Bayou Kitchen
Contemporary Kitchen, Miami
This new home is a study in eclectic contrasts. The client loves modern design yet still wanted to blend a bit of her southern traditional heritage into the overall feel of her new home. The goal and challenge was to combine functionality in a large space with unique details that spoke to the client’s love of artisitic creativity and rich materials.
With 14 foot ceilings the challenge was to not let the kitchen space “underwhelm” the rest of the open floor plan as the kitchen, dining and great room all are part of the larger footprint. To this end, we designed a modern enclosure that allowed additional height and heft to help balance the “weight” of the kitchen with the other areas.
The long island designed for entertaining features a custom designed iron “table” housing the microwave drawer and topped with a checkboard endgrain cherry and walnut wood top. This second “island” is part of the rich details that define the kitchen.
The upper cabinets have unusual triple ring iron inserts, again, designed for the unexpected use of material richness..along with the antique mirror rather than glass as the background.
The platter rack on the end of the left side elevation also replicates the iron using it for the dowels.
The panels on the Subzero refrigerator are crafted from burled walnut veneer chosen to echo the browns and blacks throughout much of the furnishings.
The client did not want or need a large range as we planned a second ancillary oven for the pantry/laundry space around the corner. When I pointed out the capacity of the Wolf 36 inch range was actually larger than a 30 inch oven, it sealed the deal for only one oven in the main cooking center. We did not want the cooking area to be dwarfed however, so used a custom black cold rolled steel hood that is 60 inches long. The panels on the Sub Zero refrigerator are another blend of eclectic materials.
Along the left side cabinetry where the cabinets die into the wall, we chose to run the calcutta gold marble 4x16 stone up the wall and utilize thick glass shelves for some visual interest in this corner. Also, this corner would be tough to access with doors. I liked the prep sink area to feel open and airy as well.
This beautiful kitchen is quite unique that combines functionality in a large space with one of a kind details!
Sink in island or peninsula???