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The kitchens below are very important spaces for those who live within them. What do they all have in common? Kitchen or interior designers are involved in each and every one. A kitchen designer can help one select creative custom cabinetry and special details that met their own individual needs. You’ll notice hidden doors for appliances that rise to counter level, clever ovens, statuesque range hoods, elegantly-patterned mullions on cabinetry, vast slabs of beautiful marble, a range that looks like furniture. Form, it seems, has a new function—to create an environment where the body can rest and the mind focus. Today’s kitchens are spaces one wishes to linger in, whether a meal is being served or not. This, we believe, is the power of design. Take a moment to savor the details in these kitchens. We hope you find some ideas, especially if you are planning to remodel yours in the near future.
By Renee Houston Zemanski | Photography by Geoffrey Hodgdon
When an Annapolis homeowner contacted Mark White, owner of Kitchen Encounters, to help her with her dream kitchen, she already knew the basics of what she wanted. White had designed a kitchen for her previous home in 2003. Having relied on the talents of Interior Concepts and Purple Cherry Architects to help plan the structure, layout, and aesthetics of the interior design, she came to White to finalize the details and transform her vision into reality. The ultimate goal was a kitchen that was high-functioning, light, and bright.
To shape that vision, White worked with the team to cover all the bases, creating areas for cooking, prepping, eating, and gathering. What makes this kitchen stand out are three separate work zones, which allow for multiple cooks to help with entertaining.
On the practical side, a six-burner range with a griddle, positioned across from the large farmhouse apron sink, takes care of the cooking needs. Modern amenities such as a mixer lift at the end of the island, a pot-filler behind the range, and a microwave drawer built into the cabinets were all on the homeowner’s wish list. These two “super zones,” created specifically for her needs, allow the homeowner to prep, bake, and cook an entire meal. The cabinet doors are a full 1″ thick rather than the standard 3/4″ to give the recessed panel a deeper set and to make the cabinets feel more substantial.
Off the main kitchen, we find a smaller productive third zone: a secondary kitchen or butler pantry with the same countertops and cabinetry used in the main kitchen. To make sure the smaller area didn’t feel too tight, White incorporated open shelving. A French door oven makes it easier to keep the mess out of the main area—a touch which the homeowner refers to as her favorite addition. The space also includes a microwave speed cooker and a warming drawer. Across from the work area and oven, an extensive pantry provides even more storage.
The kitchen, living, and dining areas are all open to one another and unified by ceiling beams that draw the eye to the kitchen’s focal point: a massive range hood with cast pewter embellishments. White drew further attention to the hood by balancing the cabinets on either side.
“We made the two cabinets next to the hood deeper so that the crown molding would have a return for emphasis around the hood. It’s part of creating a strong focal point,” White explained.
Near the range and hood, White added glass mullion doors to create more of a hutch appearance with the cabinets.
“The mullion pattern is one of the unique things we did in the kitchen to create overlapping circle patterns. We worked with the cabinet manufacturer, Bentwood Luxury Kitchens, to get it just right. The mullion pattern on the main doors is complemented by the pattern on the smaller doors up top and repeated around the room,” said White. In the hutch area, a third zone features built-in refrigerator drawers that provide easy access for snacks and drinks—a supplement to the full-size, built-in refrigerator and freezer that flank the doorway.
To bring in warmth, grays were pulled in against a clean white backdrop of white custom cabinetry and Carrara marble countertops. The result: a light-filled, welcoming space with clearly defined areas for cooking and entertaining. The homeowner says that the new kitchen brings all the warmth and features of her previous kitchen. Whether making small meals for family or entertaining a crowd, the updates and tweaks now ensure that she can get into the perfect zone and make it all happen.
KITCHEN DESIGN: Mark White, CMKBD, Kitchen Encounters, kitchenencounters.biz, Annapolis, Maryland | INTERIOR DESIGN: Arlene Critzos, ASID, and Joyce Pearl, Interior Concepts, interiorconceptsinc.com, Annapolis, Maryland | ARCHITECT: Catherine Purple Cherry, Purple Cherry Architects, purplecherry.com, Annapolis, Maryland | CARPENTRY: Jeremy Owens, Build Infinite | TILE & COUNTERTOP: In Home Stone, inhomestone.com, Annapolis, Maryland | RANGE HOOD: François & Company, francoisandco.com | CABINETRY: Bentwood Luxury Kitchens, bentwoodkitchens.com | APPLIANCES: ADU – Your Appliance Source, adu.com, Annapolis, Maryland | HARDWARE: WalterWorks, walterworkshardware.com, Annapolis, Maryland | FAUCETS: Ferguson Plumbing, ferguson.com
By Elizabeth Heubeck | Photography by David Burroughs
We demand a lot from our kitchens. As the source for daily meals and nibbles, we want functionality, but also pleasing aesthetics—especially for those of us who entertain. This central gathering space benefits from comfortable and well-appointed seating options, as well as easy access and flow to and from other main living areas. And if there’s a stunning view of the outdoors to be had, we want to be able to gaze upon it, uninterrupted, from a perch in our kitchen. Tall order?
We found a sensational kitchen a mere stone’s throw from the water in Oxford, Maryland, that delivers on all fronts.
Bearing a classic coastal look, with white walls and furniture subtly accented by touches of nautical blue, this kitchen complements, rather than competes with, the beauty of its grand view of the Tred Avon River.
Intentional Design
The kitchen’s symmetrical layout offers the same effect. If you gaze from the back wall in the kitchen out into the open living space, you can follow its perfectly aligned path from the kitchen’s two parallel islands, over which light fixtures are perched atop in unison, to the living area where a fireplace—precisely proportionate to the kitchen islands—lines the back wall.
This was no accident, acknowledges principal architect Cathy Purple Cherry. “Everything has a center alignment”—a deliberate design choice that, she notes, lends serenity to the entire space.
In fact, nothing was left to chance in this kitchen. Consider the two islands, each with its own sink. It’s an unusual but brilliant choice by the homeowner, who entertains frequently. She knew that doubling up on this essential feature would allow family members and guests to linger in the kitchen, as they so often tend to do, while still leaving her enough space to move about freely in the same space.
Another deliberate and functional aspect of the islands, which may seem incidental to the untrained eye, is reflected in the way they are positioned. “As design professionals, we try to run our kitchen islands perpendicular to the water, so if they sit at them, you can see it,” Purple Cherry says.
The kitchen’s symmetry and clutter-free nature create a winning combination. The hidden element that makes this clean aesthetic possible is the “back kitchen.” Literally abutting the other side of the kitchen’s back wall and affectionately referred to as the “blue pantry,” it provides an entire beverage area: ice maker, wine fridge, and more. “It’s all about people staying out of the prep area,” Purple Cherry notes.
Coordinated Effort
Like any relationship, the one among designer, architect, and client takes time to develop.
The fact that interior designer Marika Meyer had already worked with the Oxford client on a prior home project provided a significant advantage to the highly collaborative process, which Purple Cherry says was incredibly smooth.
“I already had a sense of the color palette, patterns, and textures that were successful for this client,” Meyer acknowledges.
Meyer points to the dominant color in the kitchen, a clean shade of white, as one of the client’s strong preferences. “People look to white for clarity and cleanliness,” she says. It also works well to support the more detailed cabinetry, another of the client’s evident passions.
Overall, the kitchen’s subtle appearance serves a broader purpose. “We really try to keep the kitchen design itself quiet to allow noise in the kitchen,” Meyer says.
That noise to which Meyer is referring? It’s the sound of chatter and laughter from the family and friends who gather there. “I see a lot of enjoyable memories being created in this kitchen,” she says.
ARCHITECT: Cathy Purple Cherry, Brian Bassindale and Team, Purple Cherry Architects, purplecherry.com, Annapolis, Maryland | CONTRACTOR: Mike Butler | INTERIOR DESIGNER: Marika Meyer Interiors, meyerinteriors.com | CABINETRY: Lyndon Sentz, Lyndon Heath Cabinetry, lyndonheathcabinetry.com, Lancaster, Pennsylvania | RANGE HOOD: Custom made by RangeCraft, rangecraft.com
By Christine Fillat | Photography by Geoffrey Hodgdon
Joni Zimmerman, founder of Annapolis-based Design Solutions, is celebrating 40 years in the kitchen design business. When she got her start in 1979, the kitchen was a very utilitarian, single-function room with square cabinets, typically bought in lumberyards. “Nobody knew what a kitchen designer was,” she says.
Her career began in her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, followed by stints in Florida, central New Jersey, Baltimore, and finally, in the mid-’80s, Annapolis. She has witnessed kitchen design evolve from its beginnings in functional design to today, where aesthetics are just as important as function. “It is kind of fun, feeling that I had grown up in the industry as the whole concept of the kitchen changed for the home,” states Joni.
She reminisces about kitchen trends over the years: the cherry kitchen, the white kitchen, the light-wood kitchen, the two-color kitchen. “We went from two colors to—oh my goodness—I have a kitchen I had eight colors in. But you wouldn’t know it, because there were subtle changes between colors and wood tones,” she explains. “But you know it can be subtle. It doesn’t have to be dramatic. Now our kitchens have to add balance versus stand alone. It all depends on how integrated it is into the other rooms, in my opinion.”
The importance of balance and how to achieve it without being totally symmetrical is the keystone to Joni’s design aesthetic. “I’ve learned to work with asymmetrical balance really well. It certainly plays up with certain things that I’ve learned through trends and how to push design so that it doesn’t have to be predictable. You can mix things together in interesting ways and still have it work really well,” she says.
Joni has a theory of design that informs layout decisions. “My first thought process is: ‘Where do you want to interact with the rest of the world?’ That could be the people in your home and your company, or the outdoors. And that’s basically where you start your kitchen. Then you ask, ‘What are the other elements that I need to be very, very convenient?’—and you figure out where those go. To me, that is the ideal way of approaching design.”
Then she applies a theory she calls Layered Design. This is the thoughtful mix of focal points and supporting elements that stand alone, yet work well together. “Overall, you see a main attraction, and the more you look, you see another layer of something interesting and another layer and another layer.”
For example, consider her own kitchen, a recent renovation on Oak Creek near St. Michaels—one that she shares with Dave Nilsson, her fiancé. To reveal its waterfront location and make a view of the creek a part of her kitchen experience, Joni had to remove walls and reconfigure windows and doors. This is a small space rendered exquisite under Joni’s capable guidance. She masterfully mixes colors, surfaces, and materials like an improvising jazz musician. Built-in cabinets are balanced with stand-alone pieces. The command center is the dynamic pairing of her Galley Workstation sink, where all of the work of the kitchen takes place, and her deep blue cast iron Aga gas range, with its glorious white and brass geometric tile backsplash. All the component parts of this kitchen are within steps of each other, making for an efficient design.
This is a deeply personal room, one that Joni intends to be her ultimate kitchen, filled with pieces made by friends and colleagues spanning her career. Joni loves her kitchen. “Designing something so that it’s aesthetically pleasing to you makes the emotional component also an important aspect. That’s where you’re trying to bridge both of those together.”
Balance, interaction with the world, and personal aesthetics. That’s what 40 years of designing kitchens is all about.
KITCHEN DESIGN: Joni Zimmerman, Design Solutions, Inc., dsikitchens.com, Annapolis, Maryland | CABINET INSTALLATION: SD Park Builder, 410.757.1614
Annapolis Home Magazine
Vol. 11, No. 1 2020