Kitchen Design
Before and Afters
Kitchen of the Week
Kitchen of the Week: Hand-Painted Range Hood and Classic Finishes
A designer puts hardworking materials, repurposed features and personal touches to work in her own charming kitchen
When designer Tiffany Skilling and her husband purchased their 1928 Tudor Revival home in Indianapolis 5½ years ago, it had a 1960s kitchen that was dark, closed-off and not set up well for the way their family lives. Also, the room was out of step with the home’s history and style.
Skilling saw an opportunity to open the kitchen to adjacent spaces and refresh it with new finishes that better fit the architecture of the home. On the priority list: a large kitchen island, a coffee and wine bar and space for the kids to work on art projects and then hide their supplies behind closed doors.
Skilling saw an opportunity to open the kitchen to adjacent spaces and refresh it with new finishes that better fit the architecture of the home. On the priority list: a large kitchen island, a coffee and wine bar and space for the kids to work on art projects and then hide their supplies behind closed doors.
Before Photo
Before Photo
Before: An adjacent den, visible through the doorway in this photo taken shortly after the couple closed on the home, features original steel casement windows. The space offered room to expand the kitchen’s footprint.
After: The remodeled kitchen now spills into the former den and benefits from ample light from the windows. To orient yourself, notice the two windows above the kitchen sink, which are in the same location as the slatted windows shown in the “before” photo. Skilling used a clever trick to make these new windows look old: She added leaded glass tape in the same thickness and diamond pattern as the original windows.
The kitchen island is 9 feet, 8 inches long and is where the family does all of its meal prep. Someone might chop vegetables while seated at a bar stool, while another person works in the space between the island and the range wall. The countertops are Mountain White Danby marble. The backsplash is primarily 2-by-3-inch Carrara marble tiles with gray grout, with a special inset under the range hood: Carrara marble in a herringbone pattern, trimmed out in marble tiles with a pencil edge.
While much of the white Shaker-style cabinetry (Snowbound by Sherwin-Williams) is on the kitchen island, Skilling also made clever use of the space on the range wall. To the left of the range and on the right end of the cabinet run are narrow cabinets for vertically storing cookie sheets, muffin tins, cutting boards and charcuterie platters. Directly to the right of the range, the cabinets house towels, storage bags and food containers. The upper cabinet to the right of the kitchen window contains glassware. And beneath that is the dishwasher. “I love all my appliances to be paneled to feel like part of the cabinetry,” Skilling says.
Wall paint: Light French Gray by Sherwin-Williams; trim paint: Snowbound by Sherwin-Williams
The kitchen island is 9 feet, 8 inches long and is where the family does all of its meal prep. Someone might chop vegetables while seated at a bar stool, while another person works in the space between the island and the range wall. The countertops are Mountain White Danby marble. The backsplash is primarily 2-by-3-inch Carrara marble tiles with gray grout, with a special inset under the range hood: Carrara marble in a herringbone pattern, trimmed out in marble tiles with a pencil edge.
While much of the white Shaker-style cabinetry (Snowbound by Sherwin-Williams) is on the kitchen island, Skilling also made clever use of the space on the range wall. To the left of the range and on the right end of the cabinet run are narrow cabinets for vertically storing cookie sheets, muffin tins, cutting boards and charcuterie platters. Directly to the right of the range, the cabinets house towels, storage bags and food containers. The upper cabinet to the right of the kitchen window contains glassware. And beneath that is the dishwasher. “I love all my appliances to be paneled to feel like part of the cabinetry,” Skilling says.
Wall paint: Light French Gray by Sherwin-Williams; trim paint: Snowbound by Sherwin-Williams
As part of the renovation, Skilling widened the opening between the kitchen and formal dining room (see before-and-after floor plans below). This shot is taken from inside the dining space.
The kitchen floors are wood-look porcelain tiles laid in a herringbone pattern. “It snows here in Indy and there’s a lot of rain,” Skilling says. Since her family frequently enters the home from a door in the kitchen, “I didn’t want to have to worry about water spots on the floor,” she says.
Another design factor Skilling considered when selecting the kitchen flooring was that she was keeping and refinishing the original oak floors in the dining room. “I was very conscious of knowing that there was no way I was going to match my wood floors,” she says. “So instead we did something completely different.” The kitchen floors have a gray-washed element similar to the grays present in the range hood, helping to tie the finishes together.
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The kitchen floors are wood-look porcelain tiles laid in a herringbone pattern. “It snows here in Indy and there’s a lot of rain,” Skilling says. Since her family frequently enters the home from a door in the kitchen, “I didn’t want to have to worry about water spots on the floor,” she says.
Another design factor Skilling considered when selecting the kitchen flooring was that she was keeping and refinishing the original oak floors in the dining room. “I was very conscious of knowing that there was no way I was going to match my wood floors,” she says. “So instead we did something completely different.” The kitchen floors have a gray-washed element similar to the grays present in the range hood, helping to tie the finishes together.
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The transition from the original wood floors in the dining room to the porcelain tile floors in the kitchen is marked by an oak flooring transition stained the same color as the original wood floors.
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Check out our beginner’s guide to get started on your home project
The range hood is a custom piece. It “took shape because I found these antique corbels and kind of designed it from the antique corbels,” Skilling says. (The corbels are beneath the hood.)
Skilling faux-painted the range hood herself. “There are probably five different layers of paint,” she says.
In addition to the range hood and its corbels, “I wanted to have a couple other elements that also felt like they could have been original,” Skilling says. She found old, solid wood balusters from a Connecticut porch on Etsy and repurposed them as kitchen island legs.
The painting over the hood is another vintage find.
Skilling faux-painted the range hood herself. “There are probably five different layers of paint,” she says.
In addition to the range hood and its corbels, “I wanted to have a couple other elements that also felt like they could have been original,” Skilling says. She found old, solid wood balusters from a Connecticut porch on Etsy and repurposed them as kitchen island legs.
The painting over the hood is another vintage find.
On the refrigerator wall, Skilling exposed a run of brick that’s actually the chimney to the home’s original waste incinerator, which is still in the basement. The chimney was covered in plaster prior to the renovation, but Skilling saw an opportunity to highlight the home’s history by exposing it. “We work in this very historic neighborhood in Indianapolis and are always trying to incorporate details like that into people’s homes,” she says. The silver door beneath the artwork is the original incinerator door.
The opening to the left of the brick leads to the combined mudroom and laundry room.
Skilling paneled the refrigerator, to the right of the exposed brick wall, so it fits in with the cabinetry. This wall has the pantry cabinetry, where Skilling also stashes the microwave and toaster.
The end of the island has shelving for cookbooks and dry goods. The island cabinets, starting at the far end by the fridge, house a junk drawer and a trash and recycling pullout, followed by the silverware drawer, and beneath it drawers for beverages, medications and pots and pans. The next bay of drawers contains cooking and serving utensils, kids’ plates and water glasses and food storage containers. The final bank of drawers houses decorative serveware.
Cabinet pulls: Empire collection in brushed bronze, Schaub
The opening to the left of the brick leads to the combined mudroom and laundry room.
Skilling paneled the refrigerator, to the right of the exposed brick wall, so it fits in with the cabinetry. This wall has the pantry cabinetry, where Skilling also stashes the microwave and toaster.
The end of the island has shelving for cookbooks and dry goods. The island cabinets, starting at the far end by the fridge, house a junk drawer and a trash and recycling pullout, followed by the silverware drawer, and beneath it drawers for beverages, medications and pots and pans. The next bay of drawers contains cooking and serving utensils, kids’ plates and water glasses and food storage containers. The final bank of drawers houses decorative serveware.
Cabinet pulls: Empire collection in brushed bronze, Schaub
The coffee bar and wine station holds the family’s glassware collection and coffee mugs, as well as an espresso machine that gets frequent use. “We really love coffee,” Skilling says. “We always get special espresso beans and I make a latte every morning.” The area also features a wine refrigerator.
The dining table previously belonged to Skilling’s mother-in-law, who did her homework on it as a child. “Those are special things that bring us a lot of joy in the space,” Skilling says.
Wallpaper: Thibaut; island pendants: Hicks, Visual Comfort
The dining table previously belonged to Skilling’s mother-in-law, who did her homework on it as a child. “Those are special things that bring us a lot of joy in the space,” Skilling says.
Wallpaper: Thibaut; island pendants: Hicks, Visual Comfort
For this table, Skilling selected a chandelier with gold-and-white-glass details similar to the pendants above the island, but in a different shape and larger size.
Chandelier: Morris medium lantern, Visual Comfort
Chandelier: Morris medium lantern, Visual Comfort
Across from the coffee station and wine bar, Skilling installed a tall bay of cabinets that holds her children’s art supplies. They can do their projects at the table where their grandmother did her homework, then put their supplies away nearby.
Photo from Tiffany Skilling
Since the professional photos of her kitchen were taken, Skilling has updated the door that leads outside. The new version is taller and black.
Since the professional photos of her kitchen were taken, Skilling has updated the door that leads outside. The new version is taller and black.
Before: This floor plan shows the home as it was before the renovation, with dotted lines indicating the walls and kitchen cabinets to be removed.
After: Here’s the floor plan today.
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Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: Designer Tiffany Skilling, her husband and their two children
Location: Meridian-Kessler neighborhood of Indianapolis
Size: 350 square feet (33 square meters)
Designer: Tiffany Skilling
Before: The kitchen’s U-shape layout was too cramped for the way the family likes to prepare meals. Skilling and her husband cook together every night, and their 10-year-old daughter often helps.