Arrow Cabinet Gallery Designer Tammy Johnson featured in Midwest Home Magazine.
This 110-square-foot galley kitchen may have been practical when this home was built in 1954, but by today’s standards, it felt dark, outdated, and entirely way too closed off.
The homeowners hired Tamara “Tammy” Johnson, CKD, to create a light-filled open kitchen with multiple work spaces, and modern conveniences. They also wanted the family room addition, added by a previous homeowner, to feel less like an after-thought and more like a natural extension of the kitchen, with room to entertain.
The homeowners were ok with changing the roof and ceiling, but other than that, didn’t want to altar the existing footprint of the home. “Part of the overall scope of the remodel included a new roof plan with a vaulted ceiling,” Johnson explains. “This allowed us to remove all interior walls on the main level, creating the open kitchen plan with a large multi-purpose island as the focal point.”
The vaulted ceiling adds visual volume, preventing the space from feeling cramped. The half-wall was also opened up to make the space feel bigger—and converted into a snack bar/ homework station for the kids.
In order to creatively maximize all available space in the kitchen, the stainless steel refrigerator and range (with the addition of a vent hood) moved to an exterior wall opposite the sink, making an efficient work triangle.
The bright, sun-filled kitchen now features simple white subway tile, light-colored granite countertops, a large kitchen island, artistic metal hanging fixtures, undertask lighting, and white-painted perimeter cabinets, perfectly contrasting with a newly created dark-stained built-in dry bar in the living room. The dry bar and additional prep/serving space was incorporated into the new design for convenience when entertaining (it’s nice to have an area for friends and family to congregate other than the kitchen). The open concept and continuation of modern cabinetry ties the rooms together as a beautiful cohesive space, rather than two distinctly separate rooms.