Residential Kitchen
Capitol Hill Kitchen
$30,000 to $60,000
GRAND AWARD

The single female client who owned this older semi attached row house on Capitol Hill wanted a kitchen on her first floor in what was a guest bedroom. She had a kitchen in the basement, but wanted to make the basement a rental unit. Originally she also wanted a porch off the back of the house with a stair that would connect with her back yard at the basement level. This subsequently was but on hold for budget reasons.

1) The goal of the client was to install a kitchen on the first floor so that the basement with the existing kitchen could be used as a rental unit.

2) The removal of an interior wall and opening up the stairs increases the traffic flow and opens up the sight lines within the house. Ample counter top space allows for many work areas as well as informal eating at the center island. All of the materials chosen are extremely cost effective & functional, laminate, butcher block, and stainless steel. With the lighting we provided recessed for general lighting, decorative track lighting for the island, and for all the work counters.

3) The goal esthetically was to open up the back of the first floor, allowing more light into the space. The use of Ikea cabinets gives the kitchen a contemporary feel. We mounted the Ikea cabinets directly the one exposed brick wall to contrast the other finished walls and to give the kitchen additional texture.

4) The one innovative solution we came up with was the closing off of the stairwell. This allows for more storage. One of the two back windows was opened to accommodate a custom door that was to lead to the future porch and stairs to the back yard.

5) One of our most challenging aspects of this job was working with a tight budget. The Ikea cabinets and laminate tops helped.

The final result is a very generous contemporary kitchen directly behind the living room. The openness of the plan and kitchen lends itself to entertaining and having friends over.