Tara Merola wanted her kitchen and family room to include classic elements of a bygone era but her idea of a blast from the past was more traditional and less retro.
“It was horrendous,” Merola said of her old kitchen and family room in her Potomac home. Peachy-pink cabinetry clashed with floral wallpaper and mirrored-back glass shelves. “It had that 1980’s ‘Miami Vice’ look.”
Poorly planned, the old kitchen and family room were inefficient as well as outdated. The small island, for example, had a large cooktop that made the countertop impractical for food preparation. “It just didn’t work,” Merola said.
Merola brought in designer Kristin Peake to re-create the spaces in a traditional style. Taking out some of the walls was the first step.
“The space wasn’t conducive to how they live,” said Peake. Merola and her husband have four children, ages 8 to 2, and another on the way. They have extended family that visit regularly from Connecticut and New Jersey. They needed an area that could accommodate large family gatherings.
“We had Thanksgiving here and we were able to fit 17 people in the [new] space comfortably,” Merola said. “I could hold conversations with people in the family room while I was in the kitchen.”
The kitchen has a modern farmhouse style. Cabinets from Jack Rosen Kitchens are Elmwood Kitchens’ Algonquin series with Brigantine style doors. They are white with a limestone finish that gives them a weathered appearance. The new island, finished in a coffee stain, is large and includes a minifridge accessible to the children.
Merola originally wanted an all-white kitchen, but Peake convinced her to go with the contrasting island and to use gray accents. Walls are Benjamin Moore’s Gray Horse. Doors and drawers have knobs and Gilmore pulls from Restoration Hardware.
The most stunning feature in the kitchen is the backsplash behind the range — an ornate square design of handmade Gramercy Park 2 x 6 inch tiles in a field of the heirloom white backsplash. “We wanted that area to be special,” Peake said.
The kitchen is packed with the latest appliances, including a Sub Zero fridge and freezer, two Thermador dishwashers, a Thermador double oven and six-burner induction cooktop with drawer fronts, a pot filler, 60-bottle wine refrigerator and a Broan trash compacter. All are stainless steel.
Kitchen armoires and glass-door cabinets are built-in, creating the look of custom-built furniture.
Crown molding in the family room has the same limestone finish as the cabinetry. “This makes the space cohesive,” Peake noted.
The centerpiece of the family room is a stone fireplace that once was the room’s eyesore.
“It was so much stone, very topheavy,” said Peake. To tone down the stone, she mounted beaded board over the upper half and built a mantle across that connected with built-ins that have doors in the same finish as the kitchen cabinets. Peake customized the doors using a dark bronze wire mesh insert at the bottom. “That just blew me away. I thought we would have to remove all the stone but Kristin did her magic,” Merola said. “My husband walks in all the time and can’t believe this is our house; that we actually get to live here.”
