Lori Harney's kitchen was far away, but not in a good way. The heart of her home in south Minneapolis was last updated in her late 1960s to early '70s.
In addition to being a little too fancy, storage space was so limited that Harney had to store pots, pans, and small appliances in the basement. Next, there was an issue with the fridge in the hallway.
“I love to cook, but I have to travel a lot,” she said. “We needed more storage space, a better layout, and a more functional kitchen.”
Mr. Harney, meanwhile, decided to go against the tide with his 1927 Craftsman-style home. “Everyone has neutral kitchens right now. I wanted bright colors,” she said.
Semi-retired designer Christine Nelson (Christine Nelson Design) didn't need any convincing to tackle a challenging small kitchen renovation.
“She loves color,” Nelson said. “I also love color, but that's not always possible in a client's kitchen.”
color reliability
Before the renovation, the kitchen was mostly neutral tones, except for the lower cabinets, which were a pale chartreuse color.
Now, the kitchen is bursting with bold colors, starting with new Marmoleum flooring in “celery green.”
“Marmoleum is a rebirth of linoleum, a faithful recreation of the era of housing, and a truly environmentally friendly product,” Nelson said. “It's a big sheet so there aren't too many seams and the colors are really nice so it's really fun. They feel really comfortable on your feet.”
Harney, who studied art and printmaking in college, had tile art in mind for the backsplash above the stove, depicting bubbles from a steaming pot.
Mercury Mosaic in Northeast Minneapolis tweaked the idea, customizing the tiles in blue and orange and using chartreuse (reminiscent of the previous cabinetry).
“It was a very quick process and we were able to produce the tiles within a few weeks,” Harney said. “He labeled the places where the tiles were to be placed A, B, C, D, E. The tile guy said it was easy to install. I don't do much remodeling, but I thought this was pretty cool.”
Orange and turquoise were chosen for the lower base cabinet.
Harney and Nelson both loved using chromatics in the kitchen, but it was important for them to show some restraint. They chose white for the quartz countertops, sink, and most of the upper cabinetry.
“I wanted a way to normalize all the great colors that are out there,” Nelson said.
I take action
Installing the refrigerator in the kitchen required moving major appliances.
“We didn't have a lot of options. The only place we could put a refrigerator was where the stove was,” Nelson said.
The stove was moved where the sink was, and it “made sense to move the sink under the window, which is common,” she said.
A new floor-to-ceiling pantry was installed in the empty space where the refrigerator had been. The new arrangement brought Harney an unexpected bonus.
“Even though we moved the refrigerator into the kitchen, we probably ended up with more storage space,” Nelson says.
clever cabinet
Electric baseboard heaters were installed along one wall, so there was only so much you could do with that part of the kitchen. Nelson and Harney decided to keep the heating system in place and find a way to make the area more functional.
“It would have been really expensive [to remove]“So we built a floating cabinet that we call a buffet,” Nelson said.
Another challenge was designing the upper cabinet between the refrigerator and where it meets the chimney wall.
The area was “very congested and it would have been difficult to open the door and get things out,” Nelson said.
They decided to install open shelving instead of cabinets, making it the perfect place for Harney to display his collection of Mexican pottery. ”[items] It was already the color she wanted for her kitchen,” Nelson said.
Good appetite
Redoing the kitchen was also an opportunity for Harney to update the appliances. She used a dual-fuel gas range from her All Inc. in St. Paul and a hood vent at the top of the chimney.
“I like the modern look of the top of the chimney,” she said. And, “Gas stoves with electric ovens are really great. Electric ovens maintain a more stable temperature than older gas ovens.”
Harney now has everything he needs in one room. That made it so easy to make her signature pasta dishes, which she learned how to make when she spent a semester in Florence.
“It was really nice,” she said. “I don't have to carry things from the hallway to the kitchen anymore. I have more storage so I don't have to run to the basement to get pots or other things.”
