Europeans know this about us: Americans are obsessed with the efficiencies, spaciousness and luxury of their kitchens and bathrooms. Take a drippy little shower in Provence or flood your floors in a half glassed-in shower in Florence and you’ll know what I mean. Squeeze yourself into an efficient kitchen in Copenhagen or try to prepare a turkey in a Swedish oven and you might bless your lucky stars and stripes for this particular American obsession.
And along with this obsession comes the call to interior designers and architects to re-imagine environments. Fine cabinetry designer Robert D. Caruso of Wainscott recently discussed, “clients (that) are now starting to ask for kitchens to actually not appear as kitchens! The lower cabinets are devoted only to pull-out drawers for cutlery, pots and silverware. Clients prefer not to open a cabinet door below because they don’t want to bend over and search inside the cabinets. Appliances can be seamlessly covered with woodwork, completely blending into a bank of lower cabinets. Upper cabinets above a backsplash are no longer of interest and have been eliminated giving quite an open airy feeling to the room. Glassware, dishes and foodstuffs have been allocated to tall vertical closets that function as large shallow cabinets, that when opened, present the homeowner with the full spectrum of kitchen needs. These 12-inch deep cabinets free up much needed floor space. It’s just another way of looking at it.”
Gerry Cutillo of Montauk Woodworking concurred. “The kitchen island has now become the ‘must have’ area and seems to be ever expanding. Islands are great because you can hang out, facing and talking with others while you’re cooking or cleaning.”
(Personally, I have seen kitchen islands capable of landing a small helicopter and have pitied the poor architect who must design the hangars to harmonize with those heliports.)
That aside, both Cutillo and Caruso agree that the most popular kitchen cabinetry is still the white shaker style; so in keeping with the New England Maritime style, Mr. Cutillo, who represents custom cabinets manufactured by Plain and Fancy and Showplace, sees a trend toward simpler mouldings with pale mint greens, grays and soft yellows as popular East End choices. Though maple is his staple in wood, he has recently installed “a beautiful wormy chestnut master bath and a spectacular red beech kitchen from Canada.”
Mr. Caruso, who manufactures and finishes his own cabinetry in Wainscott, has noticed a definite swing toward retro mid-century styling “with plain slab (flat-no detail) doors in beautifully figured light cherry” recalling the efficient industrial and optimistic kitchens of the Sputnik generation. He has also been creating sleek highly lacquered kitchens in white gloss and ever more frequently, black gloss. Cerused oak (darkly stained wood with beige pigments rubbed into and caught by the grain) are still widely popular lending a swank, “Rat-Packian” air to any butler’s pantry or living room wet bar.
With dishwashers, refrigerators, refrigerator drawers and warming drawers becoming absolutely concealable, the onus on cabinetry is ever more weighty. The opportunity to create even more interesting cabinet fronts has now arrived and the American market is craving them. East End cabinet makers, through the demands of a sophisticated clientele, are truly capable of remarkably detailed work, carving and special finishing virtually any style you so desire.
One of the best sources for cabinetry and vanity inspiration is through the adaptation of antique or vintage cabinets. For instance, for a light, airy yet stylish appearance, look to Swedish Gustavian sideboards: light gray doors with distinctive vertical ribbing could be quite effective. Typical to some Swedish furniture, are the slightly raised diamond shaped panels that fit cleverly into the door panels, giving unique flare to a kitchen cabinet door when repeated frequently. And oh- those finishes: layers of greiges and whites filtering through to softly soaped pine!
Or perhaps for your wine bar over the brick floors that lead to your vineyard, you might like a 17th century monk’s wardrobe door as your inspiration with deeply carved concentric circles of walnut patinated through years of lovingly polished wax.
While creating a Zen spa, why not look to the Elmwood altar tables or kimono armoires? Their rich joinery is an inspiration and the hardware can be found online and at Olde Good Things.
Furniture from the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s maintains its popularity through its cheery freshness, exuberant creativeness and throw tradition-to-the-wind attitude. Inventive kitchen cabinetry fronts can be easily adapted from this rich source, so keep your mind open and your digital camera charged.
French Louis XIII trunks with wonderful flattened pyramid shapes inspired for me an entire kitchen and butler’s bar. One of my design associates developed an entire laundry room adapted out of an old Mormon pie safe—lining up triangular patterns of drilled holes in the cabinet fronts, ingeniously practical for ventilation and stunningly graphic.
For pool house and cabana vanities, Balinese chests might inspire. The practical louvered doors are an excellent visual source and much can be adapted from these Indonesian designs, especially when close to the wet areas.
I would, of course, be suggesting employing such antique and vintage furniture if a) it isn’t too valuable, b) its dimensions fit, and c) it is structurally sound. I am all for adaptive reuse, but find it most often quite frustrating for the above reasons. And there are companies, of course, that supply antique style and vintage style vanities. But we all have a wonderful chance in our kitchens and bathrooms to glean from rich furniture history, selecting something perhaps a bit more eclectic, eccentric and maybe even a bit outré that can both personalize our interior environment and maybe even set it apart a bit.
Marshall Watson is a nationally recognized interior and furniture designer who lives and works in the Hamptons and New York City. Reach him at 105 West 72nd Street, Suite 9B, New York, NY 10023.
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