Last fall Sally and I submitted a kitchen design for a design competition. It was quite a challenge as the kitchen needed to fulfill two functions – that of a functional kitchen on a day-to-day basis for a stone and marble supply/fabrication business as well as a demo/learning kitchen, where a chef could present cooking seminars to the public. Layered on top of those requirements was the requirement to show off the businesses product and capabilities, which was it’s fabrication capabilities. We KNEW that we had a design that would win! Sally and I were ready for our trip to Italy!!!! Sadly, the business closed its doors. And we will never know… We loved working with these guys. We were stunned, shocked and deeply saddened we heard the news. Our hopes and prayers are with them and that they will rise like a phoenix from the ashes.
As a way to honor and thank them for their years of support, Sally and I thought it would it appropriate to share our design submittal with you. The idea was simple. Set the kitchen (all Black Zimbabwee Granite) within the context of a quarry of White Carrara marble. (book and balance matched slabs on the floor and walls). They had developed a cool process where one could apply a stone veneer to an aluminum honeycomb substrate, which I had proposed for the drawer and cabinet door fronts, creating stone faced cabinetwork. They also worked with fused glass, which we proposed for most all the countertops, and we designed a cool bench, combining their stone and glass fabrication capabilities.
I have since dreamt that the kitchen design would fit wonderfully in to a penthouse on the top of a high rise building – one with a two story space overlooking some wonderfully long vista where there was nothing between you and Portugal, except the Atlantic Ocean and your imagination.
Any takers out there?
Learning Kitchen Design Perspective by John Kelsey
Proposed Kitchen Design Elevations
Schematic Kitchen Island Section
Custom Marble and Fused Glass Bench
Proposed Floor Plan
Proposed Lighting Plan
Schedule of Materials:
Floor: 3’ x 3’ White Carrara marble
Cabinets and Millwork: All exposed surfaces Black Zimbabwee granite on aluminum
Countertops: Island: Combination of Black Zimbabwee granite and fused glass
Other countertops: Fused glass
Walls behind Millwork and Cabinets: White Carrara marble slabs
All other walls: Paint
Sheetrock soffits at ceiling: painted sheetrock
Lighting: Combination of track, LED down lights and pendant fixtures
Doors: Paint grade hardwood
Bench: White Carrara marble and fused glass
