FARM COTTAGE CHARM

A nearly 50-year-old Maryland kitchen undergoes a stunning transformation, resulting in airy surroundings made for family living.

This Maryland kitchen was stunningly transformed into a bright and inviting, open-concept, farmhouse-style kitchen.

Farmhouse style

wasn’t exactly a trend back in 1970, and if it was, it wasn’t done on purpose.

Back then, most homes fell in line with the suburban look, outfitted with dark woods and compartmental floor plans. That was the original state of this Bethesda, Maryland, kitchen built in 1970, which was made over top-to-bottom through the imagination of Colleen Shaut, Director of Project Development at Case Design.

With the help of Project Manager Stefan Eising and Lead Carpenter Drew Davis, the team got to work to remodel this kitchen. Homeowners Christy and Michael MacCormack wished for a kitchen where they could look out onto their patio and view their three adult children and dogs enjoying one another’s company. Christy wanted to look at visiting wild birds too while cooking. And she dreamed about a modern farmhouse design that was white, bright and inviting.

“The old kitchen was dark, cramped and lacked the luster of life that this family needed,” Colleen says.

OPEN & BREEZY

In 2016, Christy and Michael approached Case Design to remodel several spaces throughout the home, and in 2017, they made the decision to tackle the kitchen. “They wanted to transform their linoleum-clad, dark and dingy kitchen and dining room into the open farmhouse kitchen it is today,” Colleen says.

“We set out to bring the outside in and get the best possible views of the expansive parkland their property backs up to.”

“My new kitchen space is so functional that it makes me feel so much more functional as a person.”

Starting with inspiration from Pinterest, the design team embarked on twoand-a-half months of design and four months of construction, which entailed removing walls, adding windows and accomplishing the open-concept floor plan the homeowners envisioned.

Colleen says, “We set out to bring the outside in and get the best possible views of the expansive parkland their property backed up to. We added five windows that extend from the countertop to about a foot from the ceiling. Natural light now pours into the space, [giving] the feeling of being out on the patio while working from the kitchen.”

A TRUE LIVING SPACE

Christy had a goal for this kitchen: to create a “crowd-pleasing space” instead of a “crowded space,” she says. She wanted to make the kitchen all about living, not just about cooking, and the design team more than achieved this goal. They chose to turn the extra square-footage from the dining room into a casual sitting area with a computer desk, bookshelves and TV, all right off the kitchen.

Today, Christy and Michael are thoroughly enjoying their open-concept kitchen and the lifestyle it symbolizes: a place where the couple and their family can talk, play board games, read, knit, listen to music and watch football games. It’s a space that has simply made this family’s life better.

Christy says, “My new kitchen space is so functional that it makes me feel so much more functional as a person.”

WARM & WELCOMING. “Thoughtful” is a perfect descriptive word for this kitchen. The modern farmhouse look is made complete through carefully chosen details. For example, the subtle, marble-like backsplash, made of low-maintenance quartz, pairs beautifully with the custom-made hood in a sun-washed gray stain. As in the rest of the kitchen, these elements were picked out with care.

SENTIMENTAL PIECES. The heartfelt accents in this kitchen are abundant, like the antique cookbooks that belonged to Christy’s grandmother and now reside next to the stove. Old cutting boards and other vintage finds imbue the remodel with period flavor.

FAMILY MEMORIES. We can picture Christy and Michael’s family congregating in the kitchen and surrounding living areas. Christy says, “I didn’t even know how much we needed a hang-out area exactly like this until Colleen suggested using the space this way. I was thinking more cabinet space, but it wasn’t needed at all. I’m so grateful!” The couple’s pup, Lucy, approves as well.

SUN-SOAKED SPACE. The five windows added to this kitchen allow copious amounts of sunlight to enter the space. “The view from the kitchen into the protected parkland is amazing,” Colleen says. These scenes are visible while standing in front of the stainless-steel farmhouse sink.