The too-small kitchen is a classic homeowner’s dilemma, and the problem is amplified when the homeowners – as was the case in this Canal Winchester home – use the space extensively for cooking and entertaining.
After all, you can replace flooring, fixtures, appliances and even islands, but you can’t create space where there is none.
Luckily for Jeff and Wendy Miller, there are ways to make a kitchen functionally larger. And their new kitchen, with the help of Anne Rogers Interiors, has a significant number of new features to go along with its expanded presence.
courtesy of Kortney Miller
kmiller kitchen
Designing a Vision
The remodel, completed in August 2022, substantially increased storage in the kitchen, added a multi-level island and a host of other eye-catching features, and opened up the space to the rest of the house thanks to the removal of two walls. The new and improved kitchen is designed with a mid-century modern aesthetic, which best fit the homeowners’ tastes.
The couple built the house in 1993 and raised their children there, so it has great sentimental value to them, and they also love its location on Westchester Golf Course. When they had to choose between downsizing or renovating the house to better suit them, they ultimately went with renovation, and that meant making some major changes to the kitchen.
In addition to its small size and lack of counter space, the kitchen was very dated, says Anne Rogers, CEO and principal designer at Anne Rogers Interiors. That put its functionality at odds with Jeff’s desire to cook for and entertain company, while an inconveniently placed – and non-removable – HVAC duct imposed limitations on Rogers and her team.
“To be honest, the first day I was there, I thought, ‘What am I going to do with this kitchen?’” she says.
The former walls separated the kitchen from the dining room and the great room. The company worked with a structural engineer and framer to install two new beams to support the second floor. Now, guests can sit anywhere in the three rooms and have conversations.
“Once it was all done, you wouldn’t even recognize it,” Wendy says. “(Visitors say) ‘I couldn’t even remember what it was like before.’”
Making the Most of the Space
courtesy of Kortney Miller
kmiller
Storage space was a key concern, and it was made all the more salient by the fact that, when the walls were removed, so was the pantry. To that end, the company removed the soffits and used the extra two feet of space to bring the cabinets all the way up to the ceiling. Storage was also added on both sides of the new island, which is equipped with a quartz countertop.
“I took the maximum space that I could on the island,” Rogers says.
Jeff has a vast library of family recipes – when he was growing up, his mother would make international recipes she clipped from the Akron Beacon Journal, and it had a profound effect on him – so it was important to him that they be accessible. Thus, an open, floating bookcase on the island for all the cookbooks. The island also stores dishes, glassware and more, much of which is visible through glass fronts.
The multi-level island also sports a 3-inch countertop edge, with one section lowered to table height for dining and a waterfall edge to transition between the two heights. The copious open space around it offers Jeff the opportunity to put on something of a performance when preparing something especially showy, such as Bananas Foster, for which he uses bricks to elevate a copper pan.
“You flambe that at the end, under the lights, and it’s a crowd thriller,” he says.
courtesy of Kortney Miller
kmiller
Prominent Features
Jeff wanted a granite hood for the range, but because of its weight, Rogers instead found Laminan Noir, a quarter-inch thick porcelain product that gives off the same look. It’s complemented by a full quartz backsplash.
One of the most attention-grabbing features is a voice-activated smart faucet. All Jeff has to do is ask Alexa for half a cup of water at 108 degrees, and the sink will produce it – a series of events that never fails to impress, he says.
Among the other highlights of the project are:
- A built-in mixer stand in the island cabinets, with the mixer on a spring-assisted mechanical arm
- Custom cabinets with three types of wood: cherry, white-painted maple and black-stained white oak
- Four new can lights, plus decorative pendant lighting over the island, all of it equipped with smart technology so it can be controlled remotely
- New cabinet, under-counter and toe kick lighting
- Further storage in the window seat, as well as a wine rack above it
- A new pantry cabinet with a coffee station inside it, with a pullout shelf for the coffee maker and a drawer for cups and different coffees
- New appliances with high-end finishes, including a double oven
- A curved cabinet to enclose the HVAC duct that needed to stay
“It really came together beautifully,” Wendy says.
Other Changes
courtesy of Kortney Miller
kmiller
Though the kitchen was the focal point of the renovation, Anne Rogers Interiors’ work carries all throughout the first floor of the house, including the installation of hardwood floors. The dining and great rooms both have vaulted ceilings, making the space appear more open.
To bring even more light into the space, which the homeowners previously found entirely too dark, the company replaced the French doors leading to the screened porch with a single insulated door.
“We took out a 6-foot-8 door and put in an 8-foot door going into the sunroom. That also made (the space) look bigger,” Rogers says. “The sunlight just pours in there. It’s beautiful.”
The project won a 2022 Contractor of the Year award, in the category of Residential Kitchen Over $150,000, from the local chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry.
Garth Bishop is a contributing editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
