache. 

Serendipity Before and afters

When the friend of a friend recommended me to redo a kitchen I was happy for the referral. When I arrived at the house and met the client I didn't remember meeting her before. When I saw her existing kitchen it all came back to me ! My God, this was the first professional kitchen remodel I had ever done, 25 years ago. Serendipity, was there ever a more expressive term.
      What we did in the new kitchen was to remove as much wall between the dining room and kitchen as we could. This opened up the house and now when you walk into dining room your vista is open to kitchen and back yard. Where before they had a small sitting area now they have a lovely large island. Where before they had a downdraft now we have a fabulous hood.  Bellmont "Index" 1600 cabinets in Alder Sienna. David Cattarusa: contractor. Jeff Kotun:, cabinet install. Sullivans: countertops. Christie Jones: paint colors and lighting fixtures. Fireclay tile.

BEFORE seating are

BEFORE  range behind half wall

BEFORE  sink area

BEFORE not enough countertop space

BEFORE  prep area

AFTER  range and hood against the wall

AFTER lots of counter space

AFTER  large island with seating

AFTER  good work triangle

AFTER  comfy seating at island, home file to the left.

AFTER  clean design

Soda Pop Factory.......Before and afters

A building from the 6o's which  bottles soda pop needed an upgrade.  Painted beige and lacking any architectural features except an interior , open sky, patio. The lobby wasn't welcoming as you had to walk in and then turn before you saw the reception desk. You then walked into a very large "general office" area that is the hub of all the private offices surrounding it.
First thing we did was to add color to the walls. We removed a wall in the lobby and re-positioned the receptionist desk. We removed a set of doors to the general office area and added a arbor out in the patio. With the use of color tiles in the carpet we have a bubble theme going in keeping with the fun and whimsical. More "after" photos to come.

BEFORE     General Office 

BEFORE   Recepitionist

BEFORE   Hallway

BEFORE   Patio

BEFORE   Receptionist

BEFORE   General Office

AFTER   General Office (furniture and lights still to come) 

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Color me Happy: before and after

Almost a year in planning and production this kitchen/family room/ dining is everything we asked for....and more. The original kitchen had 8 ft ceilings while the rest of the space was a cathedral ceiling that went to 14 ft. The original space was small with a breakfast nook that wasn't being used. On the opposite side of room was the dining room. My pet peeve, two tables that are close to each other, one never really gets used.
     First thing I redesigned was the floor plan to allow room to function as a great room. We took down the solid wall and replaced it with an peninsula. The overhang on peninsula now allows you to sit and watch the cook ! As well as opening up the family room side to the kitchen. Dining room still has a sense of privacy but with the wall opened up on that side, too. A higher counter was added and it also creates a buffet serving place between dining and kitchen. What was the breakfast nook is now where we moved the cooktop. The flow has gone from cramped to expansive.
     The surprise was the colors. I have to give it to my clients to be brave enough to create the color scheme so richly. I suggested a white, yellow and blue scheme but they took it and ran with it. The results are striking. Bold and beautiful, most unique.

BEFORE, FROM DINING ROOM SIDE

AFTER FROM DINING ROOM SIDE

BEFORE, IN THE BREAKFAST NOOK

BEFORE, FROM THE BREAKFAST NOOK

AFTER, BUFFET AREA AT DINING ROOM

SINK AREA. COLOR SCHEME OF WHITE, BLUE, YELLOW ALL COMES TOGETHER. 

BEFORE, ODD CEILING TRAY, DUST AND KITE COLLECTOR

BEFORE, WALL TO RIGHT PARTIALLY REMOVED, BECAME PENINSULA. 

AFTER, 18 X 18 PORCELAIN TILE IN ORANGE/YELLOW STARTED COLOR SCHEME  OFF. 

All Good Things.......

The before kitchen was ready for a redo in the worst way. Biggest sin was the cooktop on the peninsula. That was valuable prep space. It's also the area where everyone gravitates to. Nothing worst than having to dodge the cooktop with the mail, homework etc.

BEFORE        White laminate cabinets, came with the home.

BEFORE                   Way to wide of wall cabinet doors, awkward looking. Black appliances stick out in all their glory !

BEFORE                      Tile countertops , lots of grout lines, hard to work on, too.

BEFORE           This area not really used for prep, wasted valuable space.

AFTER   Wow, what a change, so soothing, so sophisticated . Cooktop gone, prep space now added.

AFTER    Dacor range, now this area gets used.

AFTER      Clean sweep of counter tops. Wall cabinet doors a manageable size and a glass door to break it up.

AFTER      Love that granite !