For this repeat client, designer Nicole Hirsch of Wellesley, Mass.-based Nicole Hirsch Interiors not only took a kitchen’s style from past to present, she transformed the space into a smoothly functioning family kitchen for six people.
To capitalize on the view of the landscape of rolling hills, a new expansive window was installed on the exterior wall, where the sink is located. This move significantly reduced the amount of cabinets in the room. Replacing the wall ovens with a storage station of cupboards and drawers helped offset this condition, as did centralizing storage on the island.
The old cabinets – a weighty “country estate” look from the past – had to be redesigned and replaced with something more simplistic and streamlined. “We chose a very clean, micro-Shaker door style,” said Hirsch. To relieve the expanses of solid millwork, the designer strategically used fluted glass to face a few of the larger cabinets. Framing them in brushed brass coordinates with the hardware throughout the kitchen, as well as with the focal point of the room: a 14-foot range hood.
Selecting the color scheme for the family kitchen was driven by the homeowners’ decision to keep the existing flooring. “We wanted to keep the color of the kitchen consistent with the rest of the home,” said the designer, who selected Benjamin Moore’s White Dove paint for the cabinets.
A pair of redundant islands in the old kitchen was replaced by a single, sleek, stone-topped piece. One end of the island is curved – a first for Hirsch. She said, “Not only is it a cool-looking design feature, but the rounded, corner-less shape also facilitates walking around the island. That’s especially important in this narrow kitchen. We then mimicked the curved shape with the stools and light fixtures to bring it all together and establish a character for the room.”
—By Leslie Clagett, KBB managing editor
