Photos by Brittany Fecteau

Kitchen at a Glance
Who uses it: A surgeon, her 9-year-old daughter and their cat
Location: Windham, New Hampshire
Size: 280 square feet (26 square meters)
Designer: Heather Alton of New England Design Elements

The owner of this house had a clear vision of the unfussy industrial style she wanted in her kitchen, where she planned to spend lots of time with her 9-year old daughter and friends.

“She did not care one bit about what was expected or what anyone would think of her design, which made it especially fun to work with her,” says interior designer Heather Alton.

Before: The ceiling beam marked the edge of the kitchen, which was cut off from the entry by a half wall that extended awkwardly above the countertop. No one used the coat closet behind the double doors. “This is a main entrance to the house, but everyone uses another prominent entrance by the garage, so that is where all of the coats go,” Alton says. “When I opened this closet, it was empty.”

Adding the metal drum pendant was one of the few things the homeowner had done to make the space feel the way she wanted it to. It provided Alton with some insight to her style.

After: Alton took the existing kitchen down to the studs, improved the overall flow and created a space that works well with the adjacent dining room. She used a mix of reclaimed wood, concrete-look floor tile, metal accents and open shelves hung by turnbuckles and cables to create a style reminiscent of a factory or warehouse while maintaining a warm and inviting vibe.

Now that the awkward half wall is gone, there is an open flow between the kitchen and the entry door.

The large door slides on a barn-door track. Alton had it made on-site to fit the space, finding the wood on Craigslist “from a salvager down by the river,” she says. Luckily, “I’m going to check out some beat-up wood from a guy I met on Craigslist down by the river” were not her last words, and Alton returned home with a pile of gorgeous salvaged lumber to use on the project.

She was hands-on with some of the customization, giving the diamond-shaped clear glass window an antique-mirror look using mirror spray paint, blue spray paint and black Rub ’n Buff. Cast-iron plumbing pipe serves as a heavy-duty door pull and towel bar.

L-Shaped Layout With a Large Island

The main kitchen is L-shaped with a traditional work triangle from sink to range to fridge and a large island that provides work and social space. Alton used reclaimed lumber from the same source as the door for the ends of the cabinet runs and the island.
For the floor, Alton chose large porcelain tiles digitally printed to look like concrete. “The tile color is through-body,” she says, meaning the color goes through the entire tile and isn’t just applied to the surface. “It’s so good, you cannot tell it’s digitally printed.”

Floor tile: Eleganza Tiles; wall sconce: Troy Lighting; Luna six-light bronze-and-gold chandelier: Crystorama

A Clever Budget-Saving Hood Plan

“A copper hood was on my client’s wish list, but it was a $10,000 expense,” Alton says. “When she said she wanted to settle on a $2,000 stainless steel one, I said, ‘Not on my watch!’” Alton, who knew her copper hood-loving client, believed that she would be disappointed if she took that route. When Alton spied glass copper tiles in her showroom, she knew she had a solution.

“This glass tile looked exactly like copper,” she says. “So we built a structure to put around the vent, tiled it with them, overlaid the metal straps and adorned them with acorn nuts that we also used elsewhere in the kitchen.” The custom vent hood cost about $3,000. It now serves as a stunning focal point and adds much to the kitchen’s warm feeling.

Tile: Alchemy Copper, Soho Studio; browse glass tile

The color of the island’s hardened leather counter stools picks up on the coppery tones of the vent hood. Their gold bases add another warm metallic finish. And if you look closely at the light fixtures, you’ll see glints of gold inside.

Stools: Blue Ocean Traders

Find leather and faux leather counter stools

An Island for Work and Play

The social side of the island is clearly delineated — its surface is fir flooring blocks that Alton composed into a counter on-site. The edges are wood painted black and ornamented with oversize industrial tacks. This brought metal up to the island’s surface.

Fir blocks: Kaswell Flooring Systems

The side of the island that faces the perimeter cabinetry offers a convenient surface to have across from the sink, stove and fridge. “There is a ton of storage in the island,” Alton says. “There is so much storage in this kitchen that I think they still have some empty cabinets.”

The designer had the shelves made on-site. She found that poplar was just the right shade of “not too dark, not too bright.” She hung the shelves from above with adjustable turnbuckles and cables that add to the industrial look. The bottom shelf is attached to the top shelf with half-inch threaded pipes. She stabilized them by sliding them into notches in the door casing on the left side and by screwing them into the cabinetry on the right side.

Now the owner and her daughter have a wonderful place to bake, hang out together and entertain their friends.

Takeaways

• Take time to find a designer who understands your vision.
• If you like clutter-free countertops, make plans for small appliance storage early on in the design process.
• Consider the scale when covering a large wall with tile; smaller tiles mean more grout lines and a busier look.
• Look for through-body color when shopping for digitally printed tile.
• Remember: It’s possible to get porcelain floor tile that people will swear is concrete.
• File away the photo of the vent hood with a note that says, “These are glass tiles!”