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installing new cabinets and granite counters as well as moving the appliances and taking out a small
peninsula to create a more functional kitchen.
The renovation also involved removing the wall between the kitchen and the sunroom to create
a family room and flood the kitchen with light. Now the room they once called “the animal room,”
is their favorite place in the whole house, Cindy said.
A Light Transformation,
dave mcdonald, 101 W. Parkway
Sun-filled. State-of-the-art gourmet.
That’s how Dave McDonald now describes
the kitchen in his 1938 Colonial home at 101
W. Parkway.
Yet, before the 2010 renovation, he could
sum up what he liked about his kitchen in
one word: nothing.
Kerry Bramon of Bramon Remodeling &
Design called the kitchen before the renovation
a “galley-minus.” Bramon and the firm’s
designer Angela Holloway transformed the
kitchen by using the space within a wall to
create a pantry and took out a wall between the kitchen and the dining room to create a better work
flow for the space.
Bramon said at their first meeting, McDonald said he didn’t want to remove any walls, but when
his son Thomas suggested removing the wall between the kitchen and the dining room, he listened.
Now the kitchen is open to the dining room with its generous windows resulting in the sun-filled
description McDonald enjoys.
Another reason the room feels bright is McDonald’s choice of creamy white quartz for the countertops,
a decision he said stems from his research area, sleep. “The key to waking up is to turn on the
lights,” said McDonald, who retired from the University of Missouri’s Department of Psychology in
2009 but still teaches. He said those bright counters help him wake up when he stumbles into this
kitchen in the morning.
Other aspects also contribute to the kitchen’s expansive feel, including the upper glass cabinet
doors and his own photographs of Hartsburg and Easley, beautiful landscapes that create a sense of
looking out into the countryside.
Using space within a wall, Bramon and Holloway also created something McDonald had longed
for every day prior to the renovation: a pantry.
McDonald’s goal when they started in August 2010 was to have the renovation done by
Thanksgiving, which was met despite the discovery of complex plumbing problems within the walls
and ceiling during the project.
Not only was the project done by Thanksgiving, but McDonald’s newly renovated kitchen also
made the holiday fun because he and his niece Sandy could work together on the meal. “It was a
real joy,” he said.
Step into Europe,
mary Phillips, 101 W. Brandon
From the outside, Mary Phillips’
Grasslands house looks like an ordinary 1957
ranch-style home. But step into the kitchen,
and you feel like you’ve been transported to
Europe.
Today, Phillips is the managing partner of
TreecePhillips LLC, a Jefferson City government
and public relations firm with local, regional
and national clients. But she grew up
in Germany and the Philippines before her
family settled in Springfield.
That’s why in 2008 when she renovated
the kitchen, Phillips wanted a room with the warmth of an English library and the features of a
functioning kitchen. And as a person who loves to cook with friends and family, she wanted a place
where everyone could gather and feel comfortable.
The result is a kitchen with lots of warm wood and places to gather, such as seating at the counter
and a European-style banquette. But in keeping with the library feel, much of the necessary technology
is hidden, such as the mixer, which pops up out of a cabinet. Even the granite counters are kept
clear of toasters, microwaves and other odds and ends, and instead various areas have photographs
of her family, including her son, Price.
The kitchen also reflects her family background. Now, Phillips’ parents, Robert and Mary
Hodgson, summer on a yacht near Washington state. Similar to the boat, the kitchen is packed with
clever storage solutions, from the sliding drawers behind the banquette’s benches to the linen storage
under the bench seats.
“There’s no wasted space,” Phillips said. v
Kitchens in Bloom Tour | Noon – 4 p.m., Sunday, May 1
Tickets: $10 in advance, $12 day of the tour (available at The Market Place, 1100 Business
Loop 70; and D&H Drugstores, 1001 W. Broadway and 1814 Paris Road)
19 April 16, 2011 Columbia Business Times | ColumbiaBusinessTimes.com