A Kitchen Design with True Texas Roots

Designer: Stacie Fox
Project Name: Meaux Kitchen & Hood

The styling for this home is best described as a traditional Texas ranch style home. In the small town of Winnie, Texas along the winding country roads the one story home stands set back on cattle land. The home has been in the family through 3 generations just recently being passed on to its current owners.

Having just inherited the home the homeowners began an update of the kitchen removing the 70’s styling and replacing it with a more livable design. Capturing the spirit of many family memories and traditions was extremely important so care was taken to retain some of the original layout of the space.

(Pictured: The Meaux Family, homewoners)

The homeowner has an affinity for design and had begun her search online leading her to the Crystal cabinet line. Having already solidified some of her ideas we had a great starting point for her kitchen design. The main requirements of the project included:
• Clean, light color with a distinct contrast element
• A detailed focal point
• Ample storage
• Designated baking area

The kitchen, opening to the great room, is lit by large bay windows opening to the cattle fields allowing a large amount of ambient light into the kitchen. To capitalize on the bright feeling of the area we chose the Van Dyke brushing on frosty white. To minimize the visual noise of multiple stainless appliances we used panels applied on (1) 36” Sub Zero Fridge, (2) “27 Sub Zero freezers, (1) dishwasher, (1) double drawer dishwasher and warming drawer. The homeowner was also in love with the idea of a contrasting color element which took shape in Knotty Alder Blackstone stain.

As the detailed focal point in the kitchen, the hood is the main use of the contrast color making it stand out from the surround cabinets. The hood is centered over a “60 Wolf range, the only stainless appliance in the kitchen. Starting and ending with detailing including torus assembly to the panels the 10 foot span of the hood dominates the interest of the kitchen achieving the detailed focal point.

A small bar was located in the far right of the kitchen outside of the work triangle. To pull it back into the kitchen we again used the contrast color, Knotty Alder Blackstone stain and wrapped the support beam with solid stock materials. Adding decorative baseboard and crown we highlighted the bar as an accent area.

Because the homeowner has 3 young boys she needs to keep a fully stock kitchen which requires more storage than previously existed. To achieve this we reserved an entire wall for pantries including rollouts with one featuring can rack shelves for easy access.

For this family cooking is a major activity, more specifically baking. We decide to create a designated baking area which included a drop down in the island to 28 1/2” which allows the homeowner to roll cookies and breads with the help of her younger sons. For storage and access we incorporated a pop up mixer shelf and tray dividers for cookie sheets on both sides of the preparation area. We also placed both the warming drawer and the microwave drawer within reach under counter along the island.

In the end the homeowner is extremely happy with the work flow and open feel of her kitchen. As everyone congregates around the island bar we know the design elements and solutions all came together.

BEFORE

AFTER