LIGHT AND AIRY

Color, natural light and farmhouse charm breathe new life into this once dark and dingy kitchen.

Color, natural light and farmhouse charm breathe new life into this once dark and dingy kitchen.

Finding ways to freshen up your kitchen can be challenging, especially when the layout and features you’re starting with are not particularly inspiring. The homeowners of this Raleigh, North Carolina, home called on builder and designer Richard Ryder of Clearcut Construction & Co. to completely renovate their dated and unpractical kitchen. Richard fulfilled the clients’ wishes through a traditional design that maximized functionality. “The client really wanted a comfortable, bright and airy space,” he says. Here’s how he did it.

RETHINKING THE LAYOUT

One of the key steps was to come up with a better flow for the work area. “[The original kitchen] created this kind of racecar track around the island, where [the client] was constantly walking in circles,” Richard says. His solution was to gut the kitchen down to the studs, remove the wall to the living room and move the appliances and sink to create a work triangle.“I wanted the hood and stove to be the focal point, which moved the sink to the island, and the fridge fit naturally to the right of that,” he says.

BRINGING IN LIGHT

With black countertops, heavy window coverings and a segmented floor plan, the original kitchen lacked the light and bright feel the homeowners wanted.“The issue was the natural light— what was blocking it,” Richard says. Increasing the wall opening between the living room and kitchen from 4 to 11 feet, as well as removing the blackout curtains over the windows, was a big improvement. Richard also used color to brighten the space. “I wanted to find a color that popped but also reflected the light well,”he says. He chose a soft, muted blue that would play off the blue in the tile backsplash.“The main goal for them was to have a beautiful kitchen that they could feel proud of when entertaining,”he says. These changes accomplished exactly that.

Builder and designer Richard Ryder was intentional in balancing the space visually through the color palette. “Once the clients saw the whole color scheme together and the accent of wood pieces, they fell in love with it,” he says. He went with a white palette on the countertops and perimeter cabinets to brighten the space. “A rule I like to follow is to get that pop of color to be 30 percent of the space,” he says. “Otherwise, it is too much, unless you are going for a specific look, and less than that, it is too bland.”

(above, right) Shaker-style perimeter cabinets give the space a traditional design, while custom features add a personalized touch. “I wanted to mix in this custom island and for it to look like a piece of furniture,” Richard says. For the smaller appliances, he created the custom cabinets in the right corner. “The clients didn't want any appliances on the countertops but wanted them hidden,” he says. “I used garage-style lift-up hardware and doors to store them.” To distinguish these custom pieces from the rest of the space, he gave them color and even used different hardware.

(above, left) Richard asks his clients for a series of pictures that they both agree best represent their style. This was how he decided to bring in the blue tile backsplash. “The trouble with patterned tile is if you don't have a white palette everywhere else, it is hard to get colors to work together,” he says. “The muted tile gave them the look they wanted, but it worked so they could have other pops of color in the space.”