Breathing Space

Chuck Aronson Interior Design

Converted Factory Galley Kitchen

Working with the space

A galley kitchen in a landmark 100-year-old factory, renovated in the 1980s with care for where everything went. The kitchen had since been redone more than once, and the last renovation ignored the room. Tall cabinets ran to the ceiling. The refrigerator jutted into the passage, and its door couldn’t open. The closet doors had heavy trim and exposed hardware. The lighting was poor.

I started by making the space correct again. Look down the corridor by the refrigerator and you can see the ceiling already drops there. The building had a soffit line, so I put the soffit back in. The upper cabinets stop at its line, and the closet doors rise to meet it, flush and frameless.

The refrigerator couldn’t move, so I built it into a drywall alcove and chose a French-door model sized to fit. Both doors open fully, and you can stand right in front of it. The cooking is now separated: a cooktop on the counter with a built-under oven below it. Everything is new, and the flooring was replaced.

Now it looks like the soffit was always there and always meant to be.

The refrigerator sits in a recessed alcove with both French doors able to open, and the kitchen is visible beyond. — The refrigerator stayed put. An alcove and a shallow French-door model gave it room to open.

Before photo. Click to enlarge. — The refrigerator stayed put. An alcove and a shallow French-door model gave it room to open.

Flush, frameless white closet doors rise to the soffit line beside the new range wall. — The closet doors run up to the soffit line.

Looking down the corridor past the alcove and sink toward the closet doors, with the soffit line continuing overhead. — The soffit is back, and the ceiling reads the way the corridor already did.

The reworked island with an undermount sink, pull-down faucet and integrated dishwasher. — The island, reworked, with new cabinets, counters and lighting.

Suburban Condominium Kitchen

Reworked for a serious cook

A cramped, poorly organized kitchen that now has room to work.

Instead of tearing out the wall, I opened the pass-through across its full width and kept the upper cabinets above it. Removing everything would have cost a lot of storage, and the full-width opening looks cleaner and more deliberate than a wide-open kitchen. LED lighting along the opening makes it a feature.

The refrigerator moved to the other side of the wall, which freed up real working counter space. A commercial-style range and hood now sit against a stainless backsplash, with quartz counters around them. The closet door was raised to cabinet height so the room reads as one composed space.

The refrigerator is a counter-depth unit with custom cabinetry built around it, which gives the look of a built-in without the built-in price.

White flat-panel cabinets, a stainless hood and backsplash, a commercial-style range and a full-width pass-through lit by LED. — The range wall, with a commercial-style range, hood and stainless backsplash.

The refrigerator built in beside a pantry cabinet, with a full-height flush white door. — The closet door, raised to cabinet height, beside the refrigerator and pantry.

The pass-through opened across its full width, with LED lighting along the upper cabinets. — The pass-through, opened the full width with the upper cabinets kept above it.

Loft Conversion Kitchen

Nearly finished

A loft kitchen with failing cabinets and a badly glued-up ceiling, rebuilt in the big white look the client wanted.

New cabinets, appliances and counters, with a few small adjustments. The cooktop, hood and wall oven now sit on one centerline, the ceiling is replaced, and LED lighting runs under the upper cabinets. The original hardwood floor stays.

A U-shaped kitchen with flat-panel white cabinets, dark counters, a cooktop with wall oven below, and the original wood floor. — A similar white kitchen, rebuilt and centered in the room. Not yet complete; the backsplash is still to come.

Philadelphia Row House

Modern and minimal, original pine floors

A very modern, minimal kitchen set into a row house with its original rustic pine floors. The contrast works.

The kitchen was finished first. The client liked it so much that the project kept growing, with a floating staircase and then a glass panel that rises straight out of the floor. A structural engineer designed the connection to the joists, and the floor was relaid around it, so the glass looks like it simply grows out of the wood.

A white and charcoal kitchen with a waterfall island, a cooktop, an island hood and a tall built-in refrigerator wall. — Flat white cabinets, charcoal counters and a waterfall island.

Looking down the length of the kitchen past the island toward the tall refrigerator wall, with original pine floors. — The original pine floors run straight through.

A glass panel rising out of the floor beside a floating staircase. — The glass panel, added in phase two.

About the designer

Breathing space is how I think about design: rooms with room to work, room to live and room to breathe. I’m an interior designer with more than 30 years of experience, based in Philadelphia, and kitchens and renovations are what I do best.

Planning a kitchen or a renovation? Chuck_Aronson@verizon.net