A Kitchen for a Couple Who Love to Cook In Lafayette, California

Do you love to cook?

I do, and I love to design kitchens for people who share that love. That was the case with this Lafayette kitchen. Our clients enjoy cooking every day and frequently entertain large groups of family and friends. We transformed their cramped, dark kitchen into an open airy space that's ideal for entertaining.

Before & After

Before, this kitchen was small! The cooktop was on the right wall putting the cook right in the middle of a walkway. The u-shaped layout made it difficult for the husband and wife to cook together without bumping into each other. And, the dark brown beams were making the room feel shorter than it really is. 

The new kitchen is L-shaped with an island allowing multiple cooks to easily work around one another. After removing the brown beams, the ceiling appears to soar. To keep the room feeling open, we stopped the cabinets short of the ceiling. Graceful crown molding finishes the tops of the cabinets.

Eight Different Tiles in the Backsplash

A gorgeous backsplash was on our client's must-have list. A mix of eight different handmade encaustic tiles delivered the rich, textured look the client was after.

The only exterior wall in this kitchen is a series of doors opening onto a beautiful backyard entertaining space. So, in an unusual move, we put the sink on an inside wall. No one wants to feel like their nose is against the wall when they're washing dishes! So, we built a 4" niche into the wall behind the sink and tiled it in. It adds extra breathing space behind the sink and gives the dishwasher something nice to look at.

The Great Outdoors, the Great Room & the Living Room

Our clients have a big family and lots of friends. They also love to be outside and have a large, beautifully landscaped yard. We needed to make it easy to move between the kitchen, an adjacent sitting area, the yard, and the living and dining room.

The room already had one eight-foot sliding door. We replaced it with a sixteen-foot center-draw slider and added a second set of doors and a fixed window.  Now that entire side of the room is open to the outdoors.

Opposite the sliding doors and centered on them is a new opening to the living and dining room. Our clients rarely used the living room before the remodel. It was not connected to the kitchen, so they didn't sit there on an everyday basis. At parties, no one really wanted to go into the living room because it was too far away from the fun. 

Struggling with a difficult kitchen layout? Give us a call. Not only will we make your kitchen beautiful, but we'll also make the remodeling process a whole lot easier. All of our projects are based on a comprehensive design plan, detailed construction drawings, our proprietary budgeting model and are managed with a zeal that borders on obsessive-compulsiveness.

Ready To Get Started?
Call Venue at 925-285-0815 or email us at questions@venueathome.com

Jackie Lopey embraced her creativity and passion over 10 years ago when she left her corporate job in San Francisco to become an interior designer. Since then she has worked with over a hundred satisfied clients transforming hundreds of rooms, and Jackie’s reputation now precedes her as one of the top Certified Interior Designers in the East Bay. 

She has a keen eye for detail and uniquely intuits her clients wants and needs. If you want a home that is breathtaking and deeply personal, Jackie Lopey and her team at Venue are the experts you need to talk to.