Built out of two old Vermont barns, this house features a kitchen
extension defined by old beams, a pitched roof, and skylights. In
planning the kitchen's style, the owner wanted it to feel as if the
elements in the room had been added over time. Each wall is devoted
to a zone, and each features a different wood and style. The HOT zone,
which holds both a four burner gas cooktop (Russel Range) and two
small Gaggeneau electric burners, has green tiles set on the diagonal
behind a long heatproof counter made of soapstone. A wide shelf above
hides the exhaust system and task lighting, while providing a place
to store baskets and platters. Arched openings underneath the cooktop
created cozy alcoves for the owner's pets to watch the action without
being in the way.
The central island, designed for cooks to work on both sides, has
a number of unusual features: the top is a mix of butcher block and
soapstone, with the stone portion lowered for pastry rolling. The
pastry area backs on the wall oven tower for ease in baking. Below
the counter is an alcove designed for cooling pastries without using
up counter space. Each drawer in the island is precisely designed
for utensils and supplies. On the baking side, the island holds rolling
pins, cookie cutters, pastry wheels, bins for flour and sugar. On
the cooktop side, there are deep drawers for cooking pots and pans,
and shallow drawers for utensils and tools, along with pop-ups for
major appliances like a stand mixer. The half-round end is for dining,
with a matching half-round area at the other end for loading dirty
dishes into sink and dishwasher. The WET zone, built around a window,
holds undermounted steel sink and a dishwasher, along with built-in
dish drains for hand washing, and a place behind doors for electrical
appliances that use water like a coffee maker. The kitchen was built
by Jonathan Jessup Restorations, designed by Deborah Krasner.
