Kitchen of the Week: A “Not Too Kitchen-y” Kitchen in Maine
The owners of this circa-1790 Cape in Freeport, Maine, envisioned a “not too kitchen-y” kitchen: no upper cabinets, Shaker-inspired but super-functional storage, and absolutely, definitely no recessed lighting.
How to create such a space, you ask? You enlist Block Brothers, a family-owned small-batch kitchen company that hand-builds each cabinet like a piece of fine furniture (and which, as of this month, is shipping kitchens nationwide).
The clients, a couple with three young kids, had previously gut-renovated a modern home nearby. “My husband was a little bit weary about moving again,” the client writes. “The prior house was renovated during Covid and took about 18 months to design and complete, and we only lived there for about four years. But with some convincing—and a promise that this is our forever home—we ultimately felt that a historic house better aligns with our design sensibilities and lifestyle. The house feels like the perfect family house, and it doesn’t hurt as much to ding up old walls and floors. Adds to the charm! I think our kiddos are lucky to grow up in such a well-loved home.”
And indeed, some dinging up was required. “The original house was built in 1790—the basement floor features large granite slabs originally used as ship ballast,” the clients write. They fell for the “historic bones” but also a “quirky 1990s addition, the surrounding gardens, large yard, and barn,” and the neighborhoodL “Kids still ring bells to see if neighbors can play, ride bikes all over the place, and play in other people’s yards.”
But the kitchen was choppy, with awkward skylights and a column running through the center of things (“from the ceiling to the floor, right through a peninsula that jutted into the center of the space”). In addition to resolving the funky layout, the couple wanted the space to be hardworking and accommodating for their family of five, all while looking seamless when glimpsed from other areas of the house. In short, they write, “We wanted it to feel like it was always there.”
Here’s how they did it (and scroll down for a look at the space bef0re).
Photography by Sean Litchfield.
After
Above: “The kitchen directly connects to the living room and main point of entry, so it needed to feel elevated,” the client writes. “I really like to put small appliances away and just keep decorative essentials on the countertops.”
But the existing kitchen couldn’t have been farther from that vision. “The fridge was positioned along an open wall, so it jutted out into the space,” the client writes. To replace the awkward column, the team installed a full-width beam for structural support. “This was the biggest hurdle to clear in order to create a nice kitchen space,” adds Ben Block, founder of Block Brothers. “Without adding the beam to open the room, none of the rest of it would have been possible.”
Above: “I didn’t want any upper cabinetry, to keep the space feeling open and to allow for decorative wall lighting,” writes the client, who has a design day job as part of the team at Heidi Lachapelle Interiors. “Lighting is very important to us —we are very anti-recessed lighting fixtures.” Instead, they opted for Alabax Small Surface Mounts from Schoolhouse.
Above: Another must? “Ample storage, a large pantry with spice organization, and smart millwork to accommodate the realities of busy family life, while still incorporating playful, beautiful touches like a maroon pantry interior and decorative corbels on open shelving.” The interior of the pantry is done in Benjamin Moore’s Suede Brown.
Above: The client, and the team at Heidi Lachapelle Interiors, took their reigns on the palette and fixtures. “I wanted the kitchen to feel integrated with the original house, using simple, timeless materials like soapstone and walnut paired with a muted, neutral palette,” the client writes. The cabinets and nickel-gap paneling are painted in Farrow & Ball’s Oxford Stone, and the soapstone countertop is from Morningstar Stone & Tile. The plate rack is a vintage find from 1stdibs.
“The floors were also a challenge,” the client writes. “We initially tried to work with the birch flooring, but they didn’t take stain well at all… so eventually we decided to replace the 1990s birch floors throughout with white oak to avoid the yellowish tone and create a more timeless look.”
Above: The two skylights were existing—and another piece of the puzzle to be factored in. “This required careful planning to center the range between them, avoiding a cluttered or awkward layout,” the client writes. The range is Bertazzoni, and the metal wall lights are the L Sconces from Nickey Kehoe.
Above: “Making the island feel like furniture was important,” the client writes. “There’s storage on one side, but the side that you see when you walk into the kitchen is on legs and doesn’t feel heavy.”
Ben adds: “We had the challenge of trying to seat the whole family while also creating ample usable storage and preventing it from feeling like too much of a monstrosity taking up the room. Carrying the nickel-gap detail from the wall paneling helped it feel like a natural fit in the space.” The stools are by Summer Studio, and the pendant over the island is the Large House Cord Pendant by Workstead.
Above: A detail of Block Brothers’ cabinetry: Shaker-inspired with a modern inset twist. The island countertop is walnut, made by Block Brothers with a hand-rubbed oil and wax finish.
Above: “The bar that we added into the dining room used to be a closet where the previous owner stored china,” the client writes. Now it’s an eye-catching and functional dry bar, complete with a matching coat of Benjamin Moore’s Suede Brown.
P.S. Wondering where the fridge ended up? “Recessed into a wall on one end of the island (opposite the sink wall),” the client writes. “It was Ben and Zach’s idea to recess it, and it’s probably my favorite thing about the kitchen. I love that you can’t automatically see where the fridge is when you walk in. It’s in an easy spot to unload groceries onto the island and put things away too.” Adds Ben: “Similar to our own kitchen, I’m a big proponent of not letting the refrigerator take over the space when there’s an alternative option, even if it means taking a few extra steps to get to it. Initially they were thinking of leaving the refrigerator where it was in the previous iteration of the kitchen, which would have really impacted our available space for the island and would have been a completely different feel. When you enter the kitchen now, the view of the hutch and island greet you, rather than the side of a refrigerator cabinet.” Much better.
Before
Above: The kitchen, before: jutting-out fridge, post, awkward skylights, and all.
For a look at Ben’s family kitchen, see Kitchen of the Week: Rethinking Perfection in a Cabinetmaker’s Own Kitchen. And for more Maine renovations to covet, see:
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