Before
Previous owners had placed a two-story addition including a great room with oversized master suite above. Although it was well built, they had decided, perhaps for budget reasons, not to remove the brick façade from the rear of the home. When the current homeowners brought me in to redesign for their growing family, they wished the kitchen could open to the brightly lit great room, but lamented that 2.5 stories of brick sat above the dividing wall.
With the help of a gifted engineer, we were able to design a steel beam to carry the load of the brick above. However, we wanted a new window for a view of the gorgeous backyard, which according to Murphy’s Law, would naturally end up below the beam. Enter the steel header.
With the wall and small office gone, a new, large kitchen was created. Although the great room was a step down from the kitchen, we were able to place the L-shaped, one-height island by using matching bar stools of two different heights. A stand desk replaced the small office, and a dry bar matched nicely with the space. Rather than steal to make room for a walk-in pantry, we opted for tall, deep cabinets with full-extension pullouts, and thus were able to make the full-depth refrigerator appear as if built-in.
