By now it's gospel that the kitchen is the center of family life. But there's a fine line between “heart of the home” and Grand Central Station, and with three openings into adjacent spaces—and a fourth to the outdoors—this remodeled Concord, Mass., kitchen might easily have fallen on the wrong side. Due to the position of an adjacent mudroom, the space “is actually the first place the owners come to when they enter the house,” explains Paul Reidt, president of Kochman Reidt + Haigh Cabinetmakers (KR+H). To reconcile through traffic with a comfortable sense of place, architect John D. Battle threaded circulation paths around seating areas and primary workspaces. But much of the placemaking in this kitchen is accomplished by the millwork KR+H designed and produced to fill out Battle's plan.
A band of high cabinets with glass-paneled doors lines the room's three interior walls, setting a rhythm for the larger elements—cabinets, appliances, and openings—that line up beneath it. By acting as a transom over room openings, the band reinforces the kitchen's sense of enclosure without blocking visual access to the family and dining rooms. “It lowers the ceiling as you enter,” Reidt explains. “It makes you feel that the kitchen is its own place, comfortable and contained.”
Defining the room's perimeter with cabinets and counters “drives the gathering space to the center,” Reidt continues. There, a gracefully proportioned island offers both a functional preparation area and casual seating. A quartersawn oak base and walnut countertop lend the island a furniturelike character, in contrast with the painted maple and soapstone of the perimeter cabinets. An inset slab of soapstone provides splash resistance around the island's sink. A section of dropped ceiling above anchors a custom stainless pot rack while subtly echoing the island's shape on the ceiling plane.
Project Credits
Builder: J.W. Adams Construction, Concord, Mass.
Architect: Battle Associates, Architects, Boston
Cabinetmaker: Kochman Reidt + Haigh Cabinetmakers, Stoughton, Mass.
Living space: 384 square feet (kitchen only), 5,500 square feet (whole house)
Construction cost: $745 per square foot
Photographer: Brian Vanden Brink.
Resources: Cooktop, oven: Wolf Appliance; Hardware: Blum, Crown City Hardware; Kitchen fixtures: ROHL; Refrigerator: Sub-Zero; Warming drawer: Miele.