Tour five fabulous kitchens

by four top designers

Creating an open, spacious feel is a major part of any kitchen renovation. In this mid century home in Arlington, Virginia, the ground floor was originally sectioned off into a living room, dining room and tiny kitchen. The homeowners called in Elena Eskandari of Case Architects and Remodelers to help transform their small, cramped kitchen into an open, inviting space. “The house isn’t big, but we opened it all up, and now it flows together,” she says.

To accomplish this goal, Elena decided that the load-bearing wall between the kitchen and dining room needed to be removed. “We eventually took all the dividing walls out,” she says. With the walls gone, she got to work on the layout of the new kitchen and dining space. Making the custom range hood and backsplash the focal point, she made sure the rest of the layout was symmetrical and met the clients’ needs. “The homeowners wanted a simple look but also a little bit of fun, which is why we have that tile over the range,” she says.

Adding an island as a place to prep, serve and sit was another step toward creating a more functional kitchen. “You can walk all around it, and it provides two extra seating spots so the dining table could become smaller,” she says. To maintain the symmetry of the newly combined rooms, Elena also replaced the original dining room window to match the kitchen window over the sink. “It became smaller, but now it matches and makes sense in the space,” she says. The result is an open, bright kitchen full of charm and warmth.

|TOP RIGHT| CREATIVE MUDROOM CUBBIES. Elena extended her redesign into the living room by adding a mudroom cubby space. “They had a series of built-in closets that were not too attractive, plus with the closets you have drywall and framing that takes up quite a bit of room,” she says. The rich blue paint matches the island, visually tying the whole space together.

|RIGHT| COZY COTTAGE KITCHEN. To get that cozy, inviting cottage look when using a predominantly white palette, wood flooring is a great option for added warmth. Here Elena chose hardwood to match the living room and dining room. “Originally the kitchen had vinyl, so when we combined the spaces we put in wood where it was missing, then sanded and refinished the whole thing,” she says. This helped create a sense of cohesion throughout.

|LEFT| SUPER STORAGE SPACE. Creating ample storage space is essential in any kitchen. During the renovation process, Elena took into account her clients’ needs in her design. “We ended up giving them a bigger fridge, built-in pantry, and continued the cabinets into the dining nook,” she says. The original kitchen only had three cabinets and closets that were not functional. “We were able to increase the kitchen storage by 70 percent easily,” she says.