Today we'll take a look at a project of a dear friend, Allison Hsiao Gaskins, a designer and adjunct professor of architecture and interior design at UT Austin. She graciously invited us to take a peek at her lovely new kitchen, which was part of a complete renovation of a modest 1932 bungalow near Deep Eddy.
Allison and her husband Stephan bought the house from another architect friend, who bought it from her architect friend... anyway, through the lineage of architects, there was an implicit agreement not demolish the house, thereby making way for a lot-buster that could overwhelm the neighborhood. The Gaskins agreed, and then embarked upon the challenge to restore the integrity of the once-charming bungalow.
The finished kitchen is open and airy with lots of light. We jokingly refer to it as her 'eat-in' kitchen, as it is currently outfitted with a toddler's table and three chairs - perfect for their small family!
The first step of the renovation was to demolish the divisive interior walls, which secluded the kitchen from the living areas and made for an awkward layout. This left the kitchen open to the living area and created a lot more space for the work surfaces.
The single window was taken out and replaced with four new double hung wood windows. This opened up the views of downtown, which is sometimes visible through all the trees!
The Gaskins agreed that they didn't want to close in the kitchen with a bunch of upper cabinets, and preferred a light-filled, open space with a few shelves to display special items. Kitchen tools and gadgets are mostly left on the counter, easy to use while cooking.
All the items usually found in upper cabinets - plates, bowls, cups, and general serving ware - were given a place in the deep drawers of the lower cabinets. Since Allison & Stephan have both handmade pottery and some mismatched china, it worked better for them to keep these items out of view. And as their 2 year old son gets older, it will be easy for him to grab his own plate or cup.
Just above counter height, a spice rack hangs from a bar mounted to the window trim. Allison made the labels for the spice jars herself, using circular stickers from a store in San Francisco - a nice way to personalize the kitchen.
Another clever storage idea can be found in the pantry, which is outfitted with full-extension drawer glides, allowing the shelves to be easily accessed:
The refrigerator wall houses the pantry and bigger storage items like platters & baskets. A 12" deep upper cabinet holds all the glassware, mugs, and Allison's mini-collection of Polish pottery. The microwave sits on a countertop to the right of the refrigerator (not shown in photo).
The kitchen opens onto the generous 400 square foot deck (perfect for dining al fresco... I can personally vouch for that!) through a vestibule that serves as a mini-mudroom. The trash & recycling are located here, as well as an extra cupboard for the wee one's snack boxes. A chalkboard with keeps the grocery list updated, and a shelf below holds mail or other inbox items. It's quite a luxury to have a mudroom in a 943 square foot house.
Inside corners of lower cabinets are hard to access from the kitchen side, often accumulating infrequently used pans and a few mothballs. Allison had a brilliant solution for using this corner: use the bar top facing the living area as a desk, and store the printer, paper supplies, and other office stuff in the cabinet below, accessed from the living room side.
They selected cherrywood countertops and oil-rubbed bronze fixtures and hardware, intentionally giving the kitchen a more traditional feeling. Allison felt that stainless hardware catapults the look into the modern realm, and with that comes the need for finer finishes like smooth drywall and finer cabinet construction. Additionally, the classic look of the hardware & fixtures will more likely please any future buyers, a practical consideration they kept in mind when designing the house.
The total cost for the kitchen renovations, including new windows, floors & rebuilding the subfloor, totals $24,000. While this house has been renovated into quite a gem, Allison & Stephan know that ten years from now someone else may buy the property for the land value and demolish the house (hard to believe, but it happens in this neighborhood a lot). But we're all crossing our fingers that when and if they ever sell it, the new owner will adore all the great things they did to the house and preserve the 'do-not-demolish' tradition!
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