By: Jonathan Gordon, Design by the Jonathans
You may have heard of the phrase “The shoemaker’s children go barefoot”. Variations on the theme include “The baker’s children have no bread”, “The carpenter’s house has a leaky roof”, and “The doctor’s children all have rubella”. There’s a fascinating irony in the idea that skilled professionals often neglect their personal lives when it comes to their own expertise. The Interior Design industry is a bit different though, since a designer’s home is expected to at least partially reflect their skills. Some designers start with their own home and use it as a form of advertisement. Personally, I came to this a bit late in my career.
The Problem
When I decided to design and build my own house, I knew that there would be certain spaces that would be unfinished initially due to budget constraints, and other spaces that needed to be completed. One of these spaces was the kitchen. As an avid cook (and subsequently, avid eater) and a designer, I needed to create a kitchen that is easy to use, fairly high end, beautiful, and matches the personal taste of two Jonathans under one roof. Oh, and it needed to function as a sort of catering facility for holidays and gatherings, where I can cook for 40 people or more. This is the same approach that I take with all of my clients, but the twist is that I spend so much time working on designs for other people, that my personal taste was heavily influenced by my work – what is my style? And how could I create a space that could be used as an advertisement of sorts for the type of work that I do? Would “the designer’s kitchen look like a generic hodge-podge of recycled ideas” be my fate?
The Solution
Sometimes the best way to solve a problem is by taking your own advice – in this case, advice that I dispense daily to my clients. I sat down, cleared my head, and started looking at pictures for inspiration and ideas. I researched some new companies and looked at their products, spoke with my vendors, and shopped around for ideas. And then, something occurred to me: I needed to ask a designer for their input! I didn’t need someone to design it for me, design is literally my entire profession, but I needed a second opinion. And it worked like a charm! The surgeon doesn’t perform surgery on herself, the attorney hires a legal team if he is in trouble, and the designer gets a second opinion for their own home. All is right in the world.
The Appliances
In order to accomplish the goal of an easy-to-use, high end, stunning, and able-to-cater-for-large-crowds kitchen, there are some rules. Rule #1: get excellent, durable appliances. We used a 48” Subzero side-by-side built-in refrigerator with ice and water on the door, a Big Chill 48” all gas range in French Blue with brass knobs, a GE Café French Door wall oven and complementary Advantium drop-door microwave, an, and a Zephyr Monsoon II hood insert. These appliances are well-made, and are designed to be maintained instead of replaced.
The Solid Surfaces
Rule #2: make sure it’s easy to keep clean. We decided to use Taj Mahal quartzite for our countertops and backsplash. There are no grout joints, and Taj Mahal is one of the few natural stones that is actually difficult to stain. A quartzite with a high content of quartz crystal tends to do an excellent job repelling stain, and we’ve found this to be the case in our kitchen. And it’s a beautiful product. We book-matched the stone on the island and created waterfall features on both ends, as well as wrapping the stone up the walls.
The Cabinetry
Rule #3: have tons of storage, but make sure that there’s a place for everything. EHL Kitchens produced our custom cabinetry, a stunning two-tone inset detailed shaker style ensemble, which rises 10 feet high in a 14 foot tall room. You may be thinking, how on earth can he reach items stored in cabinets that high up? The answer is that I can’t without a step stool, but I put items up there that I only use on rare occasions – for example the giant turkey pan for Thanksgiving, the air-driven popcorn maker, the beverage dispensers for big gatherings, and other specialty items. Everything else lives at an accessible height. We have two broom closets, a large pantry, a pull-out spice rack, a pull-out oils and vinegars rack, a mixer lift, drawer inserts, a knife drawer, and plenty of other systems that ensure that we can get whatever we need in the kitchen quickly and easily. And I never have to run to another room to find a kitchen tool or appliance – they’re all right there.
The End Result
Click here to see more of this WOODBRIDGE GRAND DARK DECO KITCHEN
I realize that my kitchen isn’t for everyone – who do you know in your life that cooks for 40 people at a time, or that designed their house with 14 foot ceilings? If you do know someone like this, the first question I would ask is “are they right in the head?” My goals were fairly unique, and my style is unique too – we designed the kitchen as an updated version of an Art Deco aesthetic, merged with a little bit of Midcentury Modern, nestled into a home that is full of Victorian-era and earlier antique furniture and furnishings. But in addition to meeting my goals, my kitchen also showcases some amazing things that we can do: dual-tone cabinet boxes and doors, brass inlay strips on the hood cabinetry, use of mesh and glass, a single appliance with a major pop of color, stacking an oven above a microwave, creative use of stone… the list goes on. At the end of the day, my kitchen has something for everyone, but most importantly, I love it. It reminds me of what I always tell my clients, and I’ll quote myself: “You have to love it. Don’t go for a trend just because it’s hot, and don’t write off something just because it’s not in – it’s your home and your space. You have to live with it every day, not me, and not your friends and distant relatives who all have their own opinions. They can critique it all they wall, but it really doesn’t matter as long as you love it.”