Urban Country

Near Denver's Cherry Creek neighborhood, a young family who relocated from their beloved sprawling ranch in the country wanted the kitchen of their new inner city Spanish Colonial-style home to exude some of the rural charm that they'd grown to appreciate. The insurance executive and stay-at-home mother who is also an avid runner, wanted the kitchen to accommodate their three children to do crafts where mom and her full-time housekeeper cook together almost every evening, be comfortable for entertaining family, friends and neighbors, and stylish enough for business functions. "The kitchen is about transition," explains Toney. "From country quiet to urban oasis, single cook to multiple cooks, and small family to growing." Toney's kitchen-centric arrangement encourages mingling and welcomes multiple cooks in a countrified contemporary aesthetic that's a real conversation-starter. The T-shape accommodates multiple cooks, convenient double warming drawers keep dishes hot until serving, and a spacious bar with Sub-Zero wine storage creates a staging ground for refreshment and cocktail mixing. A feature wall with Wolf double ovens, a Sub-Zero refrigerator and Sub-Zero freezer gets more wow factor from a row of square windows and glass tile above. "The appliances drove the design quite a bit, and I just kept playing off that," says Toney.