Texture and Color add Personality to a Connecticut Kitchen

Floating shelves break up the expanse of white cabinets and offer a spot to display pretty things.

Enigma, a durable manufactured material that’s dead ringer for marble tops the island.

The beverage station’soak surround adds warmth and personality.

As a mom of five, interior designer Laura Gorman understands the importance of function and efficiency in  the kitchen. That doesn’t mean skimping on the beauty, however. Because this Westport kitchen was in a spec home, Gorman and kitchen designer Karen Berkemeyer felt giving it personality was important. “I wanted it to have the character of an older home,” Gorman explains.

The design pros traded opinions on everything from the layout, which has all the surface space and storage options any home cook could dream up, to the colors and materials. Shaker-style cabinetry with brushed brass hardware gives the space its classic look. “People often put crown moldings at the top of cabinets,” Berkemeyer points out, “but we did a very simple molding with square details.”

Personality comes from the variety of textures and colors. One bank of cabinetry sports a dreamy blue-gray paint with a built-in beverage station of warm oak, a material repeated in the floating shelves near the sink. Island pendant lights with ceramic shades are a textural counterpoint to the glossy white subway-tile backsplash walls.

The design team doesn’t know who came along and bought this house, but it’s easy to believe the pretty and practical kitchen is what won them over.

Project Team
Interior design: Laura Gorman, Laura Gorman Interiors
Kitchen design: Karen Berkemeyer, Karen Berkemeyer Home
Builder: Bluewater Home Builders