Kitchen & Bath Business - February/March 2016 - 26

Before and After

Entertaining Ease
A client makes the jump
for a modern kitchen

IT IS ONE MATTER to update from an outdated kitchen to today's transitional style and another entirely to move from outdated to nearly minimalistic. Designer Brenda Helms and Megan Greve of Edmond, Okla.-based
Edmond Kitchen and Bath faced such a drastic design plan in a retired
professor's home.
"The challenge was to integrate a modern European-looking kitchen into
her early 1990s traditional home,"said Helms."The homeowner already had
some modern furnishings and art pieces in other rooms of the home, but the
kitchen needed a full overhaul."

ABOVE RIGHT The design

team's biggest challenge
was the large skylight in the
original kitchen.

ABOVE LEFT By designing the
peninsula to be offset of the
skylight, additional recessed
can lighting and ceiling
ventilation could be integrated
without drawing away focus.

LAYOUT WOES

Along with a tired red-and-white palette, the kitchen sported a weak work
triangle with an island in the way.The cooktop sat in the center of the island,
while the sink was at the opposite end of the island under a corner window.

26

BY ERINN WALDO

The oven and microwave were opposite of the
refrigerator on the other side of the island.
"She was constantly running around that island,"
said Helms, adding that the client entertained often and wanted to feel included in her gatherings
without guests joining her in the work zone. "The
floor plan was not truly conducive for day-to-day
cooking or for entertaining."
Care was given to ensure that the corner window
made sense without a sink beneath it.The team discussed doing a full-length window, but ultimately
a workspace was necessary for that area. By instead
creating a galley-functioning kitchen with a long Ushape defined by a peninsula,the window at the end
became more of a focal point with modern styling.
The sink instead moved next to the cooktop onto a
newly created peninsula under the original skylight.
"The peninsula pays respect to that architectural
detail," she said, explaining that its position allows
for recessed can lighting and ceiling ventilation
above the cooktop and sink."This peninsula solved
many issues in the floor plan."
In creating the peninsula, the team also flipped
the orientation of the kitchen, allowing the cook
to face guests in the dining room and living spaces
while entertaining.The peninsula defines the galleystyle kitchen,which now has the ovens on the same
side as the refrigerator. A bar stool area on the opposite side of the peninsula allows for guests to sit
and linger but not get in the way of the cook.
STORAGE SOLUTIONS

The designers took advantage of the original long
wall to store appliances in the new galley-style
kitchen. All of the cabinets - with the exception
of a set of four upper-middle cabinets - were â
done in high-gloss gray lacquer with linear

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Kitchen & Bath Business - February/March 2016

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