 |
| Victorian
Meets Contemporary |
Every
project brings its own unique set of challenges and
opportunities for creativity. This 1889 Victorian
had been muddled and messed with by previous owners
and had a slew of code violations. The kitchen was
dark and challenged by its four doorways. The configuration
of the back half of the home didn’t make great
use of the space – the low ceilings and changing
floor heights didn’t help.
The first tenet of Green building is to re-use existing
space and prolong the life of a home. The house had
great potential and now had owners who wanted to give
it a second life.
We started with the basics and worked our way through
to the finishes. The boiler and water heater were replaced
with high-efficiency units. An in-floor heating system
was piped to the kitchen and the second floor. Multiple
thermostats and zones were installed to control the
demand for heat. Windows were added to the kitchen
to dramatically increase the amount of natural light
in the space.
Icynene insulation was sprayed on the exterior walls
and ceiling of the entire back half of the home. The
120-year old joists were re-enforced and subfloors
were strengthened with tongue and groove plywood.
To create a more functional kitchen, we eliminated
the door and stairs to the second floor and used the
space left in the wall to create a series of recessed
upper cabinets including a large appliance garage with
a roll-out shelf. A small butler’s pantry off
the kitchen was opened up to become a cook’s
pantry and recycling center. The kitchen needed to
accommodate both a baker and a cook, so countertop
was in high demand. The curving peninsula allows for
interaction with guests as well as a work area around
the stove, while the opposite wall has un-interrupted
counter and equal access to the large steel sink.
The design of the kitchen cabinets with their carved
lines and colors are unique to this home. We wanted
to draw the eye away from the monotony of the standard
cabinet box. There is a constant juxtaposition of organic
and machined elements. The soft handmade tile sits
in a field of perfect dots. The cabinets with their
tight lines that travel across the kitchen are capped
by swirling granite that has been hand cut and polished
to recall the stones original state. The pantry’s
criss-crossing lines are intersected with a piece of
soft distressed walnut countertop. All this takes place
on a springy and durable cork floor. |
