When it comes to the Baby Boomer crowd, sitting still is not in our fiber, and as we grow older, our passion for accomplishment and makeovers in our home never dies. This month’s feature remodel lives up to this thought and then some. I had met my clients years ago around the late 80’s when they decided to remodel their kitchen back then in their first home.

Their family was young and as it is still today, they were on the move with work and family activities. Four projects and many years later, they buy their fourth residence in Hingham and come back to me for more. Their kids are older now and out of the house with their own families but this doesn’t stop them from wanting to re-do this outdated oak kitchen of the 80’s.

When we sit down for the first time to discuss their thoughts on this new kitchen remodel, age plays a role in what we want and the decisions that we ultimately make. This home and layout are perfect for their new lifestyle. The kids do come home and visit for a week or two in the summers with their own kids now so function is very important for the new design. Entertaining with friends becomes very important also. The layout is your typical colonial home kitchen. It works well but needs a little tweaking for storage, function and style. That’s the beauty of aging, we require less but want the simple, classic ease and style to help calm down our hectic lives. The layout works so let’s keep it and make a few minor adjustments.

We start by moving the fridge a little closer to the sink so that we can add a tall pantry on the end. This serves two purposes. One, the extra storage that we need badly in our kitchen with some wonderful pullout drawers for easy access and two, it helps build in the fridge better and gives it a wonderful built in look. We then nix the round open shelves near the window that was so popular in the 80’s and increase the size of the wall cabinets for better storage. The appliance garage in the corner is also nixed to open up more counter space and to put a nice, small TV in the corner. We increased the length of the island and gave the stool area a more built in look so that it looked more like furniture with door panels on the ends. It’s amazing how different and rich looking the island is now with such a small change. We also bumped out the sink area 3″ to give it that break-front look and also give them more space to clean behind the faucets.

On the center wall of the kitchen sat the usual desk area that was common in kitchens back then. Nobody really wants a desk area in the kitchen anymore with the invention of smart phones and tablets. The island serves as the go-to space now for office/desk activity since the tablet was born. Nobody wants that paper clutter on a desk top anymore. We decided to replace the desk with a beautifully built in bar/storage area, more relevant to today’s lifestyle. Cabinets were also chosen to be built in to the ceiling for extra storage and to give it that built in look. Minor changes but major impact for their still hectic lifestyle.

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The cabinets chosen were Homecrest in the Hershing door style in a warm French Vanilla Opaque Painted finish. It’s a slight off white look that enhances their Transitional taste. The counter top chosen was Giallo Ornamental granite which warmed up the room and brought it all together. Beautiful subway tile on the main L-shape backsplash completed the look. A beautiful and contemporary glass tile splash was chosen just for the bar area to give the area a little modern flair that is so popular with today’s transitional look. Three old fashion pendant lights were placed over the island to match with the taste of the home.

This project is an example with how small change can transform a kitchen space. Accompany that with the look of today’s tastes and you have transformed your kitchen to enjoy for many more years to come. I really enjoyed this 4th project with them and believe that simple is the new lifestyle that we seek in our still ever busy lives. I wonder what our next project will be with my career clients? I can’t wait!

Bon Appetit!
Tim Holick