Design Center Kitchen Features ‘Holistic’
Plan
by Janice Anne Costa
KOHLER, WI In an ideal world, designing a kitchen is a true
partnership, where the client’s wish list and the designer’s vision
blend beautifully and seamlessly to create a room that does justice
to both.
But what happens when the client is actually a
manufacturer?
According to Washington DC-based designer Mary Douglas Drysdale,
who created a one-of-a-kind neo-classical kitchen for the WI-based
Kohler Design Center, “It wasn’t all that different from dealing
with any other client. They have a wish list, they have
dreams.”
In fact, in some ways, working for a manufacturer can be even
easier than working for a client, she believes, since many
traditional clients don’t fully understand the design process, and
may have trouble articulating what they want. “They were a perfect
client in that they were clear about what they wanted,” she
notes.
Since Kohler wanted to use the Design Center kitchens to help
introduce the public to some of the company’s new lines, the wish
list presented to Drysdale encompassed a number of specific
products. “They specified Viking [appliances], Canac cabinetry,
Kohler sinks and faucets basically, they said ‘Use these products
and give us something terrific.’ Beyond that, I had tremendous
freedom.”
Mixing it up
Drysdale relies on a “holistic” approach to design, and she notes
that, “The foundation of the work I do is the integration of
industrial design, architecture and decoration. I’ve studied all of
these, and we design with [all of these principles] in mind. I
believe that a respect for the connectedness of the design
professions is essential to good design.”
Indeed, balance and symmetry play key roles in the design of
this kitchen, which utilizes a rich blend of colors, textures,
materials and architectural detailing to create excitement and
energy.
“Wood and natural stone elements juxtapose with stainless
steel,” Drysdale notes, explaining that “handcrafted touches add
layers of detail and interest.”
Limestone countertops, custom mosaic flooring and walls are
painted and hand stenciled, with stainless steel the “leading
material,” as seen in the host of Viking appliances, and the
stainless steel wine cooler and wine rack, which extends the
professional look of the appliances and fixtures.
Small spaces
“I was pleased that we could fit as much as we could in a small
space,” she says, noting that the kitchen was “maybe 12’x7′, so it
was pretty tight. Adding the arch, vaulting the ceiling and using a
mirror on one wall gave us a much bigger feeling of space.”
A sense of balance also adds to the feeling of spaciousness,
Drysdale believes. “The mirror is there to support the pot rack,
and the pot rack is centered above the island, which is also
centered. This creates an overall strong sense of center, which
creates balance [throughout the design]. It also makes the room
feel bigger psychologically. It’s really about framing of views and
reinforcement of ideas.”
Drysdale adds, “The other thing I did to make it feel bigger was
to bring the island out absolutely to the face of the walkway, so
when you’re standing in public space, you’re on one side of the
island and looking in. That gives one the feeling of already being
in the kitchen.”
The mirrored wall and coved ceiling provide added dimension,
according to Drysdale.
Personalization
Drysdale personalized the kitchen with several unique focal
points.
The Baker sunburst mirror, with light hand-painting, draws
attention to the Kohler PRO TaskCenter and PRO Avatar faucet.
Together with the Kohler PRO CookSink located adjacent to the
Viking convection oven, these activity centers help define and
streamline function.
Next, a handcrafted, forged-iron pot rack is “a wonderful
chandelier that is expressive artistically and also useful,”
according to Drysdale, who notes that she thinks of it as “the
jewelry of the kitchen it adds character and beauty.”
Personalization also showed up on the Canac cabinetry with
Sandstone finish. “They asked me to use Canac cabinetry, but one of
the things I’m known for is that I bring a lot of texture and
customization to my projects. To do that here, I wanted to
handpaint these cabinets, but they [initially] said no,” she
explains.
However, here’s where the true partnership aspect of the project
came into play. “They let me give them a sketch [of what I wanted
to do], and then Canac came up with a reasonable substitute. I do a
lot of handpainting in terms of stenciling, so they said they’d
give me some latitude. I brought a team of speciality painters to
Kohler and they supported that. Ann Sacks then did some custom
tiles for us.”
The colors were “my colors completely,” she notes, with an end
result being a kitchen that is powerful yet subtle, “bold, in a
quiet way.”