The homeowner is not only a committed cook but a traveler who had a vision for her culinary space. It was to evoke an Edwardian English townhouse with the kitchen as its hub. A large central island is in essence a free-standing piece of furniture; the black cookstove is massive and the steel ceiling grillwork is reminiscent of an English greenhouse. The architect crafted an ingenious system to backlight the frosted glass of the ceiling and its ironwork canopy, so that it appears to be daylight even though the room is set below a shingled roof.

“Two dormers in that section of the roof, plus a complex arrangement of track lighting above the ceiling, create the solution,” notes architect McKee Patterson, AIA. The center island is a custom piece sheathed in a pattern of walnut and burled walnut veneers and trimmed with gleaming brass cabinet hardware. It functions as an ample workspace, gathering area and a stunning focal point for the room. The kitchen can and often does accommodate a number of cooks: the homeowner and her three daughters. With the large La Cornue, two additional ovens and two refrigerators, the team can easily produce dinners for a crowd, a great pleasure for the homeowner.