Peek inside a once-cramped kitchen that now spills into other living spaces
As for the kitchen itself, it now sports a huge island topped with walnut with tons of prep space.
Six — count ’em — six doorways encroached on what Elaine Blais called her “long, skinny kitchen with very little counter space.” There was the entry from the street, where you immediately encountered a second door to a cramped and awkwardly placed powder room, beyond which two unnecessary walls squeezed the space even more. One of them had a doorway that opened to a short stairway leading to an office above the garage. “We never used it,” says Blais of the room. “It’s where I stored old photos and receipts.” The other wall closing in on the kitchen contained a door separating it from the den — the rooms were all isolated from one another. This doesn’t even get at the two doors between the kitchen and the backyard and the kitchen and the dining room, which broke up the space even further. No wonder Blais’s two boys, 14-year-old Jack and 10-year-old Oliver, were always hanging out in the basement.
“I thought, we have all this great space. I want to live in it,” says Blais, a patent attorney. The chopped-up area simply didn’t fit with the graciously sized rooms in the rest of the house, a stately yet inviting 1930s brick residence built on a corner lot in Milton, Massachusetts.
To solve the problem, Blais brought in architectural interior designer John Kelsey of Wilson Kelsey Design in Boston and Salem, Massachusetts. He set to work by removing not only the powder room (there was a full bathroom nearby) but also a chimney that housed an old flue for a defunct furnace. All the odd angles gone, Kelsey opened up the room further by removing the wall (and the door) to the den and the wall (and the door) to the 4½-foot-long staircase to the office. With the sightlines opened to both the den and the old office, which Blais and her boys now call the loft, Kelsey reimagined the spaces for new family-friendly uses.
In the loft, Kelsey removed three walls of floor-to-ceiling built-in shelving, making room for a large sectional sofa opposite a wide-screen TV. Jack heads there with his friends while Oliver claims the den — Blais can keep her eye on both at the same time. “Mom, can we order a pizza?” is a frequent refrain, and she’s glad to comply, happy that her home has become a hangout where the boys can enjoy being close rather than camping out in the basement.
As for the kitchen itself, it now sports a huge island topped with walnut with tons of prep space. With those superfluous walls gone, it is filled with natural light coming in from east, west, north, and south. The sun streams in not only through the kitchen windows but also from windows in the loft on one side, the den on another, and even from a window in the dining room. Kelsey was also able to incorporate a six-burner stove with a wow-factor marble backsplash by removing the door to the dining room, an opening deemed unnecessary because the formal space is used primarily for holidays and special occasions and is easily accessible through the now-open den.
The sense of spaciousness is enhanced by the lack of overhead cabinets. All dishes have their place below the countertops in deep drawers with dowels to keep china in order. Two large, floor-to-ceiling pantries at opposite ends of the kitchen give a vertical lift to the room, where the ceiling height is only 7 feet 8 inches.
The marble countertops and backsplash were splurges from Vermont Danby, chosen with the help of Blais’s friend Joanna Gillespie, an arts project manager whose eye Blais also depended on to pick out such touches as light fixtures, door pulls, and paint colors. Shaker-style cabinet doors keep the room “quite clean and neat but not contemporary,” says Kelsey, in keeping with the era of the house.
The five-month renovation was completed last year by Kevin Dillon of South Street Custom Builders in Reading, Massachusetts, in time for Blais to host her sister’s baby shower. “I’ve recommended him to a bunch of people,” Blais says. “He’s wonderful.”
Kelsey commends the effort that Blais made in the collaboration. “I have clients who just think I wave a magic wand,” he says. “But hands-off is a recipe for disaster. If I just come in and say, ‘This is what you should do,’ it’s my vision, my footprint, my stamp, my kitchen. The client is just a spectator. But Elaine jumped into the iterative process with both feet. That’s when a project becomes alive. By being engaged, hands-on, and a clear communicator, she enabled us to have very direct, honest dialogue about decisions every step of the way.’’ The outcome, he adds, is that the project “tells a story about who the homeowner is.”
On a recent day, homeowner Blais was somebody cooking up a big batch of chili for a bunch of hungry teenagers just back from basketball. She had all the elbowroom she needed as her kids and their friends relaxed close by in what has become the center of the home, thanks to a plan that used all the space wisely.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com