25th Annual Kitchen of the Year Winners

This Buckhead gem was the work of noted midcentury architect Andrew Steiner, and it remained unspoiled by renovations in the decades before it was acquired by this creative family of five. Architect Frank Neely took great pains with its redesign, improving flow and functionality while carefully preserving Steiner’s masterful precedent. That included revamping the dated kitchen and public spaces at the heart of the home, an area he transformed by eliminating walls to create an open cooking and entertaining space. Along the perimeter, an expanse of cabinetry is topped by sliding stained-oak windows that overlook a lush front yard; a deceptively simple vent hood all but disappears against the picturesque views. Here, Neely also installed a four-inch step to set off the custom Lacanche range and coordinate with a Caesarstone island of the same width. Tailor-made with a waterfall edge, it takes on the appearance of a Parsons table floating mid-room. In the ceiling above, Neely’s telltale shadow lines are placed on the same axis as the appliance-concealing cabinetry, helping to delineate the adjoining rooms while maintaining visual flow—an effect that milk-washed oak floors selected by interior designer Amy D. Morris enhance beautifully. “We originally wanted light cabinets and dark floors but Amy inverted it, and I think it was a brilliant call,” says Neely. Beyond Morris’s choices for colors, textures and furnishings, her pick for pendants really made the space, explains Neely. “Even with all we did in this kitchen, when you walk in the room and see those light fixtures, they absolutely knock it out of the park,” he says. “In a contemporary kitchen, God is in the details. And here, every detail counts.”

 

Located in a traditional Buckhead neighborhood, this kitchen represents a solid collaboration between D. Stanley Dixon Architect and Design Galleria Kitchen & Bath Studio. During measures to refresh a 1926 house with contemporary updates, Dixon combined three existing rooms to create a sound architectural shell for the kitchen that was bound by an expansive grid of steel windows looking out onto the backyard. The homeowner, a retired family man, had waited 20 years to remodel, and desired a “more open flow for entertaining and a modern space that was flooded with light,” says Design Galleria’s Mary Kathryn Timoney, who served as principal designer on the project. Taking her lead, Design Galleria fabricated an immaculately proportioned bank of seamless, exotic-looking Manzana cabinetry on the walls opposite the windows, where integrated, top-of-the-line appliances flank a pass-through to the home’s private quarters. On a hallway leading to the deck, a shallow stretch of touch-latch pantry cabinets stows the gentleman’s entertaining essentials. One of this room’s shining features is its unique countertop design: An astutely engineered, cantilevered stainless steel peninsula hovers above a Calacatta marble-topped storage island on casters, which can be rolled under the cantilevered counter to free up space or relegated to an opposite wall as a makeshift bar.The clean, linear effect of the room is tempered by the curving, cylindrical shapes of the Futuro vent hood and slim stainless steel pendants. Warm woods and cognac leather stools ramp up the room’s masculine yet balanced aesthetic, while—like a favorite pair of cufflinks—a perfectly scaled Danze faucet serves as the room’s final shining statement piece.

 

For an accomplished international businessman making his own domain out of a Buckhead estate, the team at Poggenpohl completely overhauled a formerly out-of-date, cramped kitchen replete with unsightly details. The renovated results could not be more different. “He was one of those dream clients,” says designer John Coulter. “He just gave us an idea of what colors and appliances he wanted and said, ‘Now you do the rest.’” With the homeowner’s only directive being a dark, streamlined look, Coulter created a moody, masculine scheme using pro stainless steel appliances and dark-toned matte “Titan Gray” cabinetry with an aluminum edge. It integrates such features as a Sub-Zero refrigerator/freezer combo, pull-out pantry and Miele dishwasher. The hardware boasts slim lines, inset brushed aluminum and, for a bit of contrast, the upper cabinetry is composed of etched mirrored glass with soft-close engineering. It’s the perfect complement to perhaps the most impressive range on the market—Wolf. The island includes full-depth hidden cabinetry concealed behind touch-latch doors, providing ample storage without crowding the homeowner’s favorite spot for morning coffee. The home’s interior designer, Shawn Alshut of Studio A2, chose the contemporary wallcoverings and rich black floors, which lend a decidedly handsome effect to the hard-lined room while also blending seamlessly with the surrounding interiors—which are enclosed in a traditional facade that conforms to the neighborhood standard. “This kitchen is an example of Poggenpohl doing more and more work with our product in traditional homes,” says architectural sales manager Alison Weidner. “Modern kitchens are becoming much more common. They are a great way to maintain the exterior of a house in a very traditional Atlanta, while still perking up the inside.”