A Bright, Happy Kitchen With a Morning-Coffee Perch
White cabinets, green walls and cheery curtains make this a warm place for eating and cooking
One of the doorways, pictured here, leads to an adjacent butler’s pantry. To the right of the doorway is a bump-out that contains radiator pipes that could not be moved. (You can also see this bump-out in the prior photo.) “I designed to work around that,” says Smith, who took the cabinets right up to the bump-out.
This photo shows the shallow depth of that same bay of upper cabinets. Smith made these cabinets just 12 inches deep to leave room for the coffee-and-breakfast bar. The homeowners use the shallow upper cabinets closest to the sunflowers in this photo to contain food items. The upper cabinet to the left of the window contains glassware.
The floors are maple, and they match the flooring throughout the rest of the home.
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The floors are maple, and they match the flooring throughout the rest of the home.
Find hardwood flooring in the Houzz Shop
Here’s a better look at the butler’s pantry, where the homeowners keep serving dishes, wineglasses and fine china. The couple renovated this space before tackling the kitchen.
Wall paint: Guilford Green, Benjamin Moore
Wall paint: Guilford Green, Benjamin Moore
The remodel expanded the size of the window over the kitchen sink so that it’s now closer to the countertop. Classic Shaker cabinets with polished-chrome pulls honor the age and traditional feel of the home. To the left of the apron-front sink, Smith placed a trash pullout, and to the right, a dishwasher.
The backsplash is composed of rectangular glass tile in yellow-green and white (the white tiles look blue in the photos). The countertop is engineered quartz, made to look like marble.
Smith chose not to put many organizing features in the cabinets, because even though they can be helpful, they take up space. She squeezed more cabinet space out of the room by raising the cabinets to the 8-foot ceiling.
Browse glass tile in the Houzz Shop
The backsplash is composed of rectangular glass tile in yellow-green and white (the white tiles look blue in the photos). The countertop is engineered quartz, made to look like marble.
Smith chose not to put many organizing features in the cabinets, because even though they can be helpful, they take up space. She squeezed more cabinet space out of the room by raising the cabinets to the 8-foot ceiling.
Browse glass tile in the Houzz Shop
Smith had window treatments custom-made in a zesty pattern that incorporates royal blue, teal, yellow and green. This window looks out over the driveway, and the homeowners wanted to be able to see people pulling up. Keeping the top half of the window bare also lets in more light.
On the left side of the refrigerator, which is surrounded by cabinetry paneling, Smith mounted two bright blue pot racks that echo the cobalt of the cabinets in the butler’s pantry.
On the left side of the refrigerator, which is surrounded by cabinetry paneling, Smith mounted two bright blue pot racks that echo the cobalt of the cabinets in the butler’s pantry.
The stove-and-microwave wall is opposite the morning coffee peninsula. One of the drawers contains a spice rack to keep these items organized.
Notice in this photo that the pendant light’s canopy (which is the part that is flush with the ceiling) echoes the shape of the cup pulls on the lower cabinets.
“We wanted to create a modern space that was good for their family” while melding the new space with the older traditional Colonial-style home, Smith says.
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“We wanted to create a modern space that was good for their family” while melding the new space with the older traditional Colonial-style home, Smith says.
More on Houzz
Read more kitchen design stories and guides
Find a pro
Shop for products
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple
Size: 156 square feet (14 square meters)
Location: Princeton, Massachusetts
Designer: Gia Milazzo Smith of Designs by Gia Interior Design and Renovation
This kitchen is in an 1800s home and had not been updated since the early 1980s. The homeowners wanted more cabinet and countertop space — and a place where they could sit and drink their morning coffee. Designer Gia Milazzo Smith of Designs by Gia Interior Design and Renovation took the kitchen through a full renovation.
Smith faced a number of spatial constraints: There are three doorways plus a couple of windows in the room. Also, the house has old radiators that she needed to work around.
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