Kitchen of the Week: Dark Space Gets a Bright Makeover
A designer found on Houzz introduces light and better flow in a California kitchen, while also focusing on wellness
These homeowners in Pasadena, California, were looking to improve their kitchen by updating everything in it and making smarter use of the space. The 1977 home had undergone a previous remodel that didn’t meet their needs. They turned to Houzz for help and found Soul Interiors Design. Owner and principal designer Gail Jamentz worked with the couple to tranform the dark and dated kitchen, creating better flow and adding wellness features.
After: The kitchen went from cramped and dark to open, light and bright with improved lighting and the removal of the dropped soffits and the wall separating the space from the dining area. Jamentz also had her team remove the space-hogging peninsula and replace it with a multifunctional 10-foot island. New cream-colored quartz countertops and custom white oak cabinets with ribbed panels also lighten the look and add textural interest.
The counter stools in synthetic rattan bring in some texture and the dark legs echo the cabinet hardware color. Jamentz reupholstered the counter stools in a faux leather to work with the room palette.
Her team wove in new engineered hardwood flooring for an exact match with the existing floor. “It took the flooring subcontractor quite a while to find the exact match, but luckily he did, and it is nearly impossible to detect where the old floor meets the new,” Jamentz says.
“Aesthetically engineered hardwood flooring is a wonderful choice for kitchen floors, as there is a wide variety of wood species and stain colors to choose from, and it is much softer to stand on when cooking or doing the dishes than a hard surface such as porcelain tile,” she says. “That said, if you have a very active household with pets and kids, preengineered floors might not be the best choice because it can scratch easily.”
Jamentz focused on wellness by helping improve air quality and refrigeration and adding healthy steam cooking. “In this project, our solution was to create a wellness-centric kitchen that provides the opportunity to cook nutritious meals, feel more energetic due to increased daylight, enjoy filtered water on demand, breathe cleaner indoor air, entertain with ease, recycle and compost effortlessly and feel organized through personalized storage solutions,” she says.
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The counter stools in synthetic rattan bring in some texture and the dark legs echo the cabinet hardware color. Jamentz reupholstered the counter stools in a faux leather to work with the room palette.
Her team wove in new engineered hardwood flooring for an exact match with the existing floor. “It took the flooring subcontractor quite a while to find the exact match, but luckily he did, and it is nearly impossible to detect where the old floor meets the new,” Jamentz says.
“Aesthetically engineered hardwood flooring is a wonderful choice for kitchen floors, as there is a wide variety of wood species and stain colors to choose from, and it is much softer to stand on when cooking or doing the dishes than a hard surface such as porcelain tile,” she says. “That said, if you have a very active household with pets and kids, preengineered floors might not be the best choice because it can scratch easily.”
Jamentz focused on wellness by helping improve air quality and refrigeration and adding healthy steam cooking. “In this project, our solution was to create a wellness-centric kitchen that provides the opportunity to cook nutritious meals, feel more energetic due to increased daylight, enjoy filtered water on demand, breathe cleaner indoor air, entertain with ease, recycle and compost effortlessly and feel organized through personalized storage solutions,” she says.
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Before: This floor plan of the existing kitchen shows the wall with the range that was later removed.
After: The wall separating the kitchen from the dining area was removed, opening up the space. There’s a new double oven on one wall and an induction cooktop in the newly installed island. “Since the house has a slab-on-grade foundation, as opposed to a raised foundation, we had to trench inside the concrete slab and move the electric to the new island location to accommodate a new induction cooktop on the island,” Jamentz says.
Before: The kitchen had space and lighting limitations due to the awkward peninsula and small window.
After: This is a slightly different view from the “before” photo above, but it shows how removing the wall with the stove opened up the kitchen to the dining area. The larger window brings in more light, and removing the soffits raised the ceiling in the kitchen and dining area to 8 feet. Jamentz chose Cottage White paint from Dunn-Edwards, in a satin finish for the walls and a flat finish on the ceiling.
To improve indoor air quality, the team added a HEPA filtration system to the home’s existing heating and cooling system, as well as sleek new air return grilles, which can be seen on the ceiling in this photo. “We added a HEPA filtration system to their HVAC system to help capture more dust, pollen, smoke, bacteria, etc. to improve our client’s indoor air quality and help mitigate allergies,” Jamentz says. “We also changed out their old-school HVAC grilles to sleek linear units that complement the new design aesthetic.”
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To improve indoor air quality, the team added a HEPA filtration system to the home’s existing heating and cooling system, as well as sleek new air return grilles, which can be seen on the ceiling in this photo. “We added a HEPA filtration system to their HVAC system to help capture more dust, pollen, smoke, bacteria, etc. to improve our client’s indoor air quality and help mitigate allergies,” Jamentz says. “We also changed out their old-school HVAC grilles to sleek linear units that complement the new design aesthetic.”
New to home remodeling? Learn the basics
Jamentz added to the kitchen’s bright feel with new custom rift-cut white oak cabinetry with durable maple plywood interiors. She chose full-extension drawers, soft-close hinges and adjustable shelves. Inside the cabinets, Rev-A-Shelf components provide easy access to pots, pans and other essentials.
There’s a coffee station in the cabinet next to the Thermador double oven, and next to that is a pantry with Hafele rollout shelving. A panel-ready 36-inch-wide Sub-Zero refrigerator sits behind a cabinet with a ribbed surface.
The countertops are Caesarstone Statuario Nuvo. “We liked the creamy white background of this quartz and the subtle warm veining, as it complemented our custom white oak cabinets well,” Jamentz says. “We felt the ubiquitous Calacatta-inspired quartz look, which has cool undertones and larger, dramatic veining, would not be the right direction for this soft, modern space.” The new island contains an energy-efficient Thermador induction cooktop and steam oven.
Pro tip: Jamentz advises taking plenty of time to plan out what will go where when remodeling a kitchen. “We spent a lot of time in the beginning analyzing exactly what would be placed in each drawer and cabinet to make sure the space would be as functional as possible,” she says. “We measured, counted items and measured again so everything had a place. I would encourage future remodelers to really take their time during the planning phase of their project. It is easy to get distracted by eye-catching tile or beautiful paint colors, but really the secret sauce is functionality first.”
There’s a coffee station in the cabinet next to the Thermador double oven, and next to that is a pantry with Hafele rollout shelving. A panel-ready 36-inch-wide Sub-Zero refrigerator sits behind a cabinet with a ribbed surface.
The countertops are Caesarstone Statuario Nuvo. “We liked the creamy white background of this quartz and the subtle warm veining, as it complemented our custom white oak cabinets well,” Jamentz says. “We felt the ubiquitous Calacatta-inspired quartz look, which has cool undertones and larger, dramatic veining, would not be the right direction for this soft, modern space.” The new island contains an energy-efficient Thermador induction cooktop and steam oven.
Pro tip: Jamentz advises taking plenty of time to plan out what will go where when remodeling a kitchen. “We spent a lot of time in the beginning analyzing exactly what would be placed in each drawer and cabinet to make sure the space would be as functional as possible,” she says. “We measured, counted items and measured again so everything had a place. I would encourage future remodelers to really take their time during the planning phase of their project. It is easy to get distracted by eye-catching tile or beautiful paint colors, but really the secret sauce is functionality first.”
This plan shows specs for cabinets and appliances on both sides of the kitchen.
Here’s a closer look at one of the white oak cabinets with ribbed detail, which Jamentz says she used to add textural interest. Black cabinet hardware ties in with the plumbing fixtures and new window frame. The designer also included dimmable undercabinet LED lighting. “The undercabinet lighting offers a nice way to light the kitchen in the evening if someone wants to come in for a late-night snack, as well as being useful during the day when reading recipes and prepping,” she says.
The Kohler undermount farmhouse sink has a fluted detail on the front, which ties in with the ribbing on some of the cabinets. The sink includes a faucet with on-demand filtered water and a Body Glove filter. The sink area has a trash and recycling pullout drawer (to the left of the sink in this photo) for easy cleanup.
“When we design kitchens, we always create a cleanup zone, which includes pullout trash and recycling bins, the kitchen sink and the dishwasher all next to each other on the sink wall so you can scrape, rinse and wash in a convenient manner,” Jamentz says. “Additionally, many clients are now also asking for pullout composting bins in the kitchen base cabinets to separate out their produce waste, eggshells, coffee grinds, etc., as many municipalities are trying to reduce organic waste disposal.”
Sink: Cairn single-bowl farmhouse, Kohler; faucets: California Faucets
“When we design kitchens, we always create a cleanup zone, which includes pullout trash and recycling bins, the kitchen sink and the dishwasher all next to each other on the sink wall so you can scrape, rinse and wash in a convenient manner,” Jamentz says. “Additionally, many clients are now also asking for pullout composting bins in the kitchen base cabinets to separate out their produce waste, eggshells, coffee grinds, etc., as many municipalities are trying to reduce organic waste disposal.”
Sink: Cairn single-bowl farmhouse, Kohler; faucets: California Faucets
In addition to a cooktop and steam oven, the island has room for storage, seating and other goodies. Jamentz included a handy charging outlet she saw at the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show. “It’s a small detail, but we saw the countertop pop-up GFCI duplex with USB charging ports at Mockett’s display booth and added one to the client’s island countertop for convenient phone and tablet charging if one is sitting at the island,” she says. “When the outlet is not in use, it drops down inside the countertop and only the circular cover plate is visible.”
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Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: An empty-nest couple
Location: Pasadena, California
Size: 167 square feet (16 square meters)
Designer: Gail Jamentz of Soul Interiors Design
Contractor: Whitcomb Hughes Design + Build
Before: “The existing kitchen was functional but had endured a bad remodel previously,” Jamentz says.The space had an intrusive peninsula that impeded the flow to the outdoors, dropped soffits, a small window that made the room dark and a wall separating the dining room from the kitchen, which made the kitchen feel cramped and made the homeowner feel isolated from others while cooking. “Our client expressed that it was just not an enjoyable environment to spend time in, as she craved more natural light, openness and storage.”
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