Kitchen Design Tip 1: A Little Practicality Can Be Beautiful

Designer Melanie Finkleman of Hazel and Brown wasn’t creating a show kitchen for her client—this space needed to do some heavy lifting. “She’s a registered holistic nutritionist,” says Finkleman. “A functional kitchen is everything to her. She wants to have the space to prepare healthy meals for her family.” Finkleman brought in a farmhouse-modern design (warm flat-grain white oak millwork, honey-bronze cabinet hardware), centred on a marble-topped island “as large as the space could handle,” as per the homeowner’s wishes. Finkleman spent a long time tracking down the right slab for the space and, in the end, she chose a piece of Calacatta marble, with a durable Tuff-Skin finish on it to prevent staining and scratching—but to make the island even more practical, she suggested they incorporate a walnut butcher block at one end. “It’s both aesthetic and functional,” she says. “It’s a built-in cutting board, which they use on a regular basis. But visually, the island would have felt too massive in the space with just the marble slab-it really helps with the scale.”

Keep It Up
The recessed wood ceiling helps define the large space and keeps it from feeling overwhelming. “It’s almost the same effect as an area rug in the living room,” says Finkleman. The cedar beams aren’t structural, but look as though they could be as if the inner workings of the home have been exposed.

Pattern Play
The backsplash behind the range includes two different tiles. There’s a decorative, hand-painted terracotta tile from Walker Zanger that was on the homeowners wish list from the start. “They loved the hints of blue and real earthiness to it,” says Finkleman. The brick tile above it, a Moroccan zellige tile, is seen throughout the kitchen. “It’s an ode to the farm-house-modern design,” she says. “There’s a lot of warmth and texture to it.”