Merit Award, Kitchen, $60K to $100K, 2016 NARI Metro DC Chapter Capitol CotY Award.

This home has the typical floorplan of many semi-detached homes in Washington DC. The challenge with this floorplan is that the kitchens are small and the enclosed porches do not lend themselves to any viable use. Our solution was to transform the square footage of the kitchen and porch into an asset for the homeowners. The new larger kitchen is realigned along the back of the house and the design even carves out space for a small powder room.

Our design uses the 150 combined square feet of the sunroom, a small, unconditioned entry foyer, a large pantry, and a closet, to contribute to the new open kitchen.

BEFORE – Rear unconditioned foyer

BEFORE – Sunroom entry from dining room.

AFTER: Our designer opted to move the kitchen from the side to the full width of back of the house. It’s in the location of the original sunroom and pantry.

Unchosen Option. One of the options we offered to the client was to leave the kitchen in its original location along the side of the home, and open up the wall between the kitchen and dining room. With this design, the existing porch/foyer/pantry would have been used as a mudroom. Though this was a less complicated solution, the clients opted against it because it did not allow for the large kitchen that they wanted.

• To open up the foyer/pantry/sunroom to the main house, we removed a load bearing masonry wall and installed an engineered steel beam.

• The existing floor joists, due to the fact that the sunroom was not enclosed from underneath, suffered a lot of damage and loss of structural integrity. We re-framed the floor joists and leveled them with the existing home.

• To get straight squared walls and add insulation, we re-built 2×6 exterior walls.

• We installed ducts from the basement, thru the crawl space, to extend the air conditioning to the kitchen. The floors have radiant heat.

DURING – To open up the foyer/pantry/sunroom to the main house, we removed a load bearing masonry wall and installed an engineered steel beam.

AFTER – We removed the clerestory windows in the original foyer. There are no side windows, as the new full light door and three casement windows bring in a lot of natural light. We also needed the wall space on the sides for storage/cabinets.

• The clients’ opted for glossy white Ikea cabinets. Our designer work with the cabinetry’s stock sizes and our crew assembled them onsite.

• Though the clients did not want upper cabinets above the range, our designer was still able to maximize storage with floor to ceiling cabinets along one wall, a lazy Susan in the corner by the range, and full extension drawers in the lower cabinets. The tall doors have hidden latches for a clean look. The island has pull-out trash/recycling bins.

• The island is 6.5 feet by 4 feet with a white quartz top.

• There is a convenient drawer microwave in the island.
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• A full-light door and three large windows to bring in natural light. The center window is fixed and flanked by two operable casement windows.

• The new powder room is behind the door to the left in the above photo. It’s located in the space of the original refrigerator and range (see photo on right.)

AFTER – Removing the wall between the dining and sun rooms allowed for a large, open kitchen that is connected to the dining room.

• The clients selected a subtle gray for the trim around the door and casement windows.
• The island has a waterfall countertop. This protects the sides of the cabinets due to traffic circulation and kids.
• The island has four stools. Our designer used gray panels under the countertop on the island. The other side of the island has white cabinet drawers and a microwave.
• Three clear glass pendants provide lights over the island.

• Since the clients opted not to install upper shelves or cabinets, they wanted to create a design impact with the backsplash. They selected this beautiful Moroccan 8-inch square ceramic/marble hand-made tile.
• The Caesarstone Raven perimeter countertop contrasts with the white cabinetry and the white Caesarstone Blizzard countertop on the island.
• We toothed in new white oak flooring and refinished all the floors so they match.
• To supplement the existing radiators in the dining room, we added electric radiant floor heat

The casual kitchen is kid-friendly with storage for toys and art supplies. The clients are happy to have an open main floor where their family can gather for cooking, eating, homework, and games.

AFTER – The back elevation with the new window and door configuration. We also replaced the siding.

BEFORE – Back of the house with the original sunroom windows on the left and entry door on the right.

AFTER FLOORPLAN

BEFORE FLOORPLAN