Kitchen of the Week: Backsplash Dazzles in Green Geometric Tile
A designer helps a growing family function better at home with a new kitchen, mudroom and dining room bar
About a year after moving into their 1957 ranch house in Edina, Minnesota, these homeowners were expecting their first child. The home’s cramped and closed-off kitchen wasn’t going to cut it for the growing family, so, working with interior designer Emily Pueringer and Quality Cut Design | Remodel, the couple added about 300 square feet of kitchen space onto the home, opened it up to the dining room and transformed most of the old kitchen into a mudroom. The new spaces are bright, functional and playful, with an eye-catching green geometric backsplash tile complemented by hickory and brass details.
After: All of the space seen here is in the addition.
The kitchen needed to fit in with the 1950s ranch home’s architecture but also suit the homeowners’ personal style. Tired of their dark kitchen and dining room, they craved light. White cabinets, windows, glass doors and a mix of recessed, pendant and undercabinet lights keep things bright. Brass pendant lights add shine to the kitchen, while custom hickory on the island and open shelving add a warm, natural touch.
Browse brass pendant lights in the Houzz Shop
The kitchen needed to fit in with the 1950s ranch home’s architecture but also suit the homeowners’ personal style. Tired of their dark kitchen and dining room, they craved light. White cabinets, windows, glass doors and a mix of recessed, pendant and undercabinet lights keep things bright. Brass pendant lights add shine to the kitchen, while custom hickory on the island and open shelving add a warm, natural touch.
Browse brass pendant lights in the Houzz Shop
Pueringer created a space with transitional style that nods to the past in a fresh way. The brilliant green mosaic backsplash tile by local company Mercury Mosaics and Tile provided the jumping-off point.
“They were ready to be bold. I took them on a field trip to Mercury Mosaics to tour the factory and finalize the color and shape of their tiles,” Pueringer says. The geometric pattern and bright color reflects the playfulness of midcentury modern style.
Backsplash tile: Mercury Mosaics and Tile
“They were ready to be bold. I took them on a field trip to Mercury Mosaics to tour the factory and finalize the color and shape of their tiles,” Pueringer says. The geometric pattern and bright color reflects the playfulness of midcentury modern style.
Backsplash tile: Mercury Mosaics and Tile
The large island anchors the kitchen and serves as eat-in and work space. It adds a handy surface between the sink, range and fridge (just out of frame to the right) within a work triangle.
On the work side of the kitchen, the island has deep drawers for pots and pans, a microwave drawer and two dishwasher drawers. The end seen here has a cabinet and the opposite end has open shelves for cookbooks.
Island paint: Country Squire, and trim paint: Snowbound, both Sherwin-Williams
On the work side of the kitchen, the island has deep drawers for pots and pans, a microwave drawer and two dishwasher drawers. The end seen here has a cabinet and the opposite end has open shelves for cookbooks.
Island paint: Country Squire, and trim paint: Snowbound, both Sherwin-Williams
The caramel leather counter stools play nicely off the hickory detail on the island.
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Hire a local general contractor
Two windows flanking the range let in natural light, at a height that provides privacy from the house next door. Pueringer installed open shelves around them to keep this area open, to add a touch of wood to the wall and to provide display space for favorite items.
This is the family’s black Lab, Trooper, who likes to be in the middle of the action.
This is the family’s black Lab, Trooper, who likes to be in the middle of the action.
The wood shelves have brass brackets to match the finishes on the lighting, hardware and faucet.
The countertops are Cambria quartz with marble-like veining. Keeping things low-maintenance was important to the young family, and the engineered material is harder and more durable than marble.
The faucet is brass and the sink is stainless steel.
The faucet is brass and the sink is stainless steel.
Green paint makes the island stand out from the rest of the kitchen cabinets. Hexagonal cabinet pulls play off the geometric backsplash tiles. All the cabinets in the kitchen have rollout shelves for easy access. And the drawers are outfitted with inserts for items such as utensils.
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Shop for cabinet pulls
Another important part of the project was improving access to the backyard. Before, the couple had to go all the way through the kitchen to reach a door. Now new sliding doors on the left side of the kitchen provide easy access. Combined with the two large windows, they bring lots of natural light into the kitchen.
A custom window seat takes advantage of the light from the windows on two sides. The bench top flips up for storage.
A custom window seat takes advantage of the light from the windows on two sides. The bench top flips up for storage.
Before: The dining room was cramped and dark, and the partial view of the kitchen wasn’t a pretty one.
After: The dining room remained in approximately the same space, but it’s now open to the kitchen. Chairs in an iconic 1950s shell shape suit the home’s vintage.
This is the view of the dining room and kitchen from the living room.
One of the challenges of the project was matching the charming original double-racetrack ceiling molding in the new layout. “We either needed to lose this 1950s detail or re-create it,” Pueringer says. Because it was an important architectural design detail, the team came up with a creative solution to replicate it. The carpenters used two layers of quarter-inch MDF and painted it to extend the molding seamlessly around the new spaces.
One of the challenges of the project was matching the charming original double-racetrack ceiling molding in the new layout. “We either needed to lose this 1950s detail or re-create it,” Pueringer says. Because it was an important architectural design detail, the team came up with a creative solution to replicate it. The carpenters used two layers of quarter-inch MDF and painted it to extend the molding seamlessly around the new spaces.
“These clients have a large extensive family they like to entertain. So they really wanted a bar for serving drinks,” Pueringer says. The built-ins make good use of a wall behind the basement stairs. It can serve as both bar and buffet. The location is convenient to the dining room, living room and kitchen.
Pueringer used the same materials on the bar that she used in the kitchen. The backsplash, shelves and anglepoise lights create a beautiful backdrop for wine glasses, bottles and copper accessories.
On the other side of the bar is the new mudroom space, which leads to the garage. The mudroom is approximately 10 by 5¾ feet. Another custom bench flips up for extra storage and has coat hooks above it. It’s a good spot to sit while taking off dirty shoes or boots.
Matching green cabinetry and brass hardware create a seamless look. The cabinets have adjustable shelves inside to accommodate all ages. Open shelves below hold shoes.
The flooring is a durable, low-maintenance porcelain hexagonal tile that can handle muddy footwear and paws.
The flooring is a durable, low-maintenance porcelain hexagonal tile that can handle muddy footwear and paws.
The mudroom floor tile spills into the kitchen in a playful way. “This was a much nicer solution than a dead stop between the two,” Pueringer says.
Installing this detail posed another challenge for the team. They first meticulously cut hexagonal plywood templates to save spots for the tiles when they installed the oak flooring. Then they replaced the plywood templates with the tile. They used metal Schluter Jolly edge trim pieces where the tile meets the wood.
Installing this detail posed another challenge for the team. They first meticulously cut hexagonal plywood templates to save spots for the tiles when they installed the oak flooring. Then they replaced the plywood templates with the tile. They used metal Schluter Jolly edge trim pieces where the tile meets the wood.
Before: The existing kitchen was wedged between the dining room and garage, and there was no mudroom. The old kitchen seen here is mostly mudroom space now.
After: The addition, at the top of the plan, extends into the backyard. Now the family has a generous-size mudroom between the kitchen and garage. And the addition provides a nice new backyard entrance, seen near the top left corner of the addition. Next on the family’s project list is a deck off the new entrance.
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More on Houzz
Read more kitchen stories
Browse kitchen photos
Hire a kitchen remodeler
Shop for kitchen products
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A young family
Location: Edina, Minnesota
Size: 366 square feet (34 square meters); 23¼ by 15¾ feet
Designer: Emily Pueringer Design Studio
Contractor: Quality Cut Design | Remodel
Before: This photo shows almost all of the existing kitchen. It was small and closed off from the other rooms. There wasn’t much room to prepare food or even rinse and dry baby bottles. The dark room to the left was the dining room.
The plans for the addition bumped the exterior wall out 13 feet into the backyard to create a new kitchen. The dining area remained in about the same place but is now open to the kitchen. The original kitchen space is now a mudroom off the garage.
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