One couple in the state of Washington, a lawyer and an IT professional, both in their 60s, purchased their Bellevue home for $227,500 in 1990 and had remodeled it twice since. But now, as seasoned grandparents, they hoped to overhaul the home once more to create space for their growing brood.
So they enlisted interior designer Richard Landon and his partner, Kirsten Conner, of KIRIC Collaborative Design for the redesign, with a special focus on the kitchen. The designers had recently done a home-remodeling project for the couple’s daughter.
The couple’s requirements included creating a warm atmosphere with wood tones and hints of blue and copper.
“During our first meeting in January 2020, they brought out a chunk of natural float copper from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where she grew up and he went to college. I was incredibly inspired by this large lump and it ultimately played a big role in informing the kitchen’s material palette,” says Conner.
She and Landon opted for a combination of mixed metals, warm woods, and faux concrete for the finishes to conjure a warm and welcoming air.
The designers treated the kitchen as an organic extension of the adjoining living room, maintaining strong sightlines and disguising the appliances as art. They framed the ovens and refrigerator in a ribbon of African mahogany and embedded the sink inside the custom stainless-steel counter.
The couple say the new kitchen is exactly the kind of gathering space they had envisioned for hosting their children and grandchildren.
