Relocating from Texas, a couple with young children was drawn to the urban bustle of Georgetown and purchased a 1957 Federal-style row house there. Formerly home to design luminary Frank Babb Randolph, the house was light and airy—but it required some alterations to suit the needs of a growing family. Among the changes the new owners requested: transforming the closed-off galley kitchen into an open-plan space and introducing a powder room and a wet bar.

The couple turned to DC architect Christian Zapatka—who had collaborated with Randolph on a previous update of the home—to spearhead their changes; he in turn enlisted Sarah Kahn Turner of Jennifer Gilmer Kitchen & Bath to revamp the problematic kitchen. “We opened up the wall that separated it from the dining area and created an anteroom that would allow for a new powder room and wet bar on the main level,” Turner says. “Opening the wall also allowed for a large eat-in area with more natural light.”

Randolph and Zapatka had masterminded the interior spaces to reflect Randolph’s signature elegant yet casual style—and the current residents also gravitated toward that refined aesthetic. “The whole house is very Gustavian—whitewashed from the floors and walls to the furniture,” recounts Turner. “The owners wanted the kitchen to feel light, bright and ethereal.”

To achieve this goal, she selected a mix of complementary blues that convey “a soft blush of color,” she says. Clean-lined, transitional cabinetry is combined with slabs of white and soft gray

Caesarstone and a creamy-white, stone-tile backsplash. A sense of symmetry prevails as a tall pantry and paneled fridge flank the range, centered along the back wall as a focal point.

Kitchen Design: Sarah Kahn Turner, Jennifer Gilmer Kitchen& Bath, Chevy Chase, Maryland. Renovation Architecture: Christian Zapatka, AIA, FAAR, Christian Zapatka Architect, PLLC, Washington, DC. Contractors: Dunn-Right Contracting, Inc., Rockville, Maryland; OC Builders, McLean, Virginia.

THE DETAILS
CABINETRY: qcci.com. COUNTERTOPS: caesarstoneus.com through stoneandtileworld.com. BACKSPLASH: artistictile.com through architessa.com. APPLIANCES: thermador.com through abwappliances.com; subzero-wolf.com. FAUCETS: houseofrohl.com through fergusonshowrooms.com. SINKS: houseofrohl.com. PENDANTS: juliska.com.