Wilma Bowers, co-owner of Bowers Design Build Inc., delights in tackling cookie-cutter Colonials. She enjoys renovating these houses—infusing them with individuality. This 1970s McLean kitchen was dark and dated. There was an adjacent underutilized sunroom, but “the passageways were so small, the light wasn’t able to travel into the kitchen space,” she says.
So she and her team widened them, flooding the rooms with sunlight. “It wasn’t like we took any functionality away,” she says. “But it significantly encouraged that natural light to come into the space.” They axed the dark cabinets in favor of bright white, and tripled the amount of installed lighting, layering recessed, task and under-cabinet lighting.
These highly organized empty nesters love to throw dinner parties. Their main objective: they wanted a brighter, gourmet kitchen. What they got, was that and more—a modernized kitchen that performs in tandem with the couple’s lifestyle.
Caravelas gold granite lines the island and perimeter countertops, brightening up the kitchen even more. A counter-depth Sub-Zero refrigerator is strategically located next to a stacked trio of microwave, wall oven and warming drawer. A hammered copper sink for entertaining is nestled into an alcove that includes glass-front cabinets and a below-counter beverage cooler. There’s also a designated coffee spot, popular at parties, but at its heart it’s a place the couple shares daily.
And there are the details unnoticed by the average eye. For example: faux paint on the outlets and light switch covers camouflaged into the tile pattern—quiet, thoughtful features designed into the finished product.
What the Client Wanted
A light-filled, functional, gourmet space for entertaining. In addition to the install of high-end appliances, the perfect-for-serving-canapes island and hardwood floors throughout, Bowers came up with more clever features. She took out a diminutive railing that had served to separate the kitchen from the family room and added a solid knee wall topped with warm red oak.
“So when they’re entertaining, people can stand there and set their drinks there,” she says. “That’s really how they wanted to utilize the space—as one large entertaining space.”
The Final Remodel
There’s a bar-ready countertop spot where guests can “mingle and help themselves to cocktails while the husband and wife are in the kitchen finishing up the meals … and the guests aren’t under their feet,” says Bowers.
Behind a cabinet panel, more thoughtful touches: instead of the catch-all junk drawer, this couple sought something more orderly. They had the space, so Bowers fashioned an inside panel that includes hooks for keys, a whiteboard and bulletin board, and drawers for easy-to-reach essentials.
Challenges
Bowers says this job posed challenges typical of any renovation: understanding clients, observing details and making decisions. “It does take a lot of work and it does take a lot of thought and planning, but in terms of a particular overwhelming challenge to overcome, there wasn’t one,” she says.
Bowers says the biggest compliment her team can receive comes when a client says: “It’s been five years since you renovated my house and I wouldn’t change a thing.”
