Because they wanted a kitchen in which the entire family could cook, bake and spend time together, a floor plan with a good flow was important to these clients and their two daughters. To facilitate this, Sacramento, Ca.-based Nar Design Group created several work zones anchored by the sink, the wall ovens and the range. An oblong island is the functional junction point of the room, providing centralized work surfaces and storage for the spacious family kitchen.
Cabinet Decisions
Using two finishes and two door styles for the cabinets gives the kitchen a forward-looking yet friendly style. The natural hickory and white-painted cabinets also sport two different hardware treatments: Matte black hardware is used on the hickory units and brass pulls and knobs on the white cabinets. These two finishes are echoed in the trio of pendant lights over the island, which combine brass detailing with woven black and white cords.
A cabinet challenge was posed by the dimensions of the room and the French-door refrigerator. The ceiling height where the refrigerator is installed is 96 inches, but the appliance stands 84 inches tall, leaving a 1-ft. gap. To resolve this, the original grill on the fridge was replaced with a custom panel on a piano hinge. The design was successful on three fronts: It preserved the armoire look of the cabinetry, brought the entire piece up to ceiling height and maintained access for changing the filter.
“This was very tricky for us to engineer and took quite a bit of trial and error, but we – and the clients – are thrilled with the result,” said Nar Bustamante, president and principal designer of the firm.
Serendipitous Solution
On the second floor, the master bath sits directly above the back wall of the kitchen, where the range top and hood were to be located. The plumbing lines for that bath had to be concealed in some way, and the hood’s soffit structure became the ideal solution. This also had the benefit of creating a feature wall.
“It is rare to achieve a long line of perfect symmetry, but in this kitchen it was a celebratory moment in design when we saw the opportunity!” said Bustamante. “Looking down the island to the back wall, you see beautiful symmetry, including the swoops in the millwork with inset beam.”
