Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles
March/April 2007

A Dresser Homes kitchen will be featured on the Junior League of Atlanta’s Tour of Kitchens

The kitchen at 1692 Friar Tuck resides in a Manor Style House composed of brick, stone, and exposed heavy timber. The home is abased on a traditional floor plan that has been opened up to facilitate the modern lifestyle of today’s living patterns.
     The home’s rustic façade gives way to a casual, yet sophisticated interior. The easily accessible kitchen is creatively designed to perform with ease and elegance while entertaining.
     The kitchen’s spacious design provides a main work space contained in a galley style formation defined by a large island allowing the cook to maintain casual conversations while putting the final touches on the meal.
     The cabinets are a traditional flat panel door with a small bead on the interior of the rails. They are painted Gettysburg Grey by Benjamin Moore. The counter tops are Venatino Marble. The main wall of the kitchen is covered with 1x10 planking with no upper cabinets. The wall contains a few open shelves that display white, ceramic serving dishes similar to those found in an old English farm house.

Better Homes and Gardens
Special Interest Publications • Kitchen and Bath Ideas
March/Arpil 2006

Crafty Newcomer – In a historical neighborhood, the new kid on the block respects its Arts and Crafts elders while living in sync with the present.

Is it possible to teach a new house old tricks? Absolutely. With a nod to the past as well as the future, this showcase kitchen artfully blends early-20th-century style with design elements that appeal to modern sensibilities.
    The 19x13-foot room is the centerpiece of an Arts and Crafts home by architect David Fowler and builder Gary Dresser. Their goal was to create an estate-level spec house that would blend into Ansley Park, a historical Atlanta neighborhood.
    Like its 1920s neighbors, the two-story home is suffused with architectural character. Details such as flared columns and graceful arches are introduced on the exterior and continued throughout. The floor plan also borrows heavily from the past, incorporating intriguing nooks and cozy spaces, while keeping room-to-room connections relatively open.
    Fowler admits that blending old and new ideas isn’t always easy, especially in a kitchen. “You’re constantly trying to balance the contemporary desire for open spaces with a need for concealment,” he says. “Basically, you want to be able to converse with guests and family while you’re cooking, but you don’t want everyone staring right at the sink clutter. And you don’t want them underfoot.”
    Three rooms surround the kitchen. On one side, a counter-height peninsula separates the cook’s zone from a casual dining area, offering guests a perch. Behind the main sink and cleanup zone, a partial wall rises 54 inches, creating a “peek-through” to a central hall and family room across the way. “We’ve found the 52 to 54 inches is just the right height to bring people together while still offering enough concealment,” Fowler notes. Stout, tapered pillars and a dramatic arch frame the view.
    The kitchen’s third neighbor is a traditional butler’s pantry, which creates a link to the formal dining room. An actual butler might never appear, but caterers find it a handy staging area for parties—as do the homeowners. Hutchlike cabinets there keep formal china and glassware where needed, and the room’s additional sink and dishwasher speed special-occasion cleanup.
    The range placement is another twist on a bygone notion—isolating the stove so that its heat doesn’t make living areas uncomfortable. Here, two sing walls form an alcove for the range and microwave oven. “In a space this size, it’s really nice to keep the cooking area a little bit separate from the places where children and guests tend to gather,” Fowler says.
    Even the kitchen’s style is fresh take on the past. It’s Arts and Crafts, but with a lighter touch. “This was a spec house, so we kept the overall palette fairly neutral,” ways interior designer Kay Douglass, who selected the surfaces and finishes. The sophisticated look combines khaki cabinetry and walls with an oak floor stained like black walnut. The gentle contrast warms handle faucets, and subway tile add vintage flavor.
    The result is a classic, richly detailed space that will no doubt withstand the test of time—perhaps even better than its venerable neighbors.