Kitchen of the Week
Kitchen Design
Before and Afters
Kitchen of the Week: Blue-Green Cabinets With Rustic Wood Details
Designers found on Houzz help a couple create a better layout with a large island, more work surface and extra storage
Scott and Andrea Heiniger always loved the Colonial style and rural location of their Illinois home. But the kitchen layout was driving them nuts. A large cooktop took up most of the small island. The fridge stuck into traffic flow. There was limited counter and storage space. And a wall closed off the kitchen from the family room. After 12 years of living with the setup, they’d had enough.
The Heinigers looked for design ideas on Houzz, where they found and then hired designers Laura Irion and Laura Peacock. The design team relocated the refrigerator and cooktop and created a larger island with plenty of counter surface. They also enclosed a glass patio door to get more cabinet storage. And they kept the hefty wood ceiling beams and antique pine floors for a historic look, while introducing new style elements such as soft blue-green cabinets.
The Heinigers looked for design ideas on Houzz, where they found and then hired designers Laura Irion and Laura Peacock. The design team relocated the refrigerator and cooktop and created a larger island with plenty of counter surface. They also enclosed a glass patio door to get more cabinet storage. And they kept the hefty wood ceiling beams and antique pine floors for a historic look, while introducing new style elements such as soft blue-green cabinets.
After: Irion and Peacock stripped the kitchen and started fresh. They moved the location of the refrigerator to the opposite wall, a switch they were able to make after enclosing a redundant sliding glass door to the patio. This freed up room for a hardworking pantry wall where the fridge once stood. That and rotating the new large island lengthwise in the room created a much better circulation path through the kitchen.
Soft blue-green cabinets (Rookwood Blue Green by Sherwin-Williams) complement the hickory island base, wood beams and refinished pine floor to create a welcoming style. “It feels like a timeless color to me,” Andrea says. “It just flows with our furniture and the rest of our house. I wanted the kitchen to feel like another living space.”
A mix of Shaker-style cabinet door fronts and flat drawer fronts, along with a hand-painted terra-cotta backsplash tile in a subtle pattern, gives the space some nuanced points of interest.
Two wrought iron pendants hang over the island. And open storage on the island end offers display space for pottery and collectibles. “Open shelving is a hallmark of historic kitchens, so this was a nod to that,” Irion says.
Pendants: Lumley, Currey & Co.; stools: Balboa Driftwood in Midnight, Brownstone Furniture; cabinets: Schreck Kitchens (design), R.D. Henry & Co. (cabinetmaker); wall paint: Ivory White, Benjamin Moore
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Soft blue-green cabinets (Rookwood Blue Green by Sherwin-Williams) complement the hickory island base, wood beams and refinished pine floor to create a welcoming style. “It feels like a timeless color to me,” Andrea says. “It just flows with our furniture and the rest of our house. I wanted the kitchen to feel like another living space.”
A mix of Shaker-style cabinet door fronts and flat drawer fronts, along with a hand-painted terra-cotta backsplash tile in a subtle pattern, gives the space some nuanced points of interest.
Two wrought iron pendants hang over the island. And open storage on the island end offers display space for pottery and collectibles. “Open shelving is a hallmark of historic kitchens, so this was a nod to that,” Irion says.
Pendants: Lumley, Currey & Co.; stools: Balboa Driftwood in Midnight, Brownstone Furniture; cabinets: Schreck Kitchens (design), R.D. Henry & Co. (cabinetmaker); wall paint: Ivory White, Benjamin Moore
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The designers ditched the separate cooktop and wall oven and combined the functions in a new 36-inch gas range. “We wanted to create a focal point, because they didn’t really have one before,” Irion says. “Putting the range on this back wall was the visual moment we wanted. It’s also very functional, because it has that hood that sucks up all the odor and grease. And it’s not taking up room on the island like the cooktop they had before.”
The custom hood coordinates with the surrounding cabinetry. “We tried to make it not too fussy,” Irion says. “It has that straight top that goes to the ceiling. We tried to pick a classic style that would stand the test of time, and we added the corbels for an extra detail.”
A stainless steel flat-panel microwave drawer in the island helps keep the counters free of clutter.
Microwave drawer: Sharp
The custom hood coordinates with the surrounding cabinetry. “We tried to make it not too fussy,” Irion says. “It has that straight top that goes to the ceiling. We tried to pick a classic style that would stand the test of time, and we added the corbels for an extra detail.”
A stainless steel flat-panel microwave drawer in the island helps keep the counters free of clutter.
Microwave drawer: Sharp
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The hand-painted terra-cotta backsplash tiles have a soft floral pattern in two shades of gray on an off-white background with off-white grout. The tiles have slight color variations and small imperfections that give them an artisan quality. “These tiles have my heart,” Irion says. “They’re something we found early in the design process. They have this gorgeous handmade quality that can’t be replicated by a machine. This tile also keeps the kitchen from looking new.”
Marble-look quartz counters with warm gray veining on a soft white background coordinate with the tile. “It cleans up really nice,” Andrea says. “I’ve never had this type of quartz before, but it fits with my family’s lifestyle.”
The cabinet knobs are unlacquered brass.
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Marble-look quartz counters with warm gray veining on a soft white background coordinate with the tile. “It cleans up really nice,” Andrea says. “I’ve never had this type of quartz before, but it fits with my family’s lifestyle.”
The cabinet knobs are unlacquered brass.
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The designers added the window nearest the fridge to create symmetry with the existing window over the sink. Custom hickory shelves between the windows coordinate with the island base and hold the family’s most frequently used dishes.
The extended countertop space was a life-changer. “We use it for getting things in and out of the refrigerator, and it’s where the kids will butter their toast,” Andrea says. “It’s also a great place to set things out of the way when I’m entertaining. Because we were so lacking in counter space before, I was really happy to get as much counter space in here as we could.”
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The extended countertop space was a life-changer. “We use it for getting things in and out of the refrigerator, and it’s where the kids will butter their toast,” Andrea says. “It’s also a great place to set things out of the way when I’m entertaining. Because we were so lacking in counter space before, I was really happy to get as much counter space in here as we could.”
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A white single-bowl apron sink pairs with a vintage-style aged brass bridge faucet. “It had to be an apron-front sink in this historic-style kitchen,” Irion says.
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The pantry wall has two tall cabinets with multiple pullouts and two shorter upper cabinets with fixed shelves for seasonal items. “Our primary thing was function,” Andrea says. “We wanted function and comfort. I have all my dry goods on one side and canned goods and baking supplies on the other. Having everything there is wonderful.”
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Before: This view from the former kitchen shows the sliding glass door on the left that the designers enclosed to gain more storage and a location for the fridge. Doors in the living room provide access to the patio. The wall separating the kitchen and living space unnecessarily closed off the two spaces.
After: Peacock had the initial idea of eliminating the sliding glass door and removing most of the wall between the kitchen and family room. “It got us all excited because we could see how it would help everything,” Irion says. “By taking out the wall, it gives you that access to the backyard. It also gave everything a lot of breathing room. It was about maximizing both of those spaces. We did consider eliminating the whole wall, but having some wall space is nice to enclose the refrigerator.”
This view from the updated family room shows the fresh color scheme and wood details that create a modern-day take on historic style. “The kitchen now feels much more like a living space,” Andrea says. “I love to host, and having a kitchen that feels so welcoming and warm is wonderful.”
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Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: Scott and Andrea Heiniger and their three kids
Location: Elgin, Illinois
Size: 300 square feet (28 square meters)
Designers: Laura Irion and Laura Peacock of Laura Design
Before: In the former kitchen, the Heinigers disliked the small greige cabinets and the lack of backsplash. But it was the island that bothered them most. Its position made circulation difficult, and a large gas cooktop ate up most of its surface. “That was our primary frustration,” Andrea says. “It didn’t give us any counter space. There was also a towel bar on the side of the island that I think gave me a permanent bruise from bumping into it all the time.”
Plus, the fridge stuck into traffic flow and the built-in microwave and wall oven were in a bad location near the mudroom entry.
The rustic wood ceiling beams and antique pine flooring were about all the couple wanted to keep.
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