Kitchen & Bath Business - January 2019 - 42

Solutions

Remodeling
for the Family
A c l i e n t 's o u t d a t e d c h i l d h o o d h o m e
is renovated to accommodate a
modern household
WHEN DESIGNER EBONY STEPHENSON was
approached with the idea of renovating the entire
first floor of a client's childhood home, she knew
she had an extensive project ahead of her.
"These homeowners are a young and fun family of four with two additional fur children," said
Stephenson, who owns Designs by Ebony in
Newport News, Va. "The space was very compartmentalized and dark, and the lack of storage
was a serious issue for this busy group."
CHALLENGE #1: REARRANGING
THE KITCHEN LAYOUT

Throughout the first floor, there were several different types of flooring that made the space feel
choppy. There was also a powder room and closet
that separated the kitchen and the living room.
While the obvious answer was taking walls down
and unifying the space, Stephenson's main concern was whether these walls were load bearing.
"While the contractors were inspecting them,
they discovered that there was also a drain pipe
coming from the upstairs bathroom into the closet
wall," she explained. "In addition, there was an
HVAC chase in the corner of the kitchen that
could not be moved."

42

THIS PAGE With the new layout,

Stephenson was able to put
the refrigerator on the wall by
the dining room and add a
wine cooler below. Widening
the dining room entrance also
allowed the refrigerator door to
open fully.

Layers of light - including LED
recessed lights, color-changing
undercabinet lights and accent
lighting over the island - were
installed to offer optimum
illumination in the space.

Since the walls surrounding the powder room
and closet were not load bearing, they were removed to create an open space between the kitchen and family room. The chase of the drain pipe
was hidden in a 27-in.-deep wall at the end of
the cabinet run. The powder room would later be
relocated to the existing laundry room.
The HVAC chase,meanwhile,was hindering the
cabinetry layout.After several rounds of design work,
Stephenson's solution was to rearrange the entire
kitchen layout - including the location of each appliance. The only item in the same location was the
sink centered under the window. She also pushed
the whole kitchen 4 feet to the right and added an
additional wall between it and the existing back entryway; this created space for a much-needed pantry,
a future closet and a place to hide the HVAC chase.
"With this layout, there are no inaccessible
corners, and we created an open space with
plenty of clearance for walkways and appliances
to swing open," said the designer, adding that
new hardwood floors carried throughout the first
floor help unify the spaces that formerly all had
different flooring.
CHALLENGE #2:
SOLVING THE LACK OF STORAGE

By ERINN LOUCKS

While Stephenson was rearranging the kitchen,
she was keeping the family's storage needs in mind.
"The existing layout did not have a proper coat
closet or pantry other than the small slanted area
underneath the stairs,"she said."Both the teenage
daughters play softball, so the home needed an
area for the girls to drop off their equipment 
right when they came in the door."

Kitchen & Bath Business / JANUARY 2019 / KBBONLINE.COM / The official publication of KBIS (KBIS.com)

SOURCES
DESIGNER: Ebony
Stephenson CAPS,
Designs by Ebony;
CONTRACTOR:

Mares Contracting;
PHOTOGRAPHER: A. Tatum
Photography

KITCHEN

APPLIANCES: LG;
CABINETS: Dave's Cabinet

& Green Forest Cabinetry;
COUNTERTOPS: Signature
Stone & Triton Stone;
FAUCET: KOHLER; GROUT:
TEC; HARDWARE & SINK:
Hardware Resources;
LIGHT FIXTURE: Kichler
TILE: Tesoro

BATH & LAUNDRY ROOM

CABINETS: Dave's Cabinet

& Green Forest Cabinetry;
COUNTERTOP: Formica;
HARDWARE: Hardware
Resources; SINK & TOILET:
KOHLER; VINYL TILES:
Armstrong; WASHER/
DRYER: LG
http://www.KBBONLINE.COM http://www.KBIS.com
Kitchen & Bath Business - January 2019

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