Northshore Home magazine highlights the best in architectural design, new construction and renovations, interiors, and landscape design.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/974577
85 Clever custom cabinetry hides a pantry. A fireplace sits in the corner. Warm hardwood floors juxtapose against the cool wall tile. hen Kristina Crestin saw the post, she knew she needed to call in reinforcements, both literally and figuratively. Standing smack in the middle of the kitchen space, exactly where Crestin, founder of an eponymous Manchester- by-the-Sea design firm, could picture a large welcom- ing island for this Swampscott homeowner's family of four to gather around, the post cut the whole space off, making it feel claustrophobic. So before Crestin even presented her first sketch, she suggested bringing in Pre- mier Builders, a Georgetown contractor that also has a custom cabinetry division, to collaborate on the project. The grand old home, built in 1882 by well-known Boston architect Arthur Little, was full of charm. The client loved the bones of the house, but hated the dated 1990s-style kitchen, closed in by the pole, and suffering from the imprint of many previous owners and their sometimes odd renovation choices through the years. For example there was a single step up into the din- ing nook—put in place by a former owner to give more ceiling height to a dining room below—as well as a spiral staircase leading down to that dining room and a fireplace jammed into the corner. Not to mention the soffit running above the wall of cabinets. "I call it design gymnastics," Crestin says with a laugh, noting that these challenges often turn up in older homes—though this one had them in spades. While the owner herself is not drawn to traditional designs, Crestin says she expressed a desire to honor the house. "She didn't want to walk into the kitchen and feel like you were in a totally different home, but at the same time she didn't want it to be completely classic because that didn't give her any of the freshness of modern de- sign for her young family." To help with the balancing act, Ken Kumph, president of Premier, arrived with a team during measure-up to poke some holes in the post and explore what that soffit was hiding, hoping to clean up the design. Kumph said that that the pole could go, and be replaced by a steel beam in the ceiling, but moving the ductwork would jack up costs considerably. "Ken was able to give us some data, so that when I started sketching layouts, it was an informed decision to show [the client] some ideas that involved moving the HVAC, knowing that would be a much bigger ticket," Crestin says.