“Uncle Larry’s Kitchen” to Frank Lloyd Wright Dream Space
Cabinet Masters located in Madison, Wisconsin worked with Tony Trapp Repairs, the general contractor, to transform this outdated kitchen into a space the homeowners were dreaming of. Cabinet Masters provided all the design services, product selections, and supplied the cabinetry, countertops, and tile backsplash installation.
Cabinet Masters offers full design and remodeling services, refacing, cabinetry, countertops, and custom cabinetry and millwork. We make life kitchens.
Our clients had several goals in mind when they came to us – but ultimately they hoped to update their kitchen from “Uncle Larry’s Kitchen” to a functional contemporary kitchen that incorporated Frank Lloyd Wright design elements. This included making the space feel inviting and enjoyable, as they liked to host dinner parties; adding function and beauty to the space; and increasing the lighting and ventilation. The color scheme the homeowners choose was lime green, which came from the entry door mat outside; cobalt blue and turquoise that came from ceramic mixing bowls the owner loves; and – yellow her favorite color.
We encountered some challenging design issues in this kitchen. The space had several different pipes located in visible places, as well as hidden in cabinets. We wanted to either eliminate the ugly black cast iron pipe or conceal it from sight and kitchen items. The walls of this home are only 2 ¾” thick. This provided us with unusual electrical problems – standard remodel boxes would not fit properly in the wall and having surface mount exposed boxes was out of the question. To resolve this challenge, we added a layer of drywall to most of the walls. This helped in the majority of the spots, but between the windows we had to use special extra shallow boxes. We also added custom shaped soffits to allow for wires to be run to the fixtures and additional switches/outlets.
Another challenge was the windows in the kitchen were lower than cabinet height. If we were to run lower cabinets under the windows, that space would become unusable, and since the windows run almost the entire length of the kitchen, a solution needed to be found to utilize that space. The solution was to pull the cabinets approximately four inches away from the windows. Then a trough was created level with the window sill made of the countertops. This trough enables a view of the entire window, allows the cabinets and countertop spaces to be useful, and creates a space for the owner to place flowers or herb garden pots. This also made the view from the exterior pleasant instead of looking at a piece of plywood.
This kitchen features Holiday Kitchens Custom Cabinetry. We used the Robin Wilson Home Collection Full-Access Cabinetry with Elegante Steel Gloss for base and tall cabinets; Munich Natural Cherry for the wall cabinets and Custom Natural Cherry Crown Moldings.
Originally the homeowner was hoping to install Cobalt Blue Viking appliances and a Zephyr hood – but ended up going with stainless steel when she then decided on moving forward with a landscaping project. Oceanside Glasstile was used for the backsplash, which is a recycled glass tile that can be custom designed in layout and color scheme; it contains yellow, cobalt blue, turquoise, and a light green which are all of the colors in the color scheme.
Other products used to help achieve the remodel were:
- Silestone Satori was used for the countertops (originally the countertops were going to be Green Fun, but that was the only thing the husband said no to). We stayed with Silestone because they have a wide range of solid colors and offered what we were looking for in the contemporary feel. Satori was chosen for being neutral but still having some color as well.
- Forbo Marmoleum was chosen because it is a green product as well as for the color offering. It allowed us to have the turquoise floor, and because there would be two seams, we decided to do a second color to help camouflage the seams. This helped us introduce the lime green – chartreuse color.
- Sherwin Williams paint Harmony Interior Acrylic Latex in Eg-shel Model #SW6687 Lantern Light – for the low VOC green characteristics.
- Top Knobs Model #M396 pulls for the sleek design.
- Alfa pendant lights for the color and design.
- Brizo 63052LF-SS Belo Faucet for the design.
Cabinet Masters recently received “Contractor of the Year 2010 Award” by the local Madison NARI Chapter in the Residential Kitchen $40,000 – $80,000 category.
Team Members Include:
Tony Trapp Repairs
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