This Kitchen’s Custom Storage Has a Place for Everything

“After” photos by Matt Varney

Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: Victoria Bryhan and Stefan Seyb
Location: Corvallis, Oregon
Size: 160 square feet (15 square meters)
Designer: Gregory Thomas with Powell Construction

Victoria Bryhan and her husband, Stefan Seyb, have lived in their home since 2006. Having cooked and entertained in the space for years, they knew all of its pain points, such as hard-to-reach cabinets and lack of specific storage.

“I am 68 and starting to think of features that would enable us to age in place,” Bryhan says. These thoughts led the homeowners to consult with their daughter, Ingrid Seyb, who had recently remodeled her own kitchen. You might have read about her and her cats back during the remodel phase of that project.

“She was my go-to for everything in the months before I hired Powell Construction,” Bryhan says. During those months, they picked a faucet and cabinet pulls, and narrowed down the options for flooring, color, style and appliances.

Gregory Thomas, who served as the architect on this project for Powell Construction, then worked closely with the homeowners to find a layout and storage solutions that would make operating in the kitchen easier for years to come.

Before. The kitchen functioned but was not optimized, Thomas says. He worked closely with Bryhan, who likes to cook, to identify areas where the couple needed new storage and different materials.

After. On the surface, the kitchen looks very much the same, other than the blue backsplash tiles. It’s not until you start opening the cabinets that you can really see the kitchen’s transformation, Thomas says.

Window-top shelf. To fill in the space above the sink window, Thomas had a small shelf built. “We had taken a lot of things out, and I wanted to give her back a space that could display items,” Thomas says.

Before. The dishwasher was in the corner of the kitchen, making it hard to load and unload. The plates and dishes were stored in an upper cabinet.

“Unloading the dishwasher was growing harder on my shoulders,” Bryhan says, “and I knew that undercounter drawers would answer that problem.”

After. A deep-bottom drawer sits next to the new dishwasher and houses the homeowners’ everyday plates and bowls. Thomas was able to incorporate this change by moving the kitchen’s peninsula over a few feet. “That little bit of room enabled the drawers to be next to the dishwasher so that unloading it happens easily and quickly,” Bryhan says.

Dishwasher: 800 Series, Bosch

Before. Diagonally across the room from the dishwasher, the kitchen had an angled countertop by the microwave. Bryhan didn’t like that you couldn’t squarely stand in front of the microwave, and she always worried that she and her husband might spill hot food on themselves.

“The cabinet maker met with us and there were long discussions about my needs, which he and Gregory took care of,” Bryhan says. Fixing this corner was a top priority.

After. A squared-off corner allowed Thomas to work in lots of storage that is safer and more efficient for the couple.

Cabinets. The new kitchen has a mix of new and old cabinets. To achieve a consistent look throughout the kitchen, the cabinet makers applied different varnishes and tints to the cabinets until everything matched.

Cabinet hardware. When the cabinet makers removed the old hardware, you could see that the sun had bleached the wood around the knobs. To cover that up, Thomas found little donut rings that matched the homeowners’ new cabinet hardware and would cover the spots.

Appliances. Bryhan already had the fridge and microwave, but the homeowners purchased a new range and range hood during the kitchen remodel.

Range: Induction slide-in, Benchmark series, Bosch; range hood: Pyramid canopy chimney hood, Bosch

Utensil storage. A drawer with dividers keeps spoons, spatulas and other kitchen utensils organized and within reach of anyone standing in front of the stove or microwave.

A pull-out cutting board installed above the drawer gives the homeowners additional prep space and keeps the countertop clear.

Baking sheet storage. By adding a rack to the cabinets above the fridge, the couple had an organized space to house their less-used baking items.

Pantry. Custom built-in storage lets Bryhan easily access her storage jars and canned food in the pantry. This cabinet sits to the right of the fridge.

Find kitchen racks, containers and organizers

Before. The kitchen’s peninsula had seating on the long edge by the door. To gain more space in the kitchen, Thomas moved the peninsula over to the edge of the doorway.

After. A narrower corridor leads to the patio door. The change gave the couple more space for deeper peninsula cabinets, which house pots, pans and everyday dishes.

Flooring. The kitchen flooring had water damage, but the couple wanted to keep as much of the wood flooring that leads to the dining room as they could. In the end, they went with a dark Marmoleum floor in the kitchen that ends at the peninsula. “The brown Marmoleum says ‘floor,’ not ‘look at me,’” Bryhan says. Instead, the focus goes to the new countertop and blue tiles.

Flooring: Mammoth, Marmoleum Real via Integrity Floors

Sink and countertops. For months, Bryhan went back and forth between soapstone and stainless steel countertops. “My daughter had stainless steel put into her kitchen,” she says, “and I liked it so much I decided upon that at last.”

Stainless steel isn’t the most common residential countertop material, Thomas says. Because of that, it was a challenge to find someone locally to make and install it. Eventually, he found a company in Portland.

Countertop: Hanset Stainless; pendant light: Alva, Tech Lighting

Backsplash. “She had no fear of color,” Thomas says. “I told her to go to the store and find tile that she liked.”

She returned with this geometric shape by Fireclay Tile. “The tile kept drawing me to it because it looks like leaves floating on water — not the color, just the elongated hexagonal shape,” Bryhan says. Beyond the space, she picked a color that also reminded her of the sea. “As I spent much of my early 20s in Greece, the blue called to me.”

Once installed, they quickly became Thomas’ favorite part of the project. “I didn’t understand the scale of them until they were installed,” he says. “They were bigger than I imagined. But once they were up, I couldn’t imagine them smaller.”

Backsplash tile: Aegean Sea, Picket, Fireclay Tile; grout: Raven, Tec