Kitchen & Bath Business - October 2017 - 32

Before and After

LEFT The curved pattern of the

ﬂooring separates the kitchen
from the dining room, while
the island's L-shape solves the
challenge of tight space.

BELOW The kitchen's natural
elements come together in the
mahogany cabinets with steel
pulls, granite and recycled
glass backsplash and carved
wood accents.

BY CARRIE WHITNEY

Natural Curves Ahead
A c o u p l e 's l o v e f o r n a t i o n a l p a r k s p u t s
exotic wood at the forefront of their
kitchen renovation
AFTER ABOUT TWO DECADES SPENT in their Colts Neck, N.J., home, an
empty-nester couple sought to renovate their kitchen's quirky layout into
a more useable space that also reflected their appreciation for nature. They
called on Chatham-based designer Heidi Piron of Heidi Piron Design &
Cabinetry, whom they found through her regional win in the 2012 Sub-Zero
and Wolf Kitchen Design Contest. It was Piron's use of wood grain in the
winning kitchen that attracted the homeowners to her work.
"The feeling of the space was love of beautiful woods," said the designer.
"The homeowners also had an appreciation for anything natural."

AN UNUSUAL LAYOUT
AND MISMATCHED DESIGN

Although the homeowners had completed multiple renovations on the house
throughout the years, including adding significant square footage and a garage, the kitchen had last been updated more than 15 years before and was not
well structured. Additionally, as the house had grown, the size of the kitchen
had not kept up so that it was out of step with the scale and style of the home.
"The actual work zones were combined,"said Piron, which meant that only
one person at a time could work efficiently in the kitchen. With a soffit above
the cabinets, the storage area had not been maximized, and the cabinetry itself
did not provide good interior storage solutions.
Throughout the home, rich and diverse woods and mixed metals had been
incorporated into the design from a stairway of mahogany with blackened
metal railings to the rosewood dining table and sidebar. This aesthetic
needed to be incorporated into the kitchen for an artisan feel. A second aim,
a request of the husband, was to add curves rather than making the space
linear and geometric.

SPATIAL CHALLENGES

While she knew the kitchen's footprint needed to be increased, the designer
was met with a roadblock of a fireplace, which sat on an exterior wall and
could not be moved. By bumping out a breezeway, she added four feet to the
kitchen, which allowed for an island, a must-have feature for fulfilling the
homeowner's request for a gathering space.
However, the seating and design of the island were limited by the immovable fireplace, and there was no linear break between the dining room
and the kitchen. Piron opted for an L-shaped island design and solved the
delineation issue with a soft curve in the porcelain limestone flooring. This

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Kitchen & Bath Business - October 2017

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