Bringing California Contemporary Style to Stoneham
Project: Contemporary Kitchen, Dining Room and Mudroom remodel in Stoneham, MA (#ProjectModernCape)
When our clients moved to Massachusetts from the San Francisco Bay area, the first item on their to-do list was a new home purchase. The young couple found a charming fixer-upper Cape-style house in Stoneham, and reached out to us for help with a kitchen and mudroom remodel before moving in.
While working through the design process for the kitchen, aiming to infuse a sleek, contemporary aesthetic into the space, our team took over the entire home to get started on other improvements, including a new radiant heat system set under refinished hardwood floors, lighting and electrical upgrades, and fresh paint throughout. There wasn’t an inch of the house untouched, and we were so happy to help these wonderful clients – who eloped in Las Vegas during the project! – settle into New England and the next chapter of their lives. Long live the Modern Cape!
The previous kitchen layout was a cramped U-shape, with the refrigerator taking up a lot of precious room, so we redesigned the cabinetry to move the refrigerator into the previous dining room, elongating the entire kitchen and dining space. The new L-shape layout allowed for a small workstation island to be added to the kitchen, providing more countertop surface and improving functionality.
The window over the kitchen sink remained the same size, but was replaced with a streamlined black vinyl sliding window, framing the view to the wooded backyard.
The mix of materials and finishes creates a crisp, California-contemporary vibe. On the slab-style cabinetry, we selected rift-sawn white oak for the base cabinets, and a moody hunter green painted finish for the wall cabinets, hood vent enclosure and workstation island.
To the cabinetry, we then layered on elements of black, white and brass: bright quartz countertops (with two sleek waterfall edges), matte black hardware and fixtures, and moody, textured backsplash tile.
The gorgeous backsplash tile was a bold choice, but envelopes the space in coziness instead of overpowering it. For a minimal, modern detail, we wrapped the tile into the window instead of installing traditional wood casing.
As part of the remodel, we buried the frame of a load-bearing wall between the kitchen and dining room, which allowed for flush ceilings and smooth walls, creating an open-concept flow between cooking and dining spaces.
The pantry and refrigerator wall marries the white oak and painted finishes, creating a two-tone effect. The custom pantry cabinet was designed with pocket doors that recede into the cabinet, so that our clients can leave the cabinet open as an active coffee/tea bar atop the stone countertop inside.
Chock-full of functional storage, there are four rollout shelves for pantry items below the countertop, and half-depth shelves above. This was a fun and intricate piece to design for this project!
Opposite the refrigerator and pantry sits the dining table, tucked against an oversized built-in bench, complete with storage drawers below. The sconces from the kitchen continue around the room, flanking the black-vinyl window at the dining table, and a lovely brass-and-glass pendant light anchors the seating area.
A close-up of the beautiful pantry cabinet, sitting where the framed wall used to dissect the old kitchen and dining room!
As part of this whole-home project, we installed a radiant heat flooring system underneath refinished (sanded, stained and polyurethaned) hardwood floors, and also gave the entire interior a fresh paint job.
On the other side of the refrigerator sits an ancillary serving area, bridged to the kitchen with the same backsplash tile and a second stone waterfall leg. Additional drawers and floating shelves provide even more storage and display opportunities. Here we installed the same light fixture as in the kitchen and dining room, but in a horizontal orientation.
The combination of white oak, matte black and dark green, accented in the warm glow of that gorgeous sconce, is pure perfection (in our humble opinion!).
We widened another load-bearing wall so that the kitchen is now much more open to the sunken mudroom and driveway entry door, where our clients come in and out of the house on a daily basis. Previously there was a hinged door separating the mudroom, and the refrigerator blocked this side of the kitchen.
We designed a simple but elegant bench and cabinetry installation to serve as a landing area in the mudroom, complete with closed cabinet storage, open cubbies and hooks for hanging jackets and bags. Here the cabinetry is a black painted finish, accented with white oak, to nod to the backsplash tile in the adjacent kitchen.
All of the base cabinets in the kitchen’s perimeter are full-height slab doors, including the paneled dishwasher, which creates an uncluttered aesthetic, and allows the linear grain of the rift-cut white oak to shine.
The induction cooktop and wall oven are seamlessly integrated into the adjacent cabinetry and quartz countertop.
Too many beautiful details to count! Each of our projects is a culmination of hard work and precision by our highly skilled team members and sub-contractors.
We are so proud to show off this project! We had a blast designing these unique spaces and bringing them to life for our clients, newlyweds and new residents of Massachusetts. We hope they enjoy many wonderful moments in their new home together for many years to come!
Enjoy a walk-through video with our designer, Jenni Jacobs, to appreciate the transformation of #ProjectModernCape!
