MAKING THE GRADE
Designer Rebecca Hay helps a high school friend upgrade her old- school kitchen
WHEN KARINA MARCOVITCH AND HER HUSBAND, BRYAN VALVE,
moved into their 1,800-square-foot 1920s-built Toronto home in 2012, they held off renovating for as long as possible. Sure, they pulled up carpets and painted, but their growing family (their kids are now four and two) and budget restrictions put the kibosh on major upgrades.
“Then in 2015, our oven stopped working and the refrigerator died,” says Karina. “We needed help fast.” So fast she turned to her long-time friend Rebecca Hay. “I was on maternity leave when Karina called me,” says the designer, “and I came out of it just to help her.”
Rebecca was faced with a 108-square-foot kitchen, last renovated in the ’50s and fitted with mint green cabinetry, a tiny original wall oven and fold-down electric burners in place of a stove. More pressing than the time-capsule appearance was the layout. “It was closed off from the rest of the house, and it had a large drafty
Designer Rebecca Hay helps a high school friend upgrade her old-school kitchen from elementary to advanced.
window, three doorways and very limited storage space,” says Rebecca. “The flow wasn’t functional for a young family.”
The makeover demanded structural changes, including closing in that drafty window on the back wall (the range sits there now), knocking down a wall to open the kitchen to the dining room and relocating the basement door to the front entryway to gain an entire wall for cabinetry. Rebecca’s finishes for the new space channelled the look Karina and Bryan desired – airy with a nod to traditional. That included custom Shaker-style cabinetry to maximize storage space, fullsized stainless steel appliances and a marble-tiled backsplash, which inspired the soft palette. More importantly, the room now flows for this family of four.
Asked to grade the transformation, Karina says, “Thanks to Rebecca, our kitchen is now family-friendly, practical and beautiful.” Sounds like an A+ result!