The Problem: A small, closed-off kitchen
1 of 1Typical ranch kitchen
Ranch kitchen before remodeling
Looking to simplify their life, Bruce and Mary
Jane Pappas decided to trade their 1905 Victorian
home for one that demanded less upkeep.
They found this late-'50s ranch-style home in a
Minneapolis suburb and moved in about 18 years ago.
Ranch-style homes, also known as ramblers in
some parts of the country, have many features that
attract today's home buyers. They're usually structurally
and mechanically sound, and their characteristic
low-pitched roof with wide overhangs protects
the windows and siding and keeps exterior maintenance
to a minimum. The slim ranch-style trim is
easy to match or reproduce and goes well with popular
modern and retro cabinetry and furnishings.
One drawback, however, is that the small enclosed
spaces in the typical ranch floor plan are usually out
of step with today's lifestyles, which favor more open
space and informality. So when Bruce and Mary Jane
decided to remodel the kitchen, their main goal was
to rework the floor plan to combine the cooking and
socializing areas, and to do this without destroying
the features that make their house unique.
Solution 1: Open the kitchen to living area
Rather than thinking about a kitchen
remodel as an isolated project, Mary Jane,
who owns a design firm, worked out a
plan that reconfigured the entry, the living
room, the dining room and the kitchen.
She decided to remove the wall between
the kitchen and living room. This would
provide a great view of the wooded backyard
through the wall of glass in the living
room, and create a wide-open space for
family members and guests to chat with
the cook without getting underfoot.
With the wall removed, the original
doors on each end of the kitchen became
extraneous. Mary Jane took advantage of
the old doorjamb and trim in the entry to
create a unique mirrored boot bench (See “Solution 3” below). On the opposite side of the kitchen,
covering the doorway allowed for the conversion
of the old dining room into a cozy
media niche. This also accomplished a
secondary goal of getting the TV out of
the living room. Leaving the existing walls
in place—with the exception of the new
opening into the living room—allowed
Pappas to save the original stone entry
floor and eliminated the expense and
waste of unnecessary tear-out.
New kitchen and living area
Kitchen After Remodeling
Before remodeling, the kitchen was barely big enough for one cook. With the wall
removed and the traffic rerouted, the new configuration has plenty of space for two
cooks and guests at the table.
Kitchen Floor Plans
The “Before” and “After” floor plans show how removing a wall allowed for a better use of kitchen space.
Solution 2: Honor the '50s ranch style
When the Pappases moved into their late-'50s ranch-style home, Mary Jane was
itching to tear out or paint over the dated
golden-birch woodwork. But since she
and her husband were both busy with
careers, kids and projects in other parts of
the house at the time, they put off the
remodeling of the kitchen and the surrounding
areas until recently.
The delay was serendipitous. The
Pappases grew to appreciate the beauty of
the old wood. And Mary Jane realized that
what she really disliked wasn't the woodwork,
but the bland, neutral surfaces
around it. So when it came time to
remodel, rather than rip out the simple
ranch-style moldings and solid tongue-and-groove paneling in the living room,
Mary Jane designed their new kitchen
to honor the '50s aesthetic.
The contemporary design of the
birch cabinet fronts complements the
style and color of the original doors and
the uncomplicated millwork. The new
black-lacquered cabinets at the end of
each run of wall cabinets and on the
island add a modern flair and help balance
the design. The builder saved the
original tongue-and-groove wainscoting
and moldings from the wall tear-out
and wrapped them around the
opening into the kitchen, adding to the
impression that these rooms were
always this way. Even the new kitchen
windows are trimmed with the original
moldings.
Custom cabinets, built-in microwave and oven
Custom cabinets with roll-out trays and appliance garage
Combining '50s Style With Custom Design
The advantage of custom cabinetry is apparent in this section
of the kitchen. The narrow vertical cabinet to the right
of the built-in oven and microwave is shallower than the
rest of the cabinetry to accommodate the furnace flue that
runs behind it. But the super-efficient rollout shelving makes
up for the lack of depth. Above the microwave, slanting
vertical dividers allow easy access to baking sheets and
shallow dishes. Rollout trays, mounted on full-extension
slides, let you easily reach the stuff in back, and they're carefully
spaced to allow just enough room for standard-size
cans and boxes. A spacious appliance garage, accessible
from the side, is cleverly hidden behind the blank panel.
Oven: Wolf SO30U/S, subzero.com
Microwave: Wolf MW24, subzero.com
Solution 3: Add custom and modern features
The cork flooring in the kitchen is a
throwback to the '50s and '60s. Cork
flooring, a sustainable building product,
feels soft and warm underfoot,
making it a good choice for a kitchen.
You do have to exercise caution, however,
because standing water can cause the
edges to swell. Cork flooring is available
in several different grain patterns
depending on how it's cut, and you can
choose from several stain colors. The
burgundy-stained cork tiles in this
kitchen were glued down to a smooth
underlayment and finished with several
coats of water-based floor finish.
Cork floor: Duro-Design Barriga, burgundy, duro-design.com
Wine cooler: Subzero 427, subzero.com
Custom-Fit Boot Bench
Rather than tear out the solid birch doorjamb
and casings between the old entry and the
kitchen, Mary Jane designed a curved bench to
fit the opening and then mounted a custom
beveled-glass mirror where the door used to be.
The bench and mirror provide a handy place for
visitors to remove boots and shoes and spruce
up before entering the main living area.
Elegant Angled Rollout
To avoid the expense of rebuilding
the original window bay,
Mary Jane opted to simply
install shorter windows that
allowed the countertop to run
underneath. However, this left a
space between the window and
the wall that was too narrow for
conventional wall cabinets. The
solution was to reduce the depth
of the wall cabinets with an
angled transition. But rather
than let this space go to waste,
Mary Jane designed a vertical
rollout cabinet with an angled
front. It's a great place to store
spices and other small containers.
Modern faucet and filtered water and soap dispensers
Modern Sink Amenities
This efficient sink puts everything
you need within easy reach. First in
line is the air switch that operates
the garbage disposer. Depressing
the button pushes a column of air
that activates a switch located
under the sink. This setup keeps the
switch handy without cluttering the
backsplash with another switch. No
one will accidentally turn on the disposer
thinking it's a light. The pullout
faucet spout next to the air
switch doubles as a sprayer, leaving
space for the soap dispenser and
filtered-water faucet on the right.
Faucet: KWC Suprimo, stainless steel finish, kwcamerica.com
Drinking water faucet: Mountain Plumbing MT630, stainless steel finish, mountainplumbing.com
Disposer and air switch: Insinkerator Evolution Excel with SinkTop Switch, insinkerator.com
Wiring hidden under upper cabinets
Neat and Tidy Concealed Wiring
False bottoms in the wall cabinets
provide a hidden route for the low voltage
puck light wiring. During
construction, the electrician left a
few feet of precisely positioned
low-voltage wire sticking out of the
wall. Then the cabinetmaker cut
holes for the recessed pucks before
hanging the cabinets, allowing the
electrician to fish the wires through
the cavity to wire the lights.
