The owners of a charming home in the hills west of Paso Robles recently decided to remodel their not-so-charming kitchen. Referred to San Luis Kitchen by several of their friends, the homeowners visited our showroom and soon decided we were the best people to design a kitchen fitting the style of their home. We were delighted to get to work on the project right away. When we arrived at the house, we found a small, cramped and out-dated kitchen. The ceiling was low, the cabinets old fashioned and painted a stark dead white, and the best view in the house was neglected in a seldom-used breakfast nook (sequestered behind the kitchen peninsula). This kitchen was also handicapped by white tile counters with dark grout, odd-sized and cluttered cabinets, and small ‘desk’ tacked on to the side of the oven cabinet. Due to a marked lack of counter space & inadequate storage the homeowner had resorted to keeping her small appliances on a little cart parked in the corner and the garbage was just sitting by the wall in full view of everything! On the plus side, the kitchen opened into a nice dining room and had beautiful saltillo tile floors. Mrs. Homeowner loves to entertain and often hosts dinner parties for her friends. She enjoys visiting with her guests in the kitchen while putting the finishing touches on the evening’s meal. Sadly, her small kitchen really limited her interactions with her guests – she often felt left out of the mix at her own parties! This savvy homeowner dreamed big – a new kitchen that would accommodate multiple workstations, have space for guests to gather but not be in the way, and maybe a prettier transition from the kitchen to the dining (wine service area or hutch?) – while managing the remodel budget by reusing some of her major appliances and keeping (patching as needed) her existing floors. Responding to the homeowner’s stated wish list and the opportunities presented by the home's setting and existing architecture, the designers at San Luis Kitchen decided to expand the kitchen into the breakfast nook using Wood-Mode cabinetry. This change allowed the work area to be reoriented to take advantage of the great view – we replaced the existing window and added another while moving the door to gain space. A second sink and set of refrigerator drawers (housing fresh fruits & veggies) were included for the convenience of this mainly vegetarian cook – her prep station. The clean-up area now boasts a farmhouse style single bowl sink – adding to the ‘cottage’ charm. We located a new gas cook-top between the two workstations for easy access from each. Also tucked in here is a pullout trash/recycle cabinet for convenience and additional drawers for storage. Running parallel to the work counter we added a long butcher-block island with easy-to-access open shelves for the avid cook and seating for friendly guests placed just right to take in the view. A counter-top garage is used to hide excess small appliances. Glass door cabinets and open shelves are now available to display the owners beautiful dishware. The microwave was placed inconspicuously on the end of the island facing the refrigerator – easy access for guests (and extraneous family members) to help themselves to drinks and snacks while staying out of the cook’s way. We also moved the pantry storage away from the dining room (putting it on the far wall and closer to the work triangle) and added a furniture-like hutch in its place allowing the more formal dining area to flow seamlessly into the up-beat work area of the kitchen. This space is now also home (opposite wall) to an under counter wine refrigerator, a liquor cabinet and pretty glass door wall cabinet for stemware storage – meeting Mr. Homeowner’s desire for a bar service area. And then the aesthetic: an old-world style country cottage theme. The homeowners wanted the kitchen to have a warm feel while still loving the look of white cabinetry. San Luis Kitchen melded country-casual knotty pine base cabinets with vintage hand-brushed creamy white wall cabinets to create the desired cottage look. We also added bead board and mullioned glass doors for charm, used an inset doorstyle on the cabinets for authenticity, and mixed stone and wood counters to create an eclectic nuance in the space. All in all, the happy homeowners now boast a charming county cottage kitchen with plenty of space for entertaining their guests while creating gourmet meals to feed them.

The Spanish missions of colonial California inspired the design of this house located on a 5-1/2 acre site above Pacifica. The boomerang-shaped plan allowed us to provide views of the Pacific Ocean from every room in the house. Because the house is very wide relative to its depth, the façade of the house has a sense of grandness in spite of its relatively modest 3,500 square foot area. A central cupola, Doric columns, round windows and clay tile roofs are among the primary features of the formal, entry side of this house. Light from clerestory windows animates the double height entry, kitchen and children’s bedrooms. The Douglas Fir front doors were sand blasted to raise the grain, for a touch of rusticity. Kitchen counters are pigmented cast-in-place concrete. The floors include wood and stamped concrete simulating Saltillo tiles.

Caroline Gray

Another view of this kitchen showing the granite pattern better. The homeowner designed the kitchen around the granite colors.

This 2400 sq. ft. home rests at the very beginning of the high mesa just outside of Taos. To the east, the Taos valley is green and verdant fed by rivers and streams that run down from the mountains, and to the west the high sagebrush mesa stretches off to the distant Brazos range. The house is sited to capture the high mountains to the northeast through the floor to ceiling height corner window off the kitchen/dining room.The main feature of this house is the central Atrium which is an 18 foot adobe octagon topped with a skylight to form an indoor courtyard complete with a fountain. Off of this central space are two offset squares, one to the east and one to the west. The bedrooms and mechanical room are on the west side and the kitchen, dining, living room and an office are on the east side. The house is a straw bale/adobe hybrid, has custom hand dyed plaster throughout with Talavera Tile in the public spaces and Saltillo Tile in the bedrooms. There is a large kiva fireplace in the living room, and a smaller one occupies a corner in the Master Bedroom. The Master Bathroom is finished in white marble tile. The separate garage is connected to the house with a triangular, arched breezeway with a copper ceiling.

Phil Bell

R

up-close look at the eclectic tile work behind the range. Even the size tiles vary

This 2400 sq. ft. home rests at the very beginning of the high mesa just outside of Taos. To the east, the Taos valley is green and verdant fed by rivers and streams that run down from the mountains, and to the west the high sagebrush mesa stretches off to the distant Brazos range. The house is sited to capture the high mountains to the northeast through the floor to ceiling height corner window off the kitchen/dining room.The main feature of this house is the central Atrium which is an 18 foot adobe octagon topped with a skylight to form an indoor courtyard complete with a fountain. Off of this central space are two offset squares, one to the east and one to the west. The bedrooms and mechanical room are on the west side and the kitchen, dining, living room and an office are on the east side. The house is a straw bale/adobe hybrid, has custom hand dyed plaster throughout with Talavera Tile in the public spaces and Saltillo Tile in the bedrooms. There is a large kiva fireplace in the living room, and a smaller one occupies a corner in the Master Bedroom. The Master Bathroom is finished in white marble tile. The separate garage is connected to the house with a triangular, arched breezeway with a copper ceiling.

This 2400 sq. ft. home rests at the very beginning of the high mesa just outside of Taos. To the east, the Taos valley is green and verdant fed by rivers and streams that run down from the mountains, and to the west the high sagebrush mesa stretches off to the distant Brazos range. The house is sited to capture the high mountains to the northeast through the floor to ceiling height corner window off the kitchen/dining room.The main feature of this house is the central Atrium which is an 18 foot adobe octagon topped with a skylight to form an indoor courtyard complete with a fountain. Off of this central space are two offset squares, one to the east and one to the west. The bedrooms and mechanical room are on the west side and the kitchen, dining, living room and an office are on the east side. The house is a straw bale/adobe hybrid, has custom hand dyed plaster throughout with Talavera Tile in the public spaces and Saltillo Tile in the bedrooms. There is a large kiva fireplace in the living room, and a smaller one occupies a corner in the Master Bedroom. The Master Bathroom is finished in white marble tile. The separate garage is connected to the house with a triangular, arched breezeway with a copper ceiling.