Home & Design
Kitchen - Countertop
Kitchen - Countertop

A seven-foot island faces the family room in front of a Wolf Range; white granite tops the counters.

Kitchen - Cabinetry
Kitchen - Cabinetry

Outlets are concealed behind pull-down panels (above and below).

Table - Window
Table - Window

Kitchen - Table
Kitchen - Table

Bruce Wentworth cleverly integrated the kitchen and family room of a poorly designed 1986 addition.

Dream Kitchens: Clean, Classic Style

Bruce Wentworth remodels a Chevy Chase kitchen

Dream Kitchens: Clean, Classic Style Having enough space is only half the battle when it comes to a functional kitchen design. The owners of a 1926 Colonial in Chevy Chase were very familiar with this issue when they tapped architect Bruce Wentworth to renovate their kitchen.

He found that during a 1986 addition, previous owners had slapped a family room onto the back of the house without considering how it would relate to the adjacent kitchen. “The owners felt isolated in the kitchen when guests were in the family room,” he recalls. “The house was not conducive to modern living.”
Wentworth’s design better integrated the two spaces by extending the kitchen into space that was relatively wasted in the family room. A seven-foot island with bar seating creates a dialog between cooking and entertaining areas while, within the footprint of the original kitchen, an efficient galley space houses the refrigerator, double ovens and a built-in microwave. This move provided ample space for Wentworth to design a convenient butler’s pantry as well as a large walk-in pantry lined with custom shelves.

Crisp, white Woodharbor cabinetry, beveled subway tiles from Waterworks and white granite countertops respect the home’s classic origins while introducing a fresh, transitional flair. “The portion of the kitchen that is open to the family room has no upper cabinets so it keeps it very minimal and doesn’t feel as ‘kitcheny,’” Wentworth says.

The owners are thrilled with the design. “They had space to do a much nicer kitchen,” observes the architect, “but it was just not utilized properly. They needed a better design.”

RENOVATION ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN: BRUCE WENTWORTH, AIA, Wentworth Studio, Chevy Chase, Maryland. CONTRACTOR: WENTWORTH STUDIO. TEXT: SHARON JAFFE DAN. PHOTOGRAPHY: GEOFFREY HODGDON.

See more Dream Kitchens:

A Fresh, Modern Edge
Jay Jenkins redesigns an outdated Baltimore kitchen

Sleek + Contemporary
Nadia Subaran crafts a kitchen in DC

Modern Meets Traditional
Marc Janecki overhauls an outdated Alexandria kitchen

Style + Efficiency
Hedy Shashaani ramps up functionality and storage space

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HOME&DESIGN, published bi-monthly by Homestyles Media Inc., is the premier magazine of architecture and fine interiors for the Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia region.

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