RAISED OCEANS APART
Before
~ Wall cabinets hung down over a peninsula, blocking conversations with family and friends.
~ Access to their patio was blocked by the same peninsula and the kitchen table in front of the French doors.
~ Accessing the refrigerator not only blocked the passage between the kitchen and dining room, it backed up the user into the side of a cabinet.
Wish List & Challenges
How would you reconcile the lives of a couple who had grown up in entirely different worlds? He was raised on the East Coast, wears bow ties -- in Seattle, no less, had pictures of him from his days as a member of the rowing team at an Ivy League school, and had half shells of boats on the walls of his office. She was raised on the beaches of Hawaii, the daughter of a military man. Her world of lush greenery was seen through wide-open doors and was full of the colors and textures of the beach: sand and tumbled glass. His world was formal, hers, relaxed. He loved the stained, rich colors of cherry; she wanted the painted cabinets of her childhood.
Glass was used to create a sense of connection between various design elements: ovens, wine refrigerator, cabinets, and window wall.
Gains and Solutions
We reconciled their worlds by using elements from each. For her, we opened up the outside wall completely to their backyard greenery, used painted cabinets to anchor the perimeter and engineered stone for counters, adding in touches of tumbled marble and glass accents in the backsplash. For him, Landon first suggested a keyhole shape for the island -- a powerfully evocative shape -- all the more when he realized it was the shape below every door knob of every door in his childhood home. Then, Landon proposed this shape be made of solid FEQ walnut (First European Quality -- not typically available on the West Coast). The connection to his life was complete! 

A small addition gained a bit more square footage and created room for the keyhole island. It also allowed us to widen the greenhouse window and rebuild it in wood. We shifted the refrigerator three feet into the kitchen. Adding a set of cabinets between the refrigerator and the dining room gained counterspace and--with glass-paneled doors--a visual connection to the formality of the dining room.

When we toasted the finished kitchen, the husband lifted his glass with a grin and playfully summed up his appreciation:

"This is the first time in 40 years of marriage that I feel like I live in this house, too!"

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Go to "Reading Tour" index with links
to Landon's résumé & articles such as:
"Is Work Triangle Dead?" 

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"Designed by L.I.F.E." Process

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