Kitchen of the Quarter - Introduction

Above Kailua – Kona sits a tropical oasis with sweeping ocean views, lush foliage, and an infinity pool complete with fish pond and babbling brook. The home encompasses this inner sanctuary with every room opening up to the outdoors and the majestic Pacific.

The architectural style of the home, with its open beam ceilings, redwood tongue and groove walls mixed with areas of smooth painted walls, thick redwood soffits, and matching kitchen cabinetry gave the home a rustic feel. The front entry ceramic tile invited you into the home and tracked throughout the indoor living spaces tying the home together. Although dull in color and lifting in many spots, the homeowners liked the ease of maintenance given the outdoor style of the home and their love for their dog as a part of the family. The kitchen cabinetry, in particular, was tired and dated and showed that it was built in place during the original construction. The tile counter tops looked out-of-date and the homeowners did not like all of the grout lines. In addition, the tiles ran up the wall into the outdoor BBQ area and on the counter tops of the kitchen and bar seating, blending with the outdoor lanai tiles, which created a wave of uniformity that didn’t allow the kitchen to stand apart from the rest of the home. The outdoor lanai tiles were also lifting and breaking apart in numerous sections and needed to be repaired and replaced.

The home is a true haven for the owners and they delight in their indoor/outdoor lifestyle. When they purchased the home they knew that they had found a gem in the Pacific and have worked hard on enhancing the natural beauty of the landscaping and updating the master suite. Now it was time for the kitchen. Although the kitchen was maintained well, the homeowner’s were uninspired by the outdated finishes and the monochromatic look. They had some great ideas for particular changes that they wanted to make. They made the decision to enlist the help of a certified kitchen designer to join them in their endeavor to preserve the integrity of the existing kitchen that adjoins itself to several areas of the home. Specifically, they desired to:

• Replace the existing cabinetry.
• Leave the sink and cook top location the same but move the oven and microwave so that the kitchen would be more user-friendly.
• Upgrade the kitchen with modern appliances.
• Incorporate innovative design elements and finishes that reflected the architectural style of the home and the outdoor environment with an organic and refined tone.
• Re-create the large working sink next to the kitchen entry, making it durable, functional, and decorative as a space where the homeowners could work with plants and clean-up from outdoor activities. They also wanted it to be a point of interest since it is one of the first visuals when entering the home.
• Create areas in the kitchen to display artwork and sculptures collected on their numerous travels.
• Upgrade the existing outdoor BBQ area with a modern gas grill and new finishes that would blend with the new kitchen
• Retain and re-use as much of the existing redwood siding as possible in the contemporary design.

The kitchen design team interviewed the homeowners and visited their beautiful home in Kona. Inspired by the unique architecture and prepared with the homeowner’s wish list and ideas, the kitchen design team got to work. Since the floor plan was to remain relatively the same, they began with selecting a color palette and finish materials that would reflect the natural surrounding elements, compliment the existing redwood siding, and also give the kitchen a modern and sophisticated style. A rich red stained bird’s eye maple finish was selected for the kitchen cabinetry to dramatically accent the surrounding redwood tongue and groove walls. In addition, stainless steel appliances, soapstone countertops, slate backsplashes, and frosted glass wall cabinets were incorporated to give the finishes a rustic yet contemporary feel. A new natural stone floor tile, with a honed finish and light color to contrast the dark finishes, was also selected for the front entry, kitchen, and adjoining interior living spaces.

Once the finishes and color pallet were agreed upon, it was time to look at the subtle changes required for the structure and layout of the kitchen. One of the main features of the kitchen was the thick redwood soffit that hung over the kitchen. It was imposing and crowded the galley style kitchen, detracting from the open beam tongue and groove ceiling. In order to lighten up the kitchen, the designers decided to replace the soffit with drywall to contrast against the open beam ceiling. The soffit was also designed with a thinner profile and additional lighting so that it could be used by the homeowners to display their artwork. The lighting not only highlighted the art pieces but also washed the open beam ceiling in warm light, further enhancing its natural beauty and adding to the rich finishes of the new kitchen. The redwood niche that housed the original refrigerator was also replaced with a new drywall niche that incorporated an additional lighted art display above in order to add interest to the kitchen and further freshen up the space. To give the kitchen an artistic and contemporary edge and to make the space one of function and creative style, frosted glass cabinets with a bisecting soapstone shelf was located to the right of the kitchen sink window and can be viewed from the outdoor living area. The original rust and brown ceramic tile backsplash was also replaced with rich warm toned slate tiles adding another natural element to the design. The final finishing element was the soapstone countertops, selected for its natural beauty and subtle motion, which added a final bold earthy tone to the rich color pallet.

The galley style kitchen had a functional layout with the sink located on the back wall including a large window overlooking the landscaped side yard and the cook top located across from the sink in front of the pass-thru to the outdoor bar and BBQ area. With the refrigerator located to the left of the sink the existing kitchen had a well planned, functional, working triangle. The exception was the former location of the double oven and microwave, situated in the main entry hallway to the kitchen. It did not provide any landing area for the cook and blocked the main pathway into the kitchen when the doors were open. The solution was to remove the built-in cabinetry and mini desk area to the left of the cook top where an impractical corner niche and upper cabinets created a dead space being utilized for decorative items. This corner was replaced with a ¾ tall cabinet that houses the single wall oven and the new microwave convection oven. The microwave is now discretely hidden behind a stainless lifting door front and both the oven and microwave now have ample landing space for the cook to place hot dishes and prep items for baking. The cabinet is finished with a soapstone countertop and adds another display area for the kitchen space. The original location of the double oven was replaced with a tall pantry cabinet that also houses the new built-in automatic espresso coffee maker that the clients had requested.

The original kitchen pass-thru at the cook top, and the window above the kitchen sink, were both designed with custom-built, glass, pocketing windows that the clients wanted to retain. This posed several construction issues. The windows and track system had to be removed for the new soapstone countertops and then re-installed. The stone fabricator needed to devise a new design for the sliding door tracks so that the doors could be re-installed. At the same time the windows at the kitchen sink had to be re-designed to accept the new slate backsplash. The stone fabricator was able to work with the existing structures and successfully re-used the sliding window hardware.

The clients desire to keep the integrity of the original home’s structure and finishes, including the redwood tongue and groove siding, led the designers and carpenters to come up with creative design solutions. The outdoor BBQ and the outdoor work sink posed the biggest challenge. The redwood siding was removed with care during the demolition phase so that it could be re-used during the installation of the new kitchen and outdoor BBQ and sink areas. The new cabinetry and the soapstone counter tops wrapped over the edges and sides of the bar area and the siding was then replaced to tie into the new cabinetry and counters and re-frame the pass thru. The new river rock stone feature for the outside working sink also had to be meticulously tied into the existing siding. The original art niche between the kitchen and outside sink, was dismantled and built out to accommodate the river rock feature and house a phone area and decorative soap stone display shelf on the inside wall of the kitchen. The existing redwood siding was carefully removed and then tied into the new finishes and design. The river rock feature adds another organic element to the design and the wall mounted goose neck faucet is a practical element for cleaning up gardening tools. The river rock flows into the custom designed soap stone sink that flows seamlessly into the surrounding countertops and is both durable and aesthetically pleasing.

From the beginning, the owners expressed their desire to maintain the existing integrity of the kitchen. Because they wanted to minimize the movement of walls and plumbing, the designers had to work with the existing layout. Creative and skillful design provided a fresh new look and functionally for the kitchen; the designers successfully completed a rich blend of natural and sophisticated materials while improving on the functionality of the kitchen and maintaining the original architectural style of the home. The home now truly reflects the client’s tastes and sophistication while enhancing their outdoor lifestyle.