When ’s clients moved into a in New York City’s Greenwich Village, the space had been absolutely gutted. All of the character and charm of the 1899 townhouse had been removed by its previous owners, and what was left was a white box with a chopped-up floor plan. It took another gut to bring back period-appropriate architectural features, transforming it from modern and luxurious yet a bit bland into a dramatic, elegant home that honors the history of the location.
The was no different from the rest of the house: White, boxy, and missing the period detail that had once made it so special. “Really [my clients] just wanted a beautiful kitchen with inlay cabinetry that felt appropriate for the home,” designer Pickens, the founder of in Los Angeles, tells House Beautiful. Her clients, a young couple, were the entertaining kind, always having guests over to stay, so they needed a kitchen that allowed for standing room, a constant in-and-out flow, and hidden storage compartments and appliances to keep it tidy.
Pickens’s solution was a U-shaped floor plan, something “to make it feel more substantial, complete, and have a sense of design and function,” as the member of our class puts it. It’s not the largest cooking space out there, but it’s efficient: Her design fit more storage cabinets and even an extra six-seater dining table for more casual meals. The only aspect that didn’t get an update was the window placement, since changing the historic facade wasn’t an option.
As with the rest of the house, Pickens found inspiration in original fireplaces (which had mercifully been left untouched) for the furnishings, architectural details, and color palette. They did, unfortunately, have to remove one of the fireplaces from the kitchen to make room for the wire-brushed solid white oak cabinetry, but in doing so they were able to add something else wholly unique to the space. “What was left was just a wall pop out,” the designer says. “So we actually created a full millwork floor-to-ceiling cabinet area that hid and disguised the wall pop out. This didn’t allow for full-depth cabinets along a lot of this wall, but it still provided more storage for glassware.”
Now the homeowners can work and entertain in a kitchen suits their historic home and neighborhood. Pickens made sure to add molding and other architectural details that would fit the proper time period in every room, with touches of modernity here and there to accommodate the clients’ style. Nothing could be too ornate or detailed. “It’s a small but mighty kitchen that has become the heart of the home and really brings a lot of warmth to a previously cold space,” Pickens explains.
The kitchen looks seamless and clean because Pickens and her team actually hid quite a few features in plain sight. “We hid the microwave in a double cabinet to the left of the range,” Pickens says. “I hate built-in visible microwaves, so we often hide them into a cabinet with a pull-out drawer and electrical inside to support it.” The trash can is also tucked away in a full-size, pull-out drawer.
Many of the drawer fronts are actually doors, disguised “to create a consistent repeat of drawers on left side or to hide the dishwasher and create symmetry on either side the sink,” Pickens adds. It’s this consistency that keeps the relatively small space from feeling busy.
Island: custom, designed by JDP Interiors and fabricated by . Range: . Pendant: . Cabinetry: . Hardware: .
One of the “columns” next to the mirror hid an unmovable pipe, so Pickens added another column to the other side and centered it within the space for symmetry.
“I love the rustic warmth of this kitchen in the middle of New York City. I feel like people always jump to paint in the kitchen, but you just can’t beat the warmth of stain-grade wood, and it makes such an impact,” she adds. “It was my vision from day one, and it’s so fun to see it come to life.” It’s complemented by wood flooring reclaimed from old barns in the Hudson Valley.
Flooring: . Shades: custom, in fabric. Dining table: custom, JDP Interiors. Dining chairs: vintage . Light fixture: . Mirror: vintage. Bowl: Colin King via . Candlestick holder: .
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