Geoff and Ute Coy had lived in their Anderson Township, custom-built home for over two decades when they decided it was time to update the kitchen to provide more space for friends and family when entertaining. “It was a fluke that I ended up going to Howard’s Kitchen Studio,” says Ute. “I was around the corner and decided to go into the showroom. Right away I had a great feeling after meeting Mark (Kaplan, owner) and I was extremely pleased with the results.”
“My husband was okay with the old kitchen, but he does like it when I am happy,” says Ute. So the remodeling began with a lot of help from Geoff.
In fact, Geoff not only installed the cabinets but also did almost all of the work himself and acted as the general contractor. He created the bump out, moved the window up in the dry bar area, removed old cabinetry and tile floor, reworked the plumbing and more.
Ute found that she really wanted a warming drawer behind her when she was using the cooktop, so one was installed in the island, which also allows seating for two.
She also thought it was not necessary to have the double ovens next to the cooktop, so they were positioned next to the dry bar. “I wanted the ovens out of the way because you put food in there for a longer time and I did not need to be able to access them while I was using the cooktop,” Ute says.
The house is a cedar stone, traditional and the Coys did not consider their tastes to be contemporary. However, Ute was adamant about having light colored cabinets with flat panels, a look that offers a contemporary flair. “I hate cleaning and I especially hate cleaning grooves of cabinets,” she says. “I do like the flat front doors because they have a cleaner look and I definitely didn’t want to go with all dark cabinets.”
“I love the added space I gained in cabinets with taking them up to the ceiling changing the layout,” Ute says. However, she zooms in on the dry bar as her most favorite part of the kitchen. Daye explains, “The dry bar is the first thing you see when you walk into the kitchen and Ute wanted that to be a space for entertaining rather than just part of the kitchen.” The area was created by removing a wall and cantilevering a bump-out to gain roughly 2 to 3 feet of breathing space.
Working around the vaulted ceiling created an interesting challenge, but by creating the cantilevered bar area, the problem disappeared seamlessly. Ute did not want all cabinets in the upper portion of the dry bar, so an opening was crafted to display revolving knickknacks that can change with the seasons. The lone row of upper cabinetry offers frosted glass panels with doors that slide up and lock in place, garage door style, in order to display glassware during parties.
The lighting scheme in the kitchen offers the four layers needed to provide the ample amount of brightness: task lighting, ambient lighting, accent lighting and decorative lighting. For over the island, three domed, frosted glass pendants add a subtle touch of light. Those same types of pendants can be seen in a staggered pattern above the round glass table in front of the dry bar. The design was restricted by the slope of the vaulted ceiling therefore a traditional chandelier would not do, so the staggered pendants were a clever solution
Ute really loves the teal paint color that flows from the dry bar area into the adjoining great room. “The color picks up the blue tones in the granite and tile backsplash,” she shares.