USA Kitchen Trends US Kitchen Trends Vol. 30/09 | Page 34

With respect
In remodeling this kitchen, the architect-owner took
her cue from heritage elements in the 1920s
house, but gave it a 21st-century twist
A small, dark kitchen that faced a hill to
the north was not an inspiring place for
the owners of this house to be cooking for
and entertaining friends and family.
So it was scarcely surprising that
something had to give, says architect
owner Linda Brettler.
“We wanted to make the kitchen much
bigger and lighter, so we took over the
space formerly occupied by a maid’s room
and an old pantry. We created one large
living space that we can open up to the
sunny rear yard with big French doors.

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This gives us views in all directions,
including a particularly pretty view of the
landscaped garden.”
The single flowing space, which
replaces four small self-contained rooms,
includes a television area and a breakfast
area as well as the kitchen. A double-sided
glazed overhead cabinet provides a degree
of visual separation between the kitchen
and breakfast area, while still allowing
easy communication.
“I didn’t want to sacrifice the idea of
the older house entirely, however,” the

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architect says. “I still liked the idea of
keeping some point of reference to the
original rooms, by giving each space its
own flavor.”
For the kitchen floor, Brettler chose a
basketweave tile with strong diagonal
lines. The tiles convey the look of an older
home and help to disguise the fact that the
kitchen is not symmetrical – the pattern
makes the space look larger.
“The island is like a piece of furniture
that has simply been popped on top of the
floor at some later date. It is made from