Northshore Home magazine highlights the best in architectural design, new construction and renovations, interiors, and landscape design.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/660193
64 SPRING 2016 W HEN JENNIFER BRENNAN'S FAMILY BOUGHT their fixer-upper 1875 Victorian in Mel- rose in December 2014, they could tell right away the kitchen would be a puzzle to renovate. The room, done up in dark cabinetry, was tucked into a 9-foot by 10-foot space that may well have originally been a butler's pantry. The larger adjoining space of 10 feet by 11.5 feet—a natural for extra kitchen space—was given over entirely to a breakfast table, despite there being a full dining room right next door. The Brennans set out to renovate the entire house, and their contractor Tom Moylan suggested they look to the specialists at Heartwood Kitchens for a little help solving the puzzle. Brennan worked with the company's owner, designer Nancy Hanson, who envisioned the two-room space as a useful and inviting gathering place. A TRICKY VICTORIAN Brennan had been imagining the kitchen she wanted even before the family had bought the house. She was set not only on having a welcoming place to cook but also on including a large island where her three children and their friends would want to hang out and where the family could congregate for meals. But get- ting everything she wanted into the two rooms she had to work with was difficult. "It was a challenge because it was an unusual shape," kitchen & bath says Hanson. That wasn't something easily changed, because the homeowners were determined to main- tain the integrity of the house. They didn't want to tear down walls or remove the back staircase to enlarge the kitchen area. The space includes six doorways and two windows, which further complicated the Tetris-like riddle of how to fit everything gracefully. "Victorians are notoriously tricky because there are so many doorways and so many windows," says Han- son. "They're very challenging if you want to keep the original charm of the home intact." THE SOLUTION The answer came as the result of some creative think- ing. Hanson recommended grouping the range, refrig- erator, and a small sink in the smaller space and arrang- ing a larger sink, a dishwasher, a hidden microwave, and plentiful cabinets and drawers around a 4.5-foot by By turning the former butler pantry into a work space, they kept the integrity of the house. Below, Jennifer Brennan.