DesignNJ-FebMar 2024-Digital Issue

SINK WALL | Two dishwashers flank the farmhouse sink and base cabinet, designed to look like repurposed furniture. Cabinets containing kitchenware and more can be accessed also
from the adjacent family room’s eat-in banquette (not shown). The defined opening between rooms keeps the television above the fireplace within view (also not shown).
DOOR TO PANTRY | The refrigerator/freezer is clad in wood paneling that matches an adjacent door for a seamless look. The door opens to an expanded butler’s pantry in space
acquired from a former hallway.
rivets wrap around the hood, a detail visible even from the backyard.
Custom cabinets handmade by A.E. Ezmat Woodworking + Design
in Paterson contain specialty elements that look like reclaimed pieces of
furniture, Sauer says. The distressed black island has a vintage feel with
its 3-inch thick walnut top, while the base of the knotty pine sink cabinet
appears timeworn with a dark walnut stain. Those features “fit with the
history and character of the home,” Sauer says, and are paired with white
cabinetry and countertops of “Desert” by Enigma Surfaces, a brand of
quartz the designer favors for its close resemblance to marble.
Veining in the countertops has a slight blue tint that ties in with the
rest of the kitchen, which is designed with a range of influences. The
moody blue apothecary-style cabinet (which replaced a hallway door)
took cues from one of the homeowner’s favorite television series: Robert
and Sol’s Spanish-inspired kitchen in “Grace & Frankie.” Ditto for the
patterned encaustic cement tile flooring that grounds the central area
around the island.
The apothecary-style cabinet’s pop of blue harmonizes with an
existing piece of prized artwork elsewhere in the home: an original
“Blue Dog” painting by George Rodrigue that served as inspiration for
the renovation as a whole, Sauer says.
Claiming space from a side hallway also made way for an expanded
butler’s pantry equipped with a coffee station, built-in microwave/
convection oven and more. The room can be accessed through a secret
door camouflaged by a paneled front like the adjacent refrigerator/freezer.
Says Sauer: “The custom cabinetry, wallpaper and wraparound library
ladder maximize style and efficiency in this room,” which also hides
necessities such as brooms and mops.
Rounding out the kitchen’s collected-over-time appeal is a range of
hardware styles and finishes in brass, bronze or black. Coordinating the
brass finishes or tones in the hardware and lighting, which can vary by
manufacturer, was a challenge on its own, Sauer says. “We explored a
variety of samples” to get it right. DNJ
designnewjersey.com 27