Kitchens have become the showpieces of contemporary home design. Open concepts, clean sightlines, wide islands, custom millwork, and world-class appliances create a statement and set the tone for the room that serves as the heart of the home. While these elements are perfect for casual, everyday living, they can prove challenging for the homeowner who likes to entertain on a grander scale or the gourmet who wants to dive into the art of at-home culinary creations without the hassle of the constant tidying of the on-display workspace. Homeowners who frequently enjoy cooking spicy or odorous foods such as fish are also challenged by kitchens open to the entire home as there is no way to contain cooking smells.
Enter the dual kitchen concept.
A recent home renovation in Palm Beach County’s Stone Creek Ranch community gave Ralph Edwards, eggersmann’s Florida designer, the chance to pair form with functionality. The home, designed by Marc Michaels Interior Design with Ellemar Luxury Construction, featured two kitchen spaces—the primary kitchen opens to the home’s living areas and a scullery that featured plenty of cabinetry and counter space to house appliances, cookware, and entertaining elements. Both were beautifully designed by Marc Michaels with a traditional appeal and offered the needed functionality for the homeowners who frequently entertain with catering staff.
Then, the unexpected happened.
“The client came into our showroom and fell in love with our sleek kitchens,” Edwards says. “She immediately wanted to change the original design to get a modern look.”
Given that kitchen upgrades are one of the best ways to maintain—or improve—the value of a home, the decision to make changes was well-placed. Remodeling magazine’s 2018 Cost vs Value Report shows that kitchen upgrades are recouped between 54 and 81 percent when a home sells. The Zillow Group Consumer Housing Trends survey the same year states that 58 percent of home buyers list having their preferred style of kitchen played a significant role in their home purchasing decision.
Collaboration among the homeowners, the home’s designer and eggersmann resulted in a revamped plan that was the best of both worlds—a transitional design that updated the original more traditional look and function of the scullery and the installation of new elements to give the primary kitchen a more contemporary appeal.
Sleek, high-gloss white cabinetry pairs with warm, highly gained walnut cabinet fronts set the main kitchen’s contemporary aesthetic. Edwards says the visual impact is just the start of an eggersmann kitchen. Double overlapping pocket doors conceal the ice maker, coffee machine, and smoothie bar while the large center island with the Galley workstation sink makes it easy to keep the central kitchen looking spotless.
“Every walnut door, panel, and molding are grain-matched floor-to-ceiling, giving an uninterrupted grain pattern,” Edwards says. The grain-matching feature is carried into the nearby scullery kitchen to tie its design to the more modern main kitchen as the secondary cooking space retained some of its original, more traditional elements. Key changes—including extra-long steel handles and oversized backsplash tiles—modernized the more traditional shaker-style cabinetry and compound crown molding.
“The scullery is more of a workhorse,” Edwards explains. “It’s where the staff can prepare daily meals, but its main function is to prepare food and stage décor for large parties and catered events.” This room features glass-front cabinetry to make accessing supplies easier for catering staff and those who don’t use the room daily, as do entertaining-specific tools such as a Suvie drawer or vacuum food sealer. The scullery also enables the homeowners to effectively follow Kosher food preparation methods, should that be desired.
The results of the upgrade? A modern, functional partnership between two spaces that will suit the homeowners’ entertaining and aesthetic styles while improving the value of their real estate investment.
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