My friend Susan's kitchen makeover

My friend, Susan Warburg, lives in Westport, CT, very close to Compo Beach, located on Long Island Sound.  Her home is a charming, but quite small, beach bungalow, built in 1943.  She has been renovating and making improvements to it for several years.  This year, it was finally time to redo the rather tiny kitchen.  I was able to help her a bit because I just happened to have some extra kitchen appliances, which I gifted to her this past spring.  Come and take a little tour of Susan’s bright, airy, and very functional new kitchen, it should be on apartment therapy!

Every conceivable design idea was used to maximize the use of this very small space. The insert storage area will have shelves just as soon as Susan measures all her containers that will 'reside' there.

All the cabinets were purchased at Home Depot. I was amazed at the fabulous workmanship and clever combinations that the homemaker can put together to create a very 'custom designed' looking kitchen. The shelving, however, was made by Susan's carpenter, with fancy brackets and pretty edging moldings.

The Wolf stove top and oven were placed on the back wall with a good vent above to extract heat and cooking odors. Susan even has lots of counter tops - white marble, custom cut by Fairfield County Granite, located in Bridgeport, CT.

This oven was purchased from Gaggenau. Notice that the cooking gadgets and spices are within easy reach.

Wonderful glass doors, almost floor to ceiling, create spacious cupboards for all of Susan's beautiful china, platters, and glassware. She found the doors at United House Wrecking in Stamford, CT.

The island is where she has her sink and dishwasher and also more open shelving.

Susan's everyday dishes on the left are lovely ones from France.  The dishes on the right are beautiful English china passed down through generations.  Susan stained the oak floor herself in a bold diamond pattern.

The island meets the wall where more shelves hold books and kitchen antiques collected over the years by Susan on her extensive travels. She also found a wonderful bracketed Toshiba TV that even has a DVD player. The under-shelf lighting is xenon, the new cool version of the old halogen.

Both Susan and I love open shelves, which make everything used on a daily basis very accessible. Notice the beautiful, curvaceous brackets and the carefully measured shelves which hold her pretty collection of glassware.

The large, white door and drawers on the right is a Sub-Zero refrigerator and freezer. Susan had a matching door made on the left to house a stacking washer and dryer.

The Bosch washer and dryer are nicely tucked away.

    
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Comments

[Marcy]

Martha,

Thank you so much this gives me great encouragement for the home we are remodeling. These are some great ideas.

Marcy

[MMC in San Diego]

Lovely functional, clean design. I love it!

It's always a treat to see a creative use of small, functional spaces. . .

[Christopher O'Connor]

Wow! I love this kitchen.You can tell that every square foot was well thougth out and planned for maimum benefit and enjoyment.Well done and thank you for sharing it with your blog readers.

Christopher O'Connor
Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada

[Jan Erickson]

Hi Martha, Thanks for another really "cool" blog. Your friend, Susan Warburg, is one lucky lady to have such a generous friend as you. Her kitchen remodel job is absolutely fantastic. When one is faced with small spaces, it takes some real organizing to fit everything that you want into those spaces. I'd say that she did a wonderful job of using the space she has. I love the washer, dryer and refrigerator placement. I can imagine that she is very pleased with her new kitchen. Enjoy! Thanks so much for sharing. Jan

[Amy]

Oh, this suits me to a T--now to find a place like that! My own kitchen in a rented condo wouldn't hold all that, but. . .one of these days.

And yeah, I see a bunch of books that inhabit my cookbook shelf, too!

Amy in Houston

[Norbie K. of Las Vegas, NV]

I love white cabinets. Such a great design. So functional yet so divine.

[Fifi Flowers]

That is a lovely kitchen... so inviting! Love that it is open to a nook... perfect place to sit, sipping coffee, chatting with friends and admiring the kitchen! It is magazine... apartment therapy worthy!
BTW... hope you don't mind, but I borrowed some artichoke ideas from you for my post tomorrow... Giving you full credit of course.
THANKS for the inspiration AGAIN!
Fifi

[Isle Dance]

Ooooh...nice!

[Adam]

Small space, big style! Personally I get more enjoyment out of seeing brilliantly designed small spaces, such as this one, than larger spaces. Because every inch of space has to have a purpose and needs to look good, I really appreciate the the amount of thought that goes into a space like this.

[Jane from Oz]

A fresh white kitchen will never go out of style. What a great use of space! Beautiful to work in no doubt!

[ShopLittleGifts]

beautiful kitchen. love the white and the lighting. it seems very organized and well thought out to suit all of Susan's kitchen habits. lots of multifunctional space which is great - work, cook, clean, laundry. love that.

[Kathy]

Hi, Martha,
Thanks for the tour of your friend Susan's kitchen. How wonderful! I dream of such a kitchen.
Kathy

[Paula]

Very cute!! Thank-you for the tour!!

[susieshomemade]

Please tell Susan that I am totally inspired by her design!! I love the open shelf concept!! And everything is so white and pristine. Love it.

[Lizzy]

I love it! You are right that it should be on Apartment Therapy (one of my other favorite blogs!)

[Elliott]

Is it a kitchen?unbelievable.

[SteveNYC]

I thought the use of a Roman Numeral clock was unusual and unique.

[Trish]

Very nice! I love how she stained the floor and the green dishes from France are so pretty. I see she has the kind of juicer you use on the show once in awhile. Excellent! Thanks for sharing some great ideas. Trish

[Jane M]

I looooooooove kitchen re-dos!!!!!!! We did a huge kitchen addition and renovation 5 years ago. BEST THING WE EVER EVER DID! What a great space to cook and hang out in! I wouldn't change a thing! The kitchen you just show is so fantastic. I love everything about it! Oh, and my washer and dryer are in my kitchen too! all my friends think I'm nuts, but why do I need to run to the basement to do laundry when I'm always in my kitchen? My machines are top notch and I get to fold on GRANITE!

[Sarah]

Lovely,,,and i see she has some of your glass containers with green tops from Kmart in her glass-doored display. Enjoy your blog daily...looking forward to September and the new season starting!

[A Farmer's Wife]

Beautiful, functional, efficient, well done! I love the TV with the DVD player...sometimes you just need that in the kitchen! I always drag the portable DVD player into the kitchen after my AM Radio shows (Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity) are over.

[Jenny B. from Illinois]

How ADORABLE! I would love to see the rest of Susan's renovations. This looks like a wonderful "small space, big style" home.

[sandra dunn]

I love the kitchen, I am in the planning stages to start my new kitchen after the holidays. My home was built in the mid 20's. In my minds eye this is what I wanted it to look like. Now I am eager to get started. To bad there is other remodeling that has been scheduled first. Thanks Martha, and thanks to your friend for sharing her home.

[Andrew Ritchie]

Very nicely done! I love the marble, the glass cabinets and all the open shelving, which makes it so functional.

Beautiful!

-Andrew in Ottawa

[lil]

Wouldn't this home be a great subject for a segment on your show? So many live in small spaces and would love to see creative solutions....especially those utiliizing affordable, easily accessible products from stores such as Home Depot.