Brazilian Transitional

“I often talk about how I can go into a person’s closet and discover their level of comfort with color,” says Matthew, “as well as their level of formality. Here I accomplished the same thing by taking stock of my client’s dishes. She had some gorgeous gold wedding china, while everything else was either all white or crystal, so I used that for my inspiration.” In this whole house renovation, the architects had done a great job of locating the kitchen, so there were no walls to move. A designer had established a soothing and textural color palette in the rest of the house, with the selection of the wood and porcelain flooring, architectural hardware, and window and wall colors. Now it was up to Matthew to create a kitchen that would be not only a perfect environment for a resourceful cook, but also one that reflected her unique personality and sense of style. She was very specific about her cooking needs, right down to what kind and how many dishes she likes to keep close at hand, and what kind of spice containers she uses, so the right kind of storage was essential. The typical set-up of wall and floor cabinets seemed too commonplace. Matthew wanted something that would make a powerful, indelible impression. Instead of wall cabinets, he proposed a pair of storage columns nine feet tall, on opposite ends of a Wolf rangetop wall with a marble backsplash fully 12 feet wide –a grander backsplash than most of us have seen. Along with the white painted hood, the design has the desired show stopping effect, and the high columns provide far more usable storage than wall cabinets, with twice the depth.