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 Brown Restoration, Inc.
2010 Remodel Of The Year
Best Kitchen Remodel $40,000 to $70,000
Filby residence
302 W 66th Street
KCMO 64113
This quaint Brookside residence had a typical galley kitchen with only one wall of cabinets. The stainless steel counter top and huge sink were fit more for a butcher shop than a home. The range sat in the only open corner and next to it a stainless top rolling cart was home for most of the pots and pans. The tiny step-down, unconditioned back porch off the kitchen was separated by an exterior door. A small adjacent breakfast room separated by a load-bearing cased opening was the only place large enough for the refrigerator, which was inconvenient for food prep with the counter top being in the next room. Off the far corner of the breakfast room was a door that hid a small landing for the basement stairs with a second door to the back patio. The chopped up, closed off design made that quadrant of the home feel much smaller than it actually was.
The owners wanted to open things up and add lots of cabinet and counter space, but had no concrete ideas for a design. After our initial meeting we brought in a Certified Kitchen Designer we regularly partner with to facilitate the process and provide plans. Four design options were prepared with one of those including a small room addition connecting the porch with the back door by the stairs. With an initial budget of just $50,000, the room addition was out of running. With change orders which included refinishing the entire first floor hardwood flooring, the final price was $58,000+. The final design chosen incorporated removing the wall separating the kitchen and breakfast areas; removing the wall and door separating the landing; building up the floor of the porch level with the house; removing the door to the porch and making a cased opening in its place.
Removing the load-bearing wall required installing an up-set beam in the ceiling which meant we needed to support each end down to the footings. The outside wall accomplished that on one side, but the other end required cutting and digging out a hole in the basement floor for a new concrete pier with a steel column installed up to the floor joist under the interior end of the beam.
The original picture and transom windows above the sink were replaced with a wider, triple casement unit that allowed us to install a functional window ledge for décor. As part of the new mud room design, in the back porch we removed one window to make room for a floor-to-ceiling pantry cabinet, a custom pull-out cubby drawer that houses the blue recycle bin and a wood ledge at just the right height for a feeding area for Lamar – their tiger-striped cat. To make room for additional cabinets a window in the former breakfast room was removed as well. In addition to the large casement window above the sink, we installed a new window and half lite exterior door in the mud room, and we replaced the single door off the patio with a sliding glass door. That combination allows natural light to stream in from three distinct areas adding greatly to the new, open, airy feel of the much larger kitchen.
With the aid of full-height cabinets, a Lazy Susan and an appliance garage, we more than doubled the cabinet and countertop space. The combination of white painted cabinets and a lighting design that included recessed, pendant and under-cabinet lights creates a wonderfully bright kitchen even on the darkest nights. The cold look of the stainless steel sink and appliances and the warm hues of the Mosaic Slate tile backsplashes and newly installed Oak hardwood flooring are harmonized beautifully by the green/grey (Filoli Carriage House) colored walls. The sandstone orange colored pendant lights and dark oil-rubbed bronze knobs and pulls are the perfect accents to this classy kitchen.
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