When you have an entire wall of windows looking out at the downtown Columbus skyline, you probably want to be able to look out those windows as much as possible, right?
Unfortunately for the owner of this Downtown condo, those windows were in the dining room, which was notably secluded by frosted glass sliding doors that separated it from the kitchen.
Following a complete kitchen renovation by north Columbus-based Kitchen Kraft, though, those sliding doors are a thing of the past. Now, the skyline is in full view from the kitchen – and the newly opened space is home to an enormous new island that adds many of the amenities the old kitchen was lacking.
“We took what was a big kitchen in a medium-sized space and made it an even bigger kitchen,” says Scott Conlon, who lives in the condo with his wife, Celia.
Opening up the space and adding more features were two of the Conlon’s top priorities, says Jim Deen, owner of Kitchen Kraft – but certainly not the only two priorities. In fact, Deen says, Conlon came in with a long list of priorities.
“He had all these ideas,” says Deen. “He just needed somebody … to put it all together.”
Kitchen Kraft’s job, then, was to figure out how to turn those dreams into reality. And there was no shortage of dreams. The owner wanted the kitchen to be better for entertaining, lighter and more contemporary, with updated appliances and cleaner lines.
Removing the barrier between the kitchen and dining room was a big part of the renovation plan. The transition space between the two rooms is now marked by absolute black, honed granite tiles that match the perimeter countertop.
“The light just goes right through the unit,” says Deen.
Having the space open to the dining room windows adds light, of course, but the look of the island and kitchen perimeter brightens up the room as well. All the materials are considerably lighter and more inviting, including the white piracema granite used for the countertops.
The new island is twice as large as its predecessor. Even Deen was impressed by the size of the end product. It measures about 13 feet by 5 feet, with approximately 65 square feet of counter space for cooking, preparation, entertaining and dining.
“That island is not a small island by any means,” he says.
The island boasts a waterfall edge, a beverage refrigerator and plenty of real estate for seating. It’s chock full of cabinetry, too, as the cabinetry on the kitchen walls is minimal. The cabinetry
that does exist on the kitchen walls is now natural walnut, while the cabinetry on the island is painted a dark blue-gray color.
Outside the bounds of the island, the perimeter of the kitchen has also seen a massive overhaul, with all-new appliances and a light blue, vertical subway tile backsplash. Some of the new appliances ended up on the island, though – including the microwave, which was removed from the perimeter to make space for the range hood.
New pendant lighting with a matte black finish fills out the ambience of the kitchen space, with a more contemporary light fixture for the dining room. All of the lighting is LED.
The project won a 2021 Contractor of the Year award from the local chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry in the Residential Kitchen $30,000-$60,000 category.
Garth Bishop is a contributing editor. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
