Dream Kitchens: Sleek + Contemporary After an architect created an addition behind their Cathedral Heights row house, the owners called on kitchen designer Nadia Subaran to help them make sense of their expanded kitchen. The project was already in the framing stage when she arrived on the scene. “The bones were there,” she recalls, “but the clients were unsure about how to put it all together.”
Subaran created a layout for the long, narrow space that would work well for her clients and their young kids. The main cooking area is now located within the kitchen’s original footprint, while secondary prep and serving space is housed in the addition, where a breakfast table now overlooks the backyard. A long wall of cabinetry and an island blur the lines between new and old.
In terms of styling, Subaran explains, “the owners wanted to do something more modern and push the envelope a bit.” Rather than typical white or off-white, they went with a custom-gray shade on sleek Wood-Mode cabinets. The clients love marble, but Subaran suggested they use the high-maintenance stone sparingly, so it tops the island while the peripheral counters are done in a more practical, leathered-black granite. The backsplash in glazed ceramic tile by Ann Sacks is a nod to the brick wall that once enclosed this now open, airy kitchen. The designer emphasized sheens by juxtaposing matte granite with polished nickel hardware.
“The challenge was to create a space that not only functions well, but also has balance,” Subaran concludes. Sitting at the breakfast table that appears to float above its leafy DC environs, it is clear her mission was accomplished.
KITCHEN DESIGN: NADIA SUBARAN, Aidan Design, Bethesda, Maryland.