Favorite Space: Open Design Kitchen

I’ve got a special treat for you as part of our “Favorite Spaces” series today! Kathleen from Lindsay Hill Interiors is as sweet and genuine as her designs are beautiful. Her kitchen is one of those spaces that stops me in my tracks every time I see it… I can’t wait for her to tell you all about it! Welcome, Kathleen…

Tell me a bit about yourself and your blog.

Hi there! My name is Kathleen Field, and I’m the owner of Lindsay Hill Interiors (nope – name’s not Lindsay!), a boutique design firm offering interior design services in Utah (where I live), and E-Design services for those farther away. I’m so happy to meet you, and I appreciate Rachel allowing me to pop on over and visit with you all!

Let me tell you just a tiny bit about myself: My husband and I met in college, got married as 20 year olds (well, I was 20 – he was a mature 22!). We have lived all over the United States: Utah, Connecticut (twice), New Hampshire, Texas (twice), Georgia, Tennessee, New York (twice) and New Mexico.

We have five children, eight beautiful grandchildren, and one anxious weim named Ghost, and our family just continues to grow!

In all that moving, we have bought and sold over two dozen homes, some of which required lots of renovations and sprucing up, so I have had plenty of practice honing my design skills and refining my style and my taste in homes and design.

I love making my home(s) pretty and comfortable for my family, and I get just as much pleasure out of helping friends and clients feel happy, cozy and comfortable in their homes, too, through my design services. You can read more about the design services I offer here.

What is your favorite space and what is its function?

My favorite space in my home has to be my kitchen. It is the quintessential heart of the home – it’s where our family cooks, plays, eats, and has fun together, and it’s where we gather with friends and neighbors.

I love to eat, I love to bake, and I love to have my family share in those loves, so our kitchen is definitely our gathering spot.

We also use the big island in our kitchen for all kinds of arts and crafts activities, as well as gingerbread house making and cookie decorating with the grandkids, so our kitchen really wears all kinds of hats!

How would you describe the style of your space?

Our kitchen is open to the living room and the dining area of our home. We’re not a formal family, and our home reflects that casual lifestyle that we prefer.

Although our kitchen is not a formal, fussy space, it is a functional and pretty one. It’s big, open, and bright – all of which work well with for gathering family and enjoying preparing and sharing meals together in this happy space.

One thing I especially love about our kitchen is that we can have 2 or 20 people mingling in this space, and it still feels spacious and comfortable.

Are there any DIY projects or elements in the space?

Ha! I used to do tons of DIY projects. Almost all of our former homes were filled with my projects and DIY favorites. I’ve painted cabinets, tiled floors, installed board and batten millwork, wallpapered, stenciled, etc. We’ve been in our home for 3 years, and I think the only DIY project I’ve managed so far is sewing slipcovers for my sofa, settee, and two armchairs. That took me FOREVER, and I haven’t really sewn or DIY’d since (still in recovery mode!).

Looking at the above picture reminds me that I haven’t been totally lazy – there is one lonely DIY project in this space – my painted dresser which serves as a sideboard in my dining area. I bought this piece at a flea market, brought it home, painted it a creamy white with a touch of gold on the feet and the bottom band, and cleaned up the original brass hardware. I love it – it adds tons of charm to my dining area, plus adds handy storage space for table linens.

Do you have any favorite memories or fun stories that have happened in this space?

I have so many memories of family dinners gathered around this table. My husband and I have five children who are now all grown and married, and we have 8 grandchildren! So we have celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, engagements and holidays in this spot. The family keeps growing, so we have now spilled over from the dining table to the island, and that doesn’t bother me one bit!

This is our dining area from last spring. You can see the whole tour here.

Here was our dining area all dressed up for an Easter brunch with the grandkids – you can see more of this table here.

Another fun tradition we have is baking and decorating gingerbread houses and cookies at Christmas times. Our island is the perfect spot – lots of elbow room for messy little fingers to work. You can see some of my kitchen and dining area at Christmas time here.

Do you have any future plans for the space?

I’d love to change the finish of my dining table. I bought it 9 years ago, and I’m feeling the need to lighten up the original very dark espresso finish. Right now I’m debating between painting it a creamy white, or stripping it and applying a grayed wood finish to it. If you have any great ideas for me (short of buying a new dining table) I’d love to hear them!

What advice would you give a reader who was interested in creating a similar feel in his or her home?

If you like a light, bright, open kitchen, then here are my top five tips for creating a happy, casual gathering spot for your own family to enjoy preparing and sharing meals together:

  1. Keep your kitchen open to your dining and living spaces. That way friends and family can chat and mingle as meals and treats are being prepared. I hate being isolated in the kitchen doing prep or clean up work while my family or guests visit in another room. An open floorpan allows for easy mingling of spaces and people.
  2. Your kitchen doesn’t have to be white for it to be light and bright. Make sure you have lots of good lighting – both natural and artificial. We put big windows in our dining area, and all that natural light spills into the kitchen since it’s an open space. Make sure you also allow for plenty of under-counter task lighting, as well as plenty of overhead lighting. You can never have too much lighting in a kitchen! (Well, I suppose you can, but you know what I mean!)
  3. If you do go with an all white kitchen, mix in lots of natural elements, like wood countertops or floors, wood barstools, natural rugs, wood beams, or other natural and textural elements to help warm the space up.
  4. A big island is a great space for meal prep, extra seating, and work space for fun things like gingerbread house making. Give yourself plenty of elbow room with an island large enough to accommodate that buffet dinner you throw for your neighborhood friends.
  5. Choose easy to clean surfaces for your countertops and appliances. One disadvantage of an open floorpan is that your kitchen will be visible from your living room and dining area. Make sure you keep your surfaces easy-to-clean so that you’re not stressing about messes. I went with honed black granite countertops on the perimeter of my kitchen, and a super easy care quartzite for my island. Spills wipe up in a flash, and we’ve had no staining or pitting. I think in my next house I’ll do cabinets fronts for my appliances so I don’t have to worry about keeping stainless steel looking smudge free.

If you’d like to learn more about my design services, or read my home decor and design blog, I’d love for you to hop on over and join me in one of these places (or even better – all of them!).

 

Lindsay Hill Interiors

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It’s been so nice chatting with you – hope to see you again soon!

Tour a gorgeous open design white kitchen by the talented Kathleen of Lindsay Hill Interiors

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4 Comments

  1. Oh, wow! This is a gorgeous space! I love the pops of color and all of the light. This is a kitchen I would spend lots of time in.

  2. Thank you, Rachel for letting me visit with you and your readers today!

    It was so fun to sit and chat with you – enjoy your day!

    Xo

    Kathleen

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