Free ebook, Creating the Ideal Kitchen. DOWNLOAD NOW   One of my favorite things to work on is older homes with a bit of history because I find it an interesting challenge to marry the historical architectural features of a home with modern design elements that work well for my client’s current lifestyle. This home was particularly fun because it was the second kitchen we had done for this family and was quite a departure from the style of the first kitchen. The before shot of the kitchen shows a view from the family room. See the dropped ceiling? We were curious, was this just part of the design or was the dropped ceiling there to hide mechanicals? Well we soon found out that it was mostly decorative (yay!), and with the exception of a little bit of work to some plumbing from an upstairs bathroom and rerouting of the ventilation system within the original floor joists, we were in the clear, phew! The shot of the completed kitchen from roughly the same vantage point shows how much taller the ceilings are. It makes a huge difference in the feel of the space. Dark and gloomy turned fresh and light! Another serious consideration was what do we do with the skinny transom window above the refrigerator. After much back and forth, we decided to eliminate it and do some open shelving instead. This ended up being one of the nicest areas in the room. I am calling it the “fun zone” because it houses all the barware, wine cubbies and a bar fridge — the perfect little buffet spot for entertaining. It is flanked on either side by pull out pantries that I’m sure will get a ton of use. Since the neighboring room has literally three walls of almost full height windows, the kitchen gets plenty of light. The gold shelving brackets, large pendant fixtures over the island and the tile mural behind the range all pay subtle homage to the home’s prairie style architecture and bring a bit of sparkle to the room. Even though the room is quite large, the work triangle is very tight with the large Subzero fridge, sink and range all nearby for easy maneuvering during meal prep. There is seating for four at the island, and work aisles are generous. Designed by: Susan Klimala, CKD, CBD Photography by: LOMA Studios For more information on kitchen and bath design ideas go to: www.kitchenstudio-ge.com