Project Overview

I love the challenge of making a small kitchen more functional. In my opinion, it’s a far more challenging task than designing a big kitchen with lots of space available. This kitchen was no exception, and I hope you agree that my solution not only added a unique look and focal point, it most importantly made this kitchen function as well as possible for the space it had available.

The original plan had the typical brain-dead builder layout with the sink and range almost on top of one another, jammed into the corner with no counter space separating the two and creating a huge unaccessible dead space in the cabinetry below. You can see in one of the photos taken during construction that the space was used only to run plumbing to the sink. We moved that plumbing into the pony wall where it should have been originally so we could add accessible and usable storage to that corner, which can be seen in the photos of the articulating stainless steel pull-out system we used.

In addition to recessing the plumbing into the wall, the other key to gaining access and adding storage to that corner was moving the range into the rear corner of this kitchen. This is rarely seen because inexperienced designers and cabinet manufacturers do not understand how to fully utilize the angular shaped storage spaces that placement creates. Look closely at the photos to see the doors that open for storage of cookie sheets, racks, and other bakeware and cookware in that space. Above the range, we placed a shelf in that corner with a florescent light hidden above it to light display items such as artwork, or in this case, a decorative platter placed on that shelf.

Adding roll-out shelves and ample drawer completed the cabinet upgrade to usable and easily accessed storage space. Moving the range to the rear corner also greatly increased the counter area between the sink and cooktop, the most heavily used counter in all kitchens. With the storage in the wall cabinets above and base cabinets below, this area becomes as efficient a work space as can be created in any kitchen, regardless of size.

The GE undercabinet microwave with trim kit for attaching it to the bottom of the wall cabinet, is a microwave treatment I use a lot to get the microwave off the counter. Both glass door covered and open shelving were used for storage and decorative accents.

Notice the placement of the Halogen recessed down lights over the counter tops as you look around the kitchen, they are not in the typical brain-dead architectural geometric pattern seen in most magazines. These kitchen lights are placed where they are needed over work spaces, in front of cabinets so the cabinets are highlighted and you are not standing and working in your own shadow like you would if the lights were behind you in a geometric pattern in the ceiling. We also supplemented the lighting with under cabinet fluorescent lights.

This client wanted a white classic painted cabinet look to compliment the heavily textured hickory wood flooring used, and also because this kitchen has no windows. Being an interior condo kitchen, she wanted the cabinets as lightly colored as possible to allow light to bounce off the cabinets to help the kitchen look bigger and brighter.

Like the majority of my clients who originally requested this white painted look, as you will see in my portfolio, when I showed them samples of white raised panel thermofoil doors and explained how easy they are to keep clean, how they last many years longer than a painted door, and how much less expensive they are, they selected the thermofoil. Unlike most other kitchen fabricators, I do not limit the molding options for a thermofoil cabinet project like this to only thermofoil light valence or crown moldings, since they are very limited in size, shape, and color. When I say these doors look like painted doors, I am not exaggerating. What I have always done with solid color thermofoils like this is offer all the same molding that we use on real wood projects, and simply paint the wood to match the thermofoil. This has always given my thermofoil projects much greater depth and detail than other manufactures, who do not seem as capable of thinking outside the box and mixing materials to create unique and stunning detailed overall looks that can be shaped to any style, by the use of appropriate detailed moldings. Classic, Mission, Craftsmen, Art Deco, and most other styles are not defined as much by the actual door style used as they are by the choice of how to accent the doors with accompanying crown, casing, or light valence molding that create the overall style.

One other area the client has us work in was the staircase leading to the bedrooms. She never liked the railing system and had us change it to one she liked with new wood stair treads to replace the old carpet and fit the new hickory flooring

The only thing this client could do today to upgrade this beautiful and timeless project is replace the ceiling halogen fixtures and florescent under cabinet lights with LED versions of those same products.