Second act for a local kitchen

Glass tile and black lacquer cabinets add texture to the kitchen. Images courtesy Melissa Oivanki

By Faith Dawson

At Dr. Renee Savoy Harris’ home, an unpleasant plumbing surprise gave way to a beautiful kitchen renovation. Her hot-water heater sprang a leak—and kept going for about eight hours, flooding multiple rooms.

Once the water damage had been repaired, Harris turned to Acadian House Kitchen and Bath Studio to create a kitchen with an open floor plan and an Asian feel.

The goal was a bigger kitchen, making the most of natural light in a space that was dark and dungeon-like, and improving the flow of the space.

The first task, designer Kathy Simoneaux says, was to remove two walls to open up the kitchen, which was small and cramped. The new kitchen is more than twice the size of the original, but no rooms were sacrificed to make more space—they only removed extra cabinets, nooks and storage.

Next, the designer and homeowner built the kitchen concept around teak cabinets. Both warm and elegant, the cabinets worked well with black quartz countertops, stainless steel fixtures and pine flooring.

Simoneaux used color sparingly—such as red accents, including a red quartz countertop in a serving area, and a brown-beige glass-tile backsplash—to highlight the wood cabinets, flooring and ceiling. Nature provides a colorful display just outside the kitchen’s floor-to-ceiling windows.

Harris says the new kitchen is beautiful, more work-friendly and even offers extra cabinet space, despite having sacrificed some from the original kitchen footprint.