CBJ's Lure 3.2018

When Ben and Jennie
Wunderlich were
designing their new
home to be built on
seven acres southwest
of Iowa City, Jennie paid
special attention to the
view she would have
while standing at their
kitchen sink.
The island topped with blue
quartz is the focal point of Ben
and Jennie Wunderlich’s kitchen.
Through the west-facing windows is a
picturesque view of the Iowa countryside —
rolling hills and pasture where a neighbor’s
Angus cattle sometimes graze.
But it wasn’t the view that was most important
to the couple when building their home, which
was finished in May 2017. It was the kitchen.
It sounds so cliché, Jennie admits, but they
wanted an open floor plan and a space that
was functional for their family of five, including
three children: Samantha, 9; Gwen, 7; and Cal, 4.
The finished product is anything but cliché.
At the center of it all is a roughly 10-foot-by-
5-foot island topped in a jumbo slab of blue
quartz — the largest piece of quartz they could
get without a seam.
“I wanted a giant island. People walk in and
the first thing they comment on is the island,
because not only is it huge, it’s blue,” Jennie
said. “It sort of goes to being in the Army; we
have a lot of patriotic things, so I love that.” >
LURE SPRING 2018
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