Design by Iris Michaels
Photos by Tim Lenz
Video by Joe Buzzeo
Understanding our clients’ unique taste and style is key to designing a space that will fit their lifestyle for years to come. Some like to keep things simple with a contemporary look, neutral colors and clean, straight lines; others prefer an earthy, rustic retreat with raw materials and farm-inspired accents. In this case, designer Iris Michaels met with her client to hone in on the look and feel of her new kitchen and determine how we can bring that vision to life.
The client’s requests: A white and gray kitchen with a farmhouse feel, marrying old-looking wood with clean white cabinetry, lots of storage with a place to hide appliances, open shelving, a 48″ range, reuse her existing wine fridge, and of course the most important part of any farm-inspired kitchen, a farm sink.
With plenty of construction challenges ahead, Iris’s first task was to find an old wood-like material to add warmth and contrast to our client’s soon to be clean, white kitchen, which would also bring those earthy, farmhouse elements to the space. After a little digging, Iris settled on using a textured laminate for the hood, and island cabinetry. It has a beautiful aged wood look with the added benefit of being durable, hygienic and easy to clean and maintain.
A great way to elevate any ordinary, white kitchen is to add a contrasting color to the island or lower cabinets. It will give any simple kitchen a classic, timeless look and it did just that for the heart of this beautiful Chappaqua home. Warm, rustic, textured laminate with clean, classic white cabinetry. The perfect blend of white and warmth.
Structurally, in order to give the client a kitchen that not only looked good, but functioned well, Iris moved a wall in the adjacent powder room to create more room for storage. Designed with open shelves above shallow drawer bases hiding outlets and appliances, this later became one of the kitchen’s crowning features.
As seen in at Home magazine, this tiny 18 square-foot powder room needed a makeover.
With the goal of continuing the contemporary farmhouse feel already established in the kitchen, while also pulling the eye away from this space’s minuscule footprint, the backsplash tile needed to make a statement.
Iris chose a beautiful black, metal, penny-round mosaic, which was run all the way up to the ceiling and is a gentle nod to the black accents in the kitchen. A truly eye-catching feature wall for this small, first floor bath. Additionally, the round, pedestal sink sits on a floating countertop which also contributes to lightening up the space.
