By Design
Atlanta designers pull back the curtain to unveil their own recent kitchen renovations.
Warm Welcome
Interior designer Margaret Kirkland established a “warm and soulful” ambience in her family’s newly renovated kitchen with the help of rough-hewn wood beams and patinated wood doors, a feature partly inspired by her former boss, iconic Atlanta designer Dan Carithers. “We purchased antique Egyptian doors at Scott Antique Market to create dual pantries to bookend a mahogany breakfront,” she says. Glossy white subway tiles, creamy honed granite countertops and streamlined ivory cabinetry help counter this tactility, creating a clean slate for more intricate accents like Indian iron lanterns and a vent hood constructed partly from fireplace remnants. Most ingeniously, a French antique trestle table and old-world dining chairs sidle up to the island (which boasts a handsome set of gray rattan bar stools), and extend the dining space.
Margaret Kirkland’s kitchen. Photographed by Mali Azima.
Though she and her husband, Ford, have lived in their home for 22 years, it wasn’t until last spring that Carter Kay embarked on a complete kitchen renovation in conjunction with architect William B. Litchfield. Today, with its cleverly concealed appliances and vertical random-width paneling, the galley-style room reads like a butler’s pantry on another level. “I love that you can’t quite tell it’s a kitchen,” Kay says. Enhancing the room’s good looks are open shelves for small artworks and family mementos, leathered granite countertops and a large pantry, newly captured from a former home office and fronted by rustic barn doors. “The Dutch door in the breakfast area is probably our favorite thing,” she adds. “It makes it easy to bring in groceries, and hearing the outside sounds every morning is magic.”
Carter Kay’s kitchen. Photographed by Emily Followill.
Urban Modernity
Todd Pritchett and Craig Dixon all but gutted their Virginia-Highland bungalow to fashion this modern marvel of a kitchen. “It was influenced by our work at Lake Rabun and Lake Burton but still fits our style in the city,” says Pritchett. Avid cooks and frequent hosts for casual entertaining, they most desired an efficient work triangle, concealed state-of-the-art appliances and a beautiful sense of continuity among the kitchen, breakfast area, TV room and remaining residence. Spruce planks, rugged oak beams and black-painted cabinets produce an enveloping quality, but the cantilevered Calacatta Gold marble island top is the real showstopper; the paper-thin, deceptively strong surface extends two feet thanks to engineered steel supports, allowing it to comfortably accommodate four diners for relaxed meals.
Todd Pritchett and Craig Dixon’s kitchen. Photographed by Mali Azima.