“Chicago, Illinois; Stanford, Connecticut; London, England; Toronto, Ontario; and now Cincinnati. Wait. Did I say Lynchburg, Virginia?” says Gina as she recites the cities her family has called home over the years.
Due to her husband’s career, Gina’s family has moved around a bit. They’ve lived in six homes and have updated or remodeled the kitchen, baths and other rooms in four of them.
So when they bought their most recent home, a Tudor in Hyde Park, Gina and her husband were ready to do what needed to be done to get the house updated to fit their family’s needs.
After assembling a design team which includes architect Darren Myers from Kenneth R. Bowerman, Architect Inc.; kitchen designer Karen Bieszczak of Bzak Design Group; and interior designer Heather Zippel—someone Gina has worked with for several years—a creative reconfiguration of the kitchen/family room wing of the first floor was under way.
Once those creative minds worked out the new floor plan, the contracting crew from Legacy Custom Builders took their instructions and ran with them. An exterior door was converted to a window and a window to a door, to change the flow of traffic through the space. What used to be the kitchen is now a cozy family room and the kitchen has moved to an adjacent, longer space that used to house a butler’s pantry and mudroom.
A wall running between the two spaces houses a furnace chimney that was part of the original structure. Deciding not to knock it down, the team instead made it an accent wall by covering it with ceramic tile and adding a poured concrete mantle on the family room side.
On the kitchen side is an antique table from France that Gina says is the homework table. If you look at it closely, you can see remnants of solutions to math homework assignments done
by the couple’s two sons—one now just entering high school and the other heading off to college.
The island, which measures just under three feet in width and just over 12 feet in length is really what sets this kitchen apart from the crowd. It dissects the space, and while doing so creates two zones in the kitchen. On one side is the classic work triangle with range, sink and refrigerator. The other side houses those appliances and items used less frequently such as the stand alone built-in freezer. This side is also the space geared toward entertaining.
Two posts covered with weathered wood run from the floor to the ceiling and add a rustic touch the homeowner desired. One is structural, the other is the brainchild of Bieszczak who had the idea to add a second post that would serve to conceal electrical wires that connect to the ceiling lights and range hood.
Kitchens are important to Gina for several reasons. She knows her way around food and loves to cook and bake for her family, friends and sometimes professionally. She works as an event planner and has spent time as a caterer as well.
Her kitchens aren’t just for show. They are designed to perform and invite. Appliances aren’t selected for their looks, but rather for their history of performance in prior kitchens. She cites the benefits of each and stops at the Bosch dishwasher. “I’ve had lots of dishwashers and this is the best I have every owned.” Although she concedes that looks may have played a part in one selection, as she glances over at the signature accessory of her six-burner Wolf cooktop with a smile and says, “I have to admit though, I wanted those red knobs.”