Heavy quartzite counter overhangs need strong support. Although they were specced in my plans, someone forgot to install the brackets, and had to remove that vertical panel to put them in place after the fact.

The cabinets are from the stock line 6 Square. 6 Square is a well-made line for the price. The color is Cloud White and the raised panel door style is Hampton. The island can seat 3 adults.

Esti and Reuven built a spacious custom home for their growing family in the Pikesville area of Baltimore. Construction has already begun when they asked me to design the kitchen. The size and position of the kitchen in a general sense was set, although none of the details were, including the layout, positions of appliances and the shape and positions of the windows. Goals included room for a large refrigerator & freezer, lots of prep space, good workflow, and attention to composition and aesthetics. Building a home is not for the faint of heart, and budget considerations came into play in some of Esti and Reuven's choices.This is a spacious and functional kitchen. It reads big. It IS big. But more than that, it is a serene and enjoyable place to hang out, and to cook with small children nearby.

I had free reign to design this gorgeous and dramatic window that gives Esti a full view of her backyard. It's a beautiful and useful focal point. This is a large kitchen, and the tradeoff in wall cabinet storage was worth the additional light and ambiance provided by the oversized window.

The Frigidaire Twins refrigerator-freezer combo was a major wish list item. Positioning this massive appliance and the pantries on an inside wall left the perimeter for the milk and meat counter runs, the cooktop and ovens, and sinks. Left to right: Command center, pantry, fridge and freezer, pantry, and broom closet facing the side wall.

Matching pantries flank the Frigidaire Twins, but the broom closet pantry turns the corner on the way to the dining room. The broom cabinet is 12" deep, so its deco side are the same size as the front panels of the pantry.

Setting the cooktop into the corner turned out to be an engineering exercise. The cooktop is set back, otherwise, the chimney hood would interfere with opening the doors of the wall cabinets on either side. Colors, tiles, and accessories were recommended by interior designer Nina Elman.

The milchik run features good prep space and storage, a wide, deep sink — and that beautiful window. There are 2 trash cabinets in this kitchen, one by each sink.

In this longer view you can see how the workflow runs from cooktop to sink to serving areas.

View from the dining room — the lovely eyebrow window with skylights catches the eye and is a focal point within the kitchen. Immediately to the right of the doorway is a 12" deep cabinet serving as a broom closet.

You can get a good feel for the generous prep and serving spaces in this picture. All the wall cabinets on the perimeter are 27" wide, which contributes to the sense of balance and equilibrium in this kitchen design.

Built into the island are a microwave drawer (right) and a warming drawer. The warming drawer was a late addition — fortunately we were able to swap it into the spot that would have been the bottom drawer in a 3 drawer stack.

Heavy quartzite counter overhangs need strong support. Although they were specced in my plans, someone forgot to install the brackets, and had to remove that vertical panel to put them in place after the fact.

The cabinets are from the stock line 6 Square. 6 Square is a well-made line for the price. The color is Cloud White and the raised panel door style is Hampton. The island can seat 3 adults.

Esti and Reuven built a spacious custom home for their growing family in the Pikesville area of Baltimore. Construction has already begun when they asked me to design the kitchen. The size and position of the kitchen in a general sense was set, although none of the details were, including the layout, positions of appliances and the shape and positions of the windows. Goals included room for a large refrigerator & freezer, lots of prep space, good workflow, and attention to composition and aesthetics. Building a home is not for the faint of heart, and budget considerations came into play in some of Esti and Reuven's choices.This is a spacious and functional kitchen. It reads big. It IS big. But more than that, it is a serene and enjoyable place to hang out, and to cook with small children nearby.

I had free reign to design this gorgeous and dramatic window that gives Esti a full view of her backyard. It's a beautiful and useful focal point. This is a large kitchen, and the tradeoff in wall cabinet storage was worth the additional light and ambiance provided by the oversized window.