A family of four loved their McLean, Virginia, neighborhood—but not so much their 1998 house,
which was poorly constructed with a problematic layout. They asked architect Bruce Wentworth
to overhaul both the kitchen/family room and the master-bedroom suite using high-quality building materials and better space planning.

Wentworth and his team began by gutting the kitchen. “It didn’t work for their family,” he says.
“They hated the two-level island in the center and the cooktop on it, with its hood dominating the room.”

He replaced the island with a wide peninsula and installed a range with a decorative mosaic-tile backsplash on the far wall as a focal point. An additional window above the sink brings in light; though it replaced a row of upper cabinets, Wentworth supplied storage opposite, where a wall of gray-painted cabinetry features pantry cupboards, a coffee station, a beverage bar and glass-fronted display cabinets.

Upstairs, “the master suite was enormous, with wasted space taken up by a superfluous sitting room,” Wentworth recounts. “We reconfigured it to accommodate a second-floor laundry and a walk-in closet.” A vestibule was designed at the entry to the bedroom; it leads conveniently to all the new spaces—including the restful, marble-clad bath.

Renovation Architecture & Contracting: Bruce Wentworth, AIA, Wentworth, Inc., Chevy Chase, Maryland.