When Lisa Dodrill bought a two-story, four-bedroom model home in 1994, she spent years feeling the kitchen was a little small.
And the kitchen size was a hang-up for prospective buyers when the home in the Landings development near Hoover Reservoir in Westerville was put on the market a few years ago, says Dodrill. Everyone wants “an open feel” between the kitchen and the rest of the first floor, she says.
The sale effort came as the real estate market went down the tubes, so Dodrill, a divorcee, decided to keep it. And last year, the kitchen size issue was eliminated in a big way.
She turned to Todd Schmidt, owner of Grove City-based Renovations Unlimited, to create a larger kitchen that is open to other parts of the home, particularly the adjoining family room.
Schmidt termed the original a “one-person kitchen,” with a food-preparation layout that basically precluded two people from preparing dishes at the same time.
Further, the breakfast dining nook was separated from the kitchen, and only a small opening connected the kitchen to the family room. Getting to and from the back yard meant going through the breakfast nook.
Doing away with the dining area and the wall separating it from the kitchen created a 20-foot space. The kitchen/family room wall was taken down to allow a nearly wall-to-wall opening.
Schmidt devised a layout featuring dark leather-finish countertops and white 42-inch wall cabinets, many with glass fronts. To take advantage of the 9-foot ceiling and increase storage space, 12-inch wall cabinets – several of them also sporting glass fronts – were placed on top of those. Single cabinets that reach the high ceiling would look top-heavy, Schmidt says, an illusion the smaller cabinets offset. Glass transoms were used above door openings, too, to add light and openness.
The new layout features a large island around which six can be seated. The top is light brown granite, which makes a large furniture effect, Schmidt says. It’s atop dark stained cabinets and a dishwasher. It holds a sink, and the granite from the sink opening was finished to use as a cutting board.
To make the kitchen more accommodating to multiple cooks, a prep sink was installed in the countertop along an outside wall beneath a window. It’s next to the countertop range.
Access to the yard now is through a space-saving sliding door with paned windows that continue and complement the cabinet door decor.
An interior wall bordering a hallway angles slightly, and that floor plan narrows one end of the kitchen, a feature than tends to cramp space. The shorter end wall is home to the French door refrigerator, built-in ovens and some storage.
An unusual wine rack on the slanting wall is a feature that Schmidt created. It’s about 6 inches deep and holds bottles parallel, rather than perpendicular, to the wall. Bottles are placed so the labels can be read. The rack is about 8 inches thinner than a normal rack, a seemingly small but important space saver, he says. A wine cooler is under the prep sink.
“We like wine,” Dodrill says. “Maybe not the best, but we like it.”
Friends visiting just to have a glass of wine are more comfortable in the new more accommodating kitchen, she says.
Among Dodrill’s favorite amenities in the finished project are the six-burner stovetop, along with a built-in oven and con
vection microwave, and the prep sink, the large island “instead of a table,” and small-appliance cabinets.
She likes electric outlets hidden under cabinets rather than in backsplashes around the work counters. Schmidt notes than all lighting is LED, including tape lights in cabinets.
“(There’s) so much storage space than I don’t know what to do with it,” Dodrill says. “(The old room) was so closed off and too crowded. I like to entertain. It turned out wonderful.”
Duane St. Clair is a contributing editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
