Kitchen Accomplished

Style’s annual roundup of our favorites in local kitchen design.

Photographed by Erik Kvalsvik

The kitchen in Cindy and Jim Franzoni’s Verdant Valley farmhouse on My Lady’s Manor was altered three times in three centuries. An 18th-century fireplace for cooking got walled off in the 19th to update an adjacent room that morphed again…more

The kitchen in Cindy and Jim Franzoni’s Verdant Valley farmhouse on My Lady’s Manor was altered three times in three centuries. An 18th-century fireplace for cooking got walled off in the 19th to update an adjacent room that morphed again with modern amenities in the 20th.  When the couple bought their big farm a few years ago and introduced cattle, pigs and chickens and acres of gardens and orchards, they also built a major wing across the hall from the fireplace for a new kitchen.

“I wanted a big, working kitchen because that’s where I’d be preserving the food we grow May through October,” says Cindy whose husband does his own Italian pork processing (thanks to friend Aldo Vitali of Aldo’s in Little Italy). With brother Jerry Edwards captaining Chef’s Expressions and their recent purchase of The Manor Tavern with three partners, food is very much a force in their lives. “We’re all about growing and making our own, and this kitchen is at the heart of it,” Cindy says.

At the top of Cindy’s wish list was a 6-gas burner Aga range with four different temperature ovens. Two deep sinks in porcelain and copper and a range-top pot filler accommodate Cindy’s preserving process. She devoted space to “garaging” small appliances, rack storage of tablecloths, a fireplace encased in fieldstone, a side-by-side refrigerator/freezer and furniture-style built-ins for buffet use, wine storage and beverage service. Important, too, was a style appropriate to the farm and to their Italian roots. “Exposed beams with a mix of wood grains and painted cabinets felt right for the room— I wanted it to look like it grew over time,” says Cindy. She found Joan O’Brien of Craft-Maid Kitchens in Reading, Pa., to draft the design and execute a nine-coat paint finish, rubbed for a look of wear, on the blue and yellow cabinets. Michael Rosato of Church Creek, Md., created the Venetian plaster finish. Crowning touches were oil paintings and wrought-iron chandeliers the couple found themselves. —Susan Stiles Dowell

Professional setting

With the remodeling of his kitchen, restaurateur Tony Foreman wanted to mirror the type of commercial convenience you would find behind the scenes at any one of his establishments. As a co-owner of Foreman Wolf— which counts Charleston Restaurant, Pazo and Petit Louis among its many successful operations— he certainly knows what works.

For the renovation, Foreman went to designer Patrick Sutton, with whom he has worked on various projects in his century-old Roland Park home. “Tony requested a functional kitchen designed in all stainless steel rather than a showy kitchen,” says Sutton. “My first impression was the beautiful view outside.” After replacing a series of small windows with larger ones, Sutton butted the cabinetry— all entirely in a palette of stainless steel— directly to the wall overlooking the view of the forest below. He then installed a hanging glass shelf to hold all of Foreman’s glassware while still permitting natural light to filter into the kitchen.

To contrast with these cold surfaces and bring some warmth into the room, a handmade and hand-painted tile with Moorish influences was selected for the wall behind the range. Sutton also included a rustic brick wall and fireplace behind the dinette, which features deep purple hues.

While most homeowners prioritize kitchen design and tend to neglect comfortable seating arrangements, Foreman wanted the exact opposite. He wanted to create a warm, inviting space for his guests that would maximize both their comfort and the kitchen’s efficiency. “You can easily cook dinner for 50 guests in this kitchen,” he says. “I want where I work to be smart, smooth and quick.” —Gina Moffa

DIY kitchen

Chris Whisted describes his Bolton Hill kitchen as “small but functional.” He and his wife, Melissa, get lots of use out of the 210-square-foot space. Integrative design elements, such as a pull-out spice rack and an island which houses the dishwasher, microwave and even their dogs’ bowls, allow them to maximize counter space without sacrificing the luxuries of a modern kitchen.  

The concept for the space was inspired by the large, antique iron pot rack that hangs from the center of the room, which Whisted salvaged from a bar in Federal Hill. “I sanded it down and discovered this great blue beneath the silver spray paint. That blue changed everything.” The blue shows up in the valances on the windows and the hardware on the cabinets (which Chris created with his design firm, Christopher P. Whisted and Co.). Even the Ralph Lauren paint on the walls was custom-mixed to assure that the deep azure matches the flecks of paint on the pot rack.

The rustic edge lent by the pot rack led to the creation of a French country-inspired kitchen. The exposed brick was retained, but painted white to brighten the room. The ceiling was painted too, with what Whisted calls “a wispy hint of blue,” to evoke the sky. Antique elements, such as the original hand-blown glass windows, date back to 1897, and cabinets with leaded glass fronts add to the bucolic style.

These are offset by modern appliances, such as the 48-inch Viking stove and the pot-filler located above it, which makes preparing large pots of pasta a breeze. A wine cooler is built into the lower cabinetry, and a chalkboard was added to the 36-inch Sub-Zero refrigerator so that messages and menus for meals can be scrawled there. (Currently on the menu? Beer and kisses.)

The floors are a classic black-and-white Carrara marble, with radiant heat installed underneath the marble, making for toasty feet on cool winter mornings. The marble countertops are Carrara as well.

Whisted describes the newly finished space as a perfect combination of form and function. “It’s a beautiful space, but we also use it all the time. And the best part about it is that we built it ourselves.” —Jewel Edwards

Self-made kitchen

In 1999, when David Wiesand decided to locate his home and store, McLain Wiesand, in a building on Cathedral Street that had once housed an auto repair company, he put the kitchen on the second floor, in what had once been a tire storage facility.

A self-professed “maker” of all kinds of things, Wiesand not only cleared away the tires and gutted the space, but created many of the pieces in the kitchen. He built the draw table, which serves as the centerpiece of the room, from wood that remained after the demolition. He designed the large china cabinet after being inspired by a French antique of his friend’s, which he loved so much he re-created it on a smaller scale for himself, down to the antique brass Crémone bolts. The distressed paint finish, he says, makes it “look like it had been around for a while.” It features china from the private collection of John Walters, of the Walters Art Museum, which Wiesand bought at an estate sale.

The countertops are made from cement that Wiesand poured and then sealed. These and the stainless steel backsplash and appliances, including a Jenn-Air oven with a cooktop grill, give the kitchen the nostalgic grade-school science lab feel that Wiesand wanted. “When I’m cooking something new, it feels like I’m experimenting and brings me back to that time.” Meanwhile, the exposed brick and the seeded glass and iron light fixture, which hangs from the exposed joists, add a touch of Old World flair. Circles are a motif in the kitchen, as well as throughout the entire home. “I just love rounded and curved shapes,” says Wiesand, pointing to the wall niches that display china and vases.

“As a guy who makes things for a living, I felt a lot of pressure in creating the perfect kitchen for myself,” he says. “But I like the space I have created.” —Jewel Edwards

Modern tradition

When faced with the challenge of incorporating contemporary elements into the kitchen of a 19-year-old Colonial home in Columbia, Stuart Kitchens designer Terry Mulhern needed to find a sophisticated compromise. “The owner is a contemporary person, but she lives in a traditional house, so I wanted to find a happy medium,” Mulhern says.

The owner selected a modern door style that Mulhern merged with more traditional elements like cherry wood and a deep burgundy stain— a drastic change from the kitchen’s previous bleached oak cabinets. A “tall wall” that consists of two large pantries and the stainless steel appliances— a microwave/oven combination and a side-by-side refrigerator/freezer— draws most of the weight to one side of the kitchen and opens up the room.

In addition to the tall wall, one of the kitchen’s most striking features is the stainless steel range hood, which the owner refers to as a “piece of sculpture.” The hood shows the owner’s affinity for clean, simple designs that are still eye-catching and a little unconventional. For the backsplash, Mulhern combined Listello metal to accent the hood, and porcelain Edilgres tiles in a taupe color, which also were used for the flooring.

While the kitchen’s aesthetics were of importance to the homeowner, she also requested specific features that would ensure maximum functionality, including the large sink and a hidden garbage pail. An electrical system was even installed in one of the tall pantries to hide the phone devices. “I love the way my kitchen looks,” says the owner. “But I also love the way it works.” —Gina Moffa

 

 

 




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