Sweet as Honey Kitchen Project

They say that repeat and referral clients are the best kind, right?  What about clients who pass you along from one family member to another?  Even better.  If you recall, we completed our Liberty Kitchen Project close to this same time last year (after having been referred to them by one of their daughters) and they were so thrilled with how their project turned out that their *other* daughter reached out to us when she and her family were ready to tackle renovating their own kitchen!  Talk about high praise!

Our clients' existing kitchen, though it had an open concept floor plan, still felt closed in with its dark brick red paint color, narrow central island and cramped cooking area.   The corner wall oven build-out took up so much unnecessary real estate that we decided that was the first thing to go.  The existing cabinetry was custom to the home when it was first built, but the color was almost an exact match to the hardwood flooring and made everything blend in together.  

Our project name comes from two things: #1 - our clients are literally the sweetest and could not have been more fun to work with; #2 - the honey oak flooring is prevalent throughout the rest of their home and would not be an element we were willing to completely change during this process.  We would need to find a way to tone down the orange hardwoods and make them work seamlessly in the new space.  Knowing that our clients love to cook and entertain, we planned the entire kitchen around a new large gas range - the showstopper of the space for sure!  Clearing the countertop clutter would require creating a dedicated space to house all of their small appliances that still get used every day.  Keeping the overall color palette neutral allows our natural stone countertops and mixed metal finishes to really stand out.

We quickly decided that the current layout wasn't working for them and that they needed a more open floorplan to function better in their space.  Being a multi-cook family, we nixed the peninsula concept in favor of a central island that would provide additional prep space and allow for better flow overall.  We completely removed the wasted corner space that housed the double wall oven/microwave combo and created a central focus on the new large-scale gas range.  

We decided on this sleek Italian gas range as the foundation to build everything else upon.  A piece that is as beautiful as it is functional.  The polished brass finishes, the bold graphite body, the double ovens had our clients hooked.  We designed the back wall of the kitchen to be the main focal point in the space and created a custom built-in range hood flanked by glass stacked cabinetry.   

Mixing metal finishes in our lighting, hardware and plumbing fixtures gave us the eclectic and old world feeling we were after.  The tumbled stone backsplash laid in a herringbone pattern is the perfect compliment to the cabinet color and doesn't distract from the stunning variations in the natural stone countertops.  The countertops also provide the perfect balance against the original hardwood floors.  We created a dedicated appliance cabinet to the left of the refrigerator to house the gadgets they use everyday, but didn't want sitting out.  The result is a clean and timeless space that our sweet clients can enjoy for years and years to come!