KUECHLE CONSTRUCTION CO.Est. 1974
Kitchen case study

Open-Concept Kitchen Transformation

A closed-off kitchen opened up into the center of the house. The family stopped orbiting around a narrow galley and started actually cooking, eating, and hanging out in the same room.

Sage-gray shaker kitchen with marble waterfall island, pendant lights, and subway-tile backsplash
Sage-gray shakers, marble waterfall island, and pendants that actually belong to this room.
Scope

Kitchen remodel: structural opening, full cabinetry, stone, appliances, lighting, and finish work.

Best fit for

Families whose kitchen is the right room for the house but the wrong layout for the people.

What it proves

Most kitchens are really a layout problem. Finish choices come after.

What we were solving

The old kitchen was in the right place but the wrong shape. A closed-off galley with no sight line to the rest of the house meant whoever was cooking was always by themselves. The layout was doing more to split the family up than bring it together.

The remodel opened the wall between the kitchen and the main living space, moved the range to an exterior wall for a proper hood vent, and added a long marble island that's big enough to actually work on.

What changed

Cabinet color went from dark oak to a soft sage-gray. Counters went to honed marble with real movement. Pendants replaced a single overhead fixture. The floor stayed: dark wide-plank that was in good shape and already fit the house.

Inside the kitchen

A few frames of the finished room.

Range wall, island, and the view back toward the deck.

Range wall with custom hood, subway tile, and built-in ovens in the island
Range wall
Custom hood on an exterior wall, induction cooktop in the island, and double ovens flush with the cabinetry.
Kitchen looking toward the back door with a view of the deck
Toward the deck
The new layout keeps the connection to the back of the house open, which changes how the kitchen feels on a summer night.
Close-up of cabinetry, subway tile, and the custom range hood
Detail
Hood, tile, and cabinetry proportion all tuned together so nothing competes with the island.
Sage-gray shaker kitchen with marble waterfall island seen from the main living space
From the main room
The view that didn't exist before. The cook and everyone else are finally in the same room.
What made it work

The layout got solved before the finishes got chosen.

Most kitchen remodels get in trouble when the finish conversation starts before the layout's settled. We opened the wall, located the range, and specified the island first. Paint, stone, and hardware came last, once we knew what room they were living in.