design JANE GREEN
builder JOE LARIA, ASSISI BUILDERS
How long have you lived in this house?
We lived on the other side of Compo beach and decided to move, unexpectedly, a couple of years ago. Our plans fell through, but not before our house sold. My husband then found this house, and the first time I saw it, I hated it (it looked very different to how it looks today). Over the next week I found I kept thinking about it, so we decided to give it a second chance. Two and a half years after moving in, this is, I realize, the first time I have looked at a house as a home rather than an investment, and the happiest home I have ever lived in.
What did your former kitchen look like, and how did it function?
It was…aesthetically challenged. It was about thirty years old, with an ’80s tiled floor and shiny green marble countertops. The people who had lived in the house for many years were not cooks, which became clear as soon as we moved in. The fridge was tiny, and the fan for the stove rose out of the back (sometimes), so there wasn’t enough room to use more than two burners at any one time. There were soffits all around the ceiling, so everywhere you looked, the ceiling was a different height for no discernible reason. It wasn’t just that the cabinet doors were falling off; it actually didn’t work. I threw out the tiny island that was here and have used a chef’s worktable for the past two years, but it still gave me very little workspace. When my contractor demolished the kitchen, he said it fell apart in his hands. There were leaks and rust, and it was completely rotten.
When did you know it was time to renovate?
I would have renovated the kitchen on the day we closed on the house, but my husband wisely made me wait and live in it to see exactly what we should do. Had we done it immediately, we would have done it differently, and it wouldn’t have worked as well. As it was, I found it so ugly that as soon as we moved in, I covered the shiny green countertops with contact paper, ripped the upper cabinets off the wall and tiled, installing open shelving. It was a good test for what we have now put in. We bought the house planning a huge renovation, but once we spent time here, I realized I love the house exactly as it is. The only thing I never loved was the kitchen, and I knew that once we did the kitchen, it would be perfect for us. I felt that we had waited long enough!
Were there any elements in your old kitchen that you wanted to keep?
I loved the light, and hoped that once we removed the giant bump-out that contained the old fridge, it would open up the kitchen. It has, in fact, turned an awkward space into a big square room, filled with light, and now, as soon as you walk in, you see the view of the water. The whole space has been transformed by removing the bump-out. We kept the general layout and added a large clay farmhouse sink by Nantucket Sinks under the window, because standing at the sink looking out over the water is the best view of all. The only big change, other than decorative, was moving the stove. We installed an Ilve 60-inch range, which actually drove the whole kitchen. I bought the range before I had anything else, then built the kitchen around the range.
What was your overall goal for your new kitchen?
I based the layout on the previous house that we built because it worked so well, so we knew the design would work. As a novelist who is an avid cook, a cookbook author and a passionate entertainer, I cook all the time, so it has to work well. My other goal was to put in a house-appropriate kitchen. Creaky Cottage, as we affectionately call our house, is a 1913 farmhouse that is a little quirky, very cozy, with spectacular views over the water. We wanted a kitchen that felt like it was old, with modern touches, and a kitchen that welcomes everyone who sets foot in it. As much as I love the white-on-white marble and cool gray I see in many new kitchens now, it would have been too glossy and too formal for this house. The kitchen needed to have a farmhouse, industrial feel with equipment suitable for a chef, that is also easy to cook in and maintain.
How involved were you in the renovation and design of the new space?
I had absolutely no idea where to begin. I got quotes from a few cabinetmakers and kitchen designers, but the cost seemed far too high for this old house, and I began to realize that not only did I not need to spend that sort of money, I also knew exactly what I wanted, so a designer would be redundant. I ended up doing the whole kitchen at Lowe’s, which surprised no one more than me. I found Schuler cabinets I loved, brass hardware (that I boiled with baking soda to strip the lacquer off!), flooring and lighting, and all within a budget that made far more sense for this particular house than a custom kitchen would have done. I worked with Bob Caserta at Lowe’s, who continues to say I was his easiest customer because I knew exactly what I wanted.
Did your husband or children have any input?
My husband has input on everything. He has a far better eye for detail. I see the big picture, but don’t have the patience to go over things like placement of light fixtures or how many inches away from the wall the island should be. He is wonderful at figuring that out. He also suggested an extra beam, which is one of my most favorite things. Our eldest daughter, very cleverly, advised us not to do the modern addition with the wall of glass that we were thinking of, because then the house would be too perfect, and one of the things we all love about living in an old house is that it isn’t precious.
Though the size of the kitchen remained the same, what changed?
We made the windows bigger to increase the view, removed the ceiling soffits (that turned out to be decorative) and raised the ceiling (helpful when one of your children is six-foot-six and growing), added cedar planks to the ceiling and beadboard, pushed back the bump-out containing the fridge and moved the stove.
Did you have any must-haves on your wish list?
Open shelving, subway tile, a large island and beams. This feels like a house that should have had beams, and because there weren’t any, we put them in. Of course they now feel as if they have always been here.
Any challenges during this process?
As soon as we opened up the ceiling, we discovered that the supporting beams had been cut, and it was, apparently, a wonder our master bed hadn’t ended up in the kitchen. We had to have a steel flitch beam made that weighed 6,000 pounds and had to be raised with a special crane. We then had to clad it to look like an old beam, hence adding the other beams. My brilliant contractor made beams out of cedar, and I then had him shave bits off, chisel off chunks, bash it around with a hammer, while I stood below and drilled holes into them with a Dremel. I had them stain the beams, then color-wash them with Farrow & Ball Charleston Gray to wash them out a bit and make them look truly old. It is an excellent bit of fakery, if I do say so myself.
How long did it take, and how did you manage without your kitchen?
Because of my brilliant contractor and the ease of working with Lowe’s, it took six weeks, start to finish. We built a temporary kitchen in the family room, and I learned very quickly that microwaved food all starts to taste the same after about a week. I did a lot of buying prepared food at places like Whole Foods and Balducci’s, and counted the minutes until I could be cooking again. In truth, it wasn’t nearly as stressful as I expected.
Looking at the finished space, what’s your favorite part?
I wasn’t at all sure about the floor before it went down. I had wanted a hardwood floor but found a tile at Lowe’s that seemed practical. I thought we would use it, and then, if we changed our mind at a later date, we could always replace it with hardwood. I did a herringbone pattern and sent back the tan grout they suggested with it, choosing anthracite instead. Now, the floor might be my most favorite thing. I’m also loving the stainless-steel counter on the island, as do my cats. All five of them. I am developing a very close relationship with microfiber cloths. And the vinyl floor cloth in front of the range, by Beija Flor World, adds the perfect touch of pattern. The kitchen feels like it’s the kitchen this house should have always had. It feels like home, and if at all possible, my husband may love it even more than me.