Anybody who has ever thrown a party in an older NoVA split-level home knows the challenges. It can seem as though there’s never enough prep space in the tiny kitchen and never enough room for people to gather.
To make their Falls Church home a better gathering place, Jeff and Cadence Weber opted to renovate their kitchen. Working with Fairfax-based Design Pro Remodeling, designer Susan Sutter changed the flow by taking down living room and dining room walls. As people come up the stairs to the main floor, they now see a large kitchen island anchoring the space, and that’s where amateur chef Jeff spends time preparing food and drinks for parties.
“When he’s in there cooking or mixing drinks, what have you, he’s not hidden behind walls, so tearing down those walls really allows them to be more involved in their entertaining and with their guests,” says Sutter, owner and principal designer at Susan Sutter Interiors.
Island Paradise
“Honestly, the island has been the biggest change because it’s given us some additional storage capacity for things, as well as just having a space for us to be able to lay things out,” says Jeff. “It is sort of like a common landing area where we can serve things. We can have that be where things are prepped and then provided, and then it’s wide open to the rest of the room.”
The island, Kemper Marimac Narrow Rail cabinetry in a maritime blue, is topped with Calacatta Laza quartz and complements perimeter cabinets in morel. One side has a Zephyr French-door wine and beverage cooler while the other has a rollout tray for the amateur mixologist’s necessities. They no longer store everything on a bar cart that rattles as people walk by.
“One of my favorite things is my tiki cabinet, which is an entire cabinet in the island allocated to my collection of rums and my collection of liqueurs that are used for drinks,” says Jeff, whose bevy of booze tops 30 bottles. “You pull out the drawer and it’s kind of like, ‘Wow, look at how organized it is and where everything is,’ and that makes me very happy.”
Spicing It Up
Jeff loves to cook. New appliances include a 36-inch Monogram induction cooktop with a 42-inch range hood, a GE convection wall oven, and a GE built-in microwave–convection oven, which comes in handy when foods require different baking times and temperatures. The wider cooktop allows him to prepare more foods at the same time or to use larger pans.
His spices and cooking oils also have a dedicated cabinet. “I’m able to pull that out and select right away without having to rearrange things — without having to hunt and search,” says Jeff. “Previously, we maybe had to take a bunch of stuff out just to be able to get to what I wanted to use.”
Adding a Hiding Spot
Cadence says with the open floor plan, they worried about exposing the kitchen to guests. Their holiday party typically draws more than 70 people. “How messy will it look if people are over? Because, of course, there’s the chaos of entertaining on top of the fun. The big sink for me was something I was really keen on because it enabled us to have a spot to hide stuff,” Cadence says.
A 45-inch Ruvati workstation sink, which sits below an enlarged pass-through window that opens to an adjoining deck, allows for easy cleanup. “The width really does allow you to do multiple things,” says Sutter. “You can have dishes drying and be chopping and slicing and dicing, and you can use it as an ice trough. If you’re having a party, you could fill it up with ice from the pellet icemaker and have drinks and bottles in there for service.”
A 15-inch high-capacity GE nugget ice maker, something Sutter suggested and the two questioned because of hefty price tag, turned out to be a time saver. They no longer need to make ice a week ahead of a party, worry about running out of it, or require a Lewis bag to crush ice for exotic drinks. “That was really probably the No. 1 splurge,” says Jeff. “But that was just something where I was thinking, ‘If we’re going to be going through doing this, I would love to be able to have what is effectively an endless supply of ice.’”
No More Tetris
The renovation gave the kitchen better storage. Cadence says she no longer plays Tetris to put things away. For example, she was horrified when they finally rounded up their tea bags. “They were so shoved in so many different places,” she says, adding that all tea supplies and mugs are now organized. “It’s all very close to where we have the kettle tucked away. It’s really nice to have all of that together.”
Small appliances and other items no longer clutter countertops. “Previously, all of our cooking utensils were in a jar on the countertop because putting them away somewhere would have been such a nightmare to get them back out. It’s just nice that we have all that space to keep everything hidden, but very, very open and accessible,” she says.
“Seeing a bunch of things out kind of adds stress to us,” Jeff says. “So, we like it being open and clear and clean.”
With a little less stress, the parties are more fun. Cadence says, “Everyone is saying, ‘Oh my gosh, your whole upstairs looks so much bigger than it did before.’”
Feature image by Markus Melborn MW Concepts
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