A Kitchen Expands to Include Double Islands and a Beautiful Bar
A black, white and wood palette creates a sophisticated style with custom details
Photos by Valerie Wilcox
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple who love entertaining, and their teenager
Location: Whitby, Ontario
Size: 434 square feet (40.3 square meters)
After: Designer Frankie Castro of Square Footage spearheaded the project, which included taking down walls and expanding the footprint by absorbing a hallway and music room, adding nearly 200 square feet to the kitchen.
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple who love entertaining, and their teenager
Location: Whitby, Ontario
Size: 434 square feet (40.3 square meters)
After: Designer Frankie Castro of Square Footage spearheaded the project, which included taking down walls and expanding the footprint by absorbing a hallway and music room, adding nearly 200 square feet to the kitchen.
Before Photo
Before: The homeowners felt their original kitchen, pictured here, was cramped and disconnected from adjacent spaces. A pass-through on the rear wall opened to an unused music room, accessed by a small hallway to the left of the fridge.
The cabinets: MDF cabinetry features Shaker-style panels and is painted in Cloud White by Benjamin Moore.
The backsplash: The backsplash is made up of 4-by-12-inch porcelain tiles from Ceragres in four different finishes: matte, glossy, flamed and textured. “When you look at it closely, it really adds to the textural interest of this space because I wanted it to have a bit of an eclectic feel to it,” Castro says.
The islands: One island contains cabinetry and the main sink. The second island is more like a countertop-height table, with space for six bar seats. “It’s quite large, and yet there’s only four legs, so there are lots of hidden metal structural components underneath to hold it up,” Castro says. Both islands are 36 inches tall. The bases are painted Tricorn Black by Sherwin-Williams.
The lighting: The outer casings of the two oversized fixtures are black leather with a baseball stitch, and inside is a hammered-gold-like finish.
The range hood: The range hood is a custom-built unit in solid walnut, and the black portion is made of MDF.
Lights: Thorpe, Restoration Hardware
The backsplash: The backsplash is made up of 4-by-12-inch porcelain tiles from Ceragres in four different finishes: matte, glossy, flamed and textured. “When you look at it closely, it really adds to the textural interest of this space because I wanted it to have a bit of an eclectic feel to it,” Castro says.
The islands: One island contains cabinetry and the main sink. The second island is more like a countertop-height table, with space for six bar seats. “It’s quite large, and yet there’s only four legs, so there are lots of hidden metal structural components underneath to hold it up,” Castro says. Both islands are 36 inches tall. The bases are painted Tricorn Black by Sherwin-Williams.
The lighting: The outer casings of the two oversized fixtures are black leather with a baseball stitch, and inside is a hammered-gold-like finish.
The range hood: The range hood is a custom-built unit in solid walnut, and the black portion is made of MDF.
Lights: Thorpe, Restoration Hardware
The countertops: The countertops on the perimeter and islands are quartz.
The floors: “Walnut can be quite dressy, but we used it in a casual way by making sure there was no shine to the floor,” Castro says.
The barn door: A massive walnut barn door adds a rich, warm feel to the space.
Perimeter countertops: Raven collection, Caesarstone; island countertops: Cirrus collection, LG Viatera
The floors: “Walnut can be quite dressy, but we used it in a casual way by making sure there was no shine to the floor,” Castro says.
The barn door: A massive walnut barn door adds a rich, warm feel to the space.
Perimeter countertops: Raven collection, Caesarstone; island countertops: Cirrus collection, LG Viatera
The bar: The shelves and backing are walnut. “The owner had this Jack Daniel’s bottle collection that he wanted to play with — he didn’t necessarily want to feature it but use it as a jumping off point,” Castro says. “Because the labels are black, and the liquid has this goldy feel, it was a natural transition for us to add black to the walnut wood accents we used.”
The hardware: The handles on the bar are actually leather handles that you’d see on an attache case.
The hardware: The handles on the bar are actually leather handles that you’d see on an attache case.
The bar lighting: Strip LED lighting tucks into a slim channel in the bottom of the wood, lending a beautiful glow to the space. “LED was a good choice because of the longevity,” Castro says.
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@robinvbrown If you click on the photo of the chairs/island and go to the right side of the page you will note the area for questions. Click to make sure all the questions are visible and you'll see your answer.
BTW, they are called Slope Leather counter stools.
It's amazing how the strip LED lighting creates magic! Kitchen looks superb.
id love to know where you got that many empty Jack bottles!!