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By Kymberly Taylor | Photography by Geoffrey Hodgdon
It’s refreshing when people say shocking things, even when a treasured American institution is under attack: the kitchen. “I do not like kitchens. I think they are the ugliest rooms in the house. I hate them. I hate being in them,” says a homeowner and artist who lives on the Eastern Shore. In fact, she and her husband, a woodworker, could care less about KitchenAids poised on crumb-free counters. They prefer pottery vessels, sculptural granite islands, a table featuring a void, a ribbon of wood wrapping the entire room.
Indeed, the couple wanted a kitchen that not only displayed art but also was itself art. They had their chance during a major remodel of their home last year. They called upon Mark T. White, certified kitchen and bath designer and owner of the Annapolis-based Kitchen Encounters. They also called upon a colony of artists, local artisans, and professionals. Many are friends active in the Chestertown art scene. Together, they created nothing less than an art gallery that happens to function exceptionally well, when necessary, as a kitchen.
Transforming a one-room kitchen into a manicured space for art and cooking was challenging, admits White, who has been at his craft for over three decades. “Most builders and contractors would not be up to the task of executing such a complex project.” He suggested the homeowner discuss her vision with Annapolis Design District colleague John Riley of Riley Custom Homes. Riley grasped the bigger picture and partnered with McPherson and Company to gut the area and fit it out with custom wooden panels that surround contemporary Neff cabinetry operated by touch.
When designing the floor to ceiling cabinetry, White was assisted by Kitchen Encounters designer Cathy Terranova. To ensure a seamless panorama of wood, Terranova and the homeowners generated over twenty pages of CAD drawings during the project’s conceptual phase. One of the panels is a secret door that swings back into a hidden recess and disappears. Behind the door is an ample mudroom and butler’s pantry with a chalkboard mural disguising a large freezer.
The kitchen’s configuration departs from the classic triangle composed of stove, refrigerator, and sink. However, efficiency is not sacrificed. There are three distinct work zones, explains the homeowner. One side of the huge granite island counter is for cold prep; the other side is for hot prep. Another island adjacent to the stove is for cooking and hides measuring cups, pots, and pans.
The giant five-foot range would be envied by many, but was especially upsetting to the homeowner. As usual, she turned to an artisan for help, in this case, Patti Hegland of Hegland Glass. “I told them I had a sixty inch stove I wanted to make disappear and asked them to do a piece for me, a distraction, a pop of color.” They de-emphasized the stove’s size by creating a glass mosaic on its backsplash that references the contours of a local river.
The homeowner had dealt with the stove, but there was more. “The next big ugly thing I had to get rid of were the handles on the refrigerator.” She contacted Bart Walter, a respected sculptor in Westminster, Maryland, specializing in wildlife. He crafted abstract icicles adorned with a bird. He also created a sculpture of the family’s pet rabbit.
(This large bunny has its own built-in hutch right off of the kitchen.)
“I wanted that organic feel to the room. I wanted it to flow,” she reflects. To encourage movement, she and Chestertown artist Vicco Von Voss conceived a wooden ribbon that begins at the floor and winds up walls, around cabinetry, and back across the floor. “It wraps the room and envelopes us. It comforts and holds,” she says.
White’s powers as a kitchen designer were in full force for he designed a kitchen that breaks with convention and fulfills his client’s special vision, a vision he had to share or fail at his task. Perhaps this is why there is alchemy in this room. Jewel and autumn tones embedded in glassware and granite awaken, the wood releases its ancient sunshine, the dining room table, its seasons. Waves of color and friendship stream out, dissolving windows and walls to
call us forth.
Resources
Custom Builder
Riley Custom Homes and Renovations, Annapolis, rileycustom.com
Custom Estate Home Builders
D. McPherson and Company, Gambrills, dmcpherson.com
Kitchen Design
Kitchen Encounters, Annapolis, kitchenencounters.biz
Kitchen Elements
Appliances
The Appliance Source, Annapolis, theappliancesource.com
Custom woodwork
Vicco Von Voss, Chestertown, viccovonvoss.com
Door handles and rabbit sculpture
Bart Walter, bartwalter.com
Lighting design
Palindrome Design, palindromedesign.us
Metal table base and leaf vessels
Rob Glebe Design, robglebedesign.com
Mosaic above stove
Hegland Glass, Chestertown, heglandglass.com
Table
Homeowner’s husband with Robert Ortiz Studios, ortizstudios.com
From Vol. 7, No. 1 2016
Annapolis Home Magazine