Friday -Sunday, APRIL 22 - 24, 2016Page B-6

nn Innovative Vienna kitchen makeover is region’s best in $30k

to $60k budget range

By JoHn ByrdSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Here’s a space-planning quiz for modern homeowners.

Practically-speaking: what’s the difference between a room’s square footage and its useful floor-space? In the case of a Vienna, Va. kitchen recently cited for a Wash-ington-area remodeling award, the answer is—an additional 30 linear feet of functional surfaces, custom cabinetry and beautifully presented interior design.

In fact, at 220 square feet, the original foot print to the circa 1970s kitchen remains exactly as it has been for over 40 years, but there’s a 50 percent increase in storage from floor to ceiling and a 55 percent in-crease in counter surfaces.

Moreover, the revised floor plan is uncluttered and free-flow-ing, with comfortable in-kitchen dining; perfectly-defined work triangles and serving stations; and a warmly textured French country interior that gives a palpable lift to the whole experience.

What’s the secret behind the magical space enhancement?

Turns out a rear sliding glass door linking the kitchen to the deck wasn’t strictly necessary. There was a parallel slider in the adjacent din-ing room a mere 15 away. All of which is a familiar indictment of the tendencies of traditional builders to impose walls between any two pieces of furniture with arguably different social purposes.

Now the era of the “open plan”

articulated in a transitional-style interior is here and, fortunately, there are skilled change-agents well-versed in how to achieve large transformations by executing a handful of structural changes.

“We saw immediately that there wasn’t enough wall space to create the kind of kitchen the own-ers wanted,” says Sonny Nazem-ian, founder and CEO of Michael Nash Kitchens and Homes, speak-ing of his recent project for retirees John and Deborah Cunningham. “The slider from the kitchen to the back deck amounted to a missing wall—which meant that a breakfast table was pushed away from the egress into the middle of the room. The result was dysfunctional space, and poor circulation.”

Also listed among Debo-rah Cunningham’s priorities, “a brighter, lighter interior; a sink with a view...enough room for handicapped access, if needed.”

Nazemian’s first call: remove the sliding glass door; re-design the rear elevation to accommodate a 3 by 6 by 2 foot casement bay window with a spot-on view of the west-facing back deck, cherry trees and other outdoor delights.

To accomplish this, the weight for the home’s second floor would be shifted to a steel I-beam resting on two concealed vertical supports. With a new wall now in place, Nazemian relocated the sink under

the new window and installed over 30 feet of granite counter surface. Above, a course of custom-built cabinetry on either side of the bay that tapers down to a back-lit glass-facing cabinet designed to display the family’s fine china.

To gain wall surface on a perpendicular interior wall, the remodeler eliminated the ceil-ing flush HVAC bulk heading, shelling-in the expanse needed for substantially taller cabinets.

A door leading to the garage was remounted so that it swings towards an interior wall, reversing the previous arc which had long been a source of disrupted traffic between the cook top range and the refrigerator.

Next step, remove the knee wall and vertical support between the kitchen and the dining room. Again, steel shafts supporting a ceiling-obscured I-beam are con-cealed in existing perimeter walls. The freed-up floor space—now clad in Brazilian cherry hardwood and with seemingly higher ceil-

ings—invited the design team to radically re-invent the floor plan and explore color-coordinated in-terior design themes.

The dining capacity in the two adjacent rooms was redundant any-way; there was a kitchen breakfast table mere feet from a dining room table. While the knee wall offered some marginal utility as a surface, it was mostly unnecessary.

“Better to design a built-in that serves multiple purposes,” Nazemian observed.

With the knee wall out of the picture, the design team intro-duces a 15 by 15 foot L-shaped food preparation island and dining counter perfectly positioned for easy-access to the re-purposed din-ing room and support for several kitchen work triangles.

Each wall elevation is now elab-orated for a specific role. The inte-rior wall will house a double door stainless steel refrigerator/freezer, a wall oven and microwave. The perpendicular interior wall is desig-nated as the chef’s cooking station

defined by a six burner gas range with an arch mantel hood and floor oven. Turning to the right, the farm sink under the bay window offers every convenience for food prep and clean-up.

The strategically-sited island supports work flow from each di-rection. There’s a pull-out spice rack, a case for cookbooks, there’s also a dining counter with three stools—the couple’s favorite spot for lunch.

In the final stages, fine interior design statements abound. As a nod to the room’s French country décor, the end of the island facing the dining room is mounted on a pair of country-style table legs.

Wall elevations were expertly crafted: ivory-hued granite sur-faces complement white traver-tine natural stone back splashes; biscuit-hued cabinet facings confer a pleasing “old world” touch in a room that is filled with light.

Three seeded glass pen-dant lamps dangling over the is-

land given definition to the open room’s mid-space.

Adding kudos to those of an appreciative client, the National Association of the Remodeling Industry’s metro D.C. chapter named the Cunningham project the region’s best (Grand-win-ner) kitchen makeover in the $30,000.00 to $60,000.00 range in the recently concluded “Con-tractor of the Year” (COTY) Awards

Deborah Cunningham says she’s not surprised to learn about the professional acknowledgment, “the whole process was extremely well-managed, and the quality of ideas was always exceptional.”

For Information: 703/641-9800 or MichaelNashKitchens.com

John Byrd has been writing about home improvement for 30 years. He can be reached @ www.HomeFrontsNews.com or byrd-matx@gmail.com

Small space, big solution

PHOTO BY GREG HADLEY

By removing a knee wall between the kitchen/dining room and introducing an L-shaped food prep island and dining counter, the new plan sharply improves on its cluttered and dysfunctional predecessor.

PHOTO BY GREG HADLEY

Homeowner Deborah Cunningham enjoys looking out at the many flowering trees this time of year while cooking. The space is complete in a way it never was before, she said.

PHOTO BY GREG HADLEY

The Cunningham kitchen before renovations.

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