Wide aisles make the new kitchen easy to work in.
MAY/JUNE 2012
Homeowners with a disjointed kitchen suffered from limited counter space and inferior storage. Tapped to solve their design issues, Jennifer Gilmer first redid the layout. She moved the door to the butler’s pantry for better flow, replaced the sliding doors to the backyard with a single door to conserve wall space and centered the door to the dining room. Borrowing space from the adjacent dining room permitted her to reorient the banquette in the breakfast area, which in turn allowed the center island to be repositioned and enlarged.
Gilmer placed a breakfast bar at one end of the island and installed shelves above the oven cabinets to convey a sense of openness. She selected an earthy yellow, furniture-style cabinet on one wall that stores baking equipment, echoing the classic, unfitted English kitchen design. Gray cabinets in a milk-paint finish and soapstone countertops finish the look.
Architecture: Barnes Vanze Architects, Inc., Washington, DC. Kitchen Design: Jennifer Gilmer, CKD, Jennifer Gilmer Kitchen & Bath, Ltd., Chevy Chase, Maryland. Contractor: Bethesda Contracting, Chevy Chase, Maryland. Photography: Bob Narod.
Cabinetry: Premier through Jennifer Gilmer Kitchen & Bath, Ltd. Appliances: Sub-Zero, Wolf, Franke through Fretz Corporation, Columbia, MD. Miele through Miele USA. Countertops: Soapstone through R. Bratti Associates, Alexandria, VA. Backsplash: Architectural Ceramics, Rockville, MD.