If you’ve thought about remodeling or building in the past 8 years, your search browser or favorite remodeling shows have been dominated by farmhouse kitchens. Being from a more rural area outside of Ann Arbor, MI, I’ve done my fair share. And not surprisingly, very few were in actual farmhouses. But what happens when a client asks for a farmhouse kitchen and then begins to explain that they don’t like farm sinks, rustic beams, or the general color schemes that would normally occupy those spaces?

First Glance

Upon my first visit to the residence, I came across what I’d seen in hundreds of homes before. The sight of builder grade honey oak cabinets in a cramped little kitchen with a partition wall dividing the everyday space from a disconnected and neglected one. I knew as soon as I saw that wall that it was load bearing which always gets my gears turning. Being a licensed builder and having been involved in primarily renovations my entire career, I’m used to trying to solve for what’s bearing weight and how I can displace it to achieve what I want.

Next stop was to the bar downstairs which is where they hosted most of their events. One whole wall of TVs, one whole wall of bar seating, and a heck of a lot more seating in between. These clients took gameday seriously!

The Wishlist

Some clients know what they want and some we need to find it out together. These clients had an idea, but also what they didn’t want included most of the items that were diametrically opposed to what they said they did. The first part of the wishlist was to have a farmhouse kitchen. So my first reaction was to mention some of the aspects of those spaces and after every one, I got a sharp “we don’t like that”. Interesting.

The next part of the wishlist was seating. The clients are entertainers and die-hard Michigan State University fans. I’m not a sports guy, but my wife graduated law school from MSU making me a fan by default. Go green! Go sports!

Every now and then I get a feeling from a client that I can’t explain. After talking to this man, he seemed like someone who commands respect, which put me a little on my toes. My mission was set:

  • 1.) Give her the kitchen she dreamed of
  • 2.) Don’t disappoint him
  • 3.) Create a farmhouse-not-farmhouse kitchen
  • 4.) Don’t forget #2 while solving for #3

The Solutions

Every consultation, I create a list of items to include in my design. Sometimes it’s 7-8 elements. Sometimes is 40-50. I know my design is done when it answers two questions. 1.) Did I get them at least 95% of the wishlist and 2.) would I put this kitchen in my own home. Despite having answered yes to both of those questions, I was still nervous going into that presentation. I shouldn’t have been – they loved the entire kitchen presentation. We made very little changes, if any, and the color scheme was a homerun. They left the showroom and I was pleased with how everything went.

Less than 24 hours later, I get a call from him asking me a strange question. “When can we get cabinets here?”. I chuckled and told him we still had the whole design process to go through and that these were custom cabinets and would take months. He chuckled back and told me that he went home and gutted the kitchen and that it’s time to get started. I wasn’t even retained. He didn’t even have the designs. He had only seen them the one time. Talk about making an impact!

Turns out he builds commercial buildings for a living all over the country. What’s building a Walmart compared to a kitchen. Let’s get this show on the road!

To accommodate the loadbearing wall I wanted to remove, I created an equispaced beam pattern on the ceiling that blended the functioning beam in with aesthetic ones. I left them drywall wrapped, but inlaid a hickory wood floor between and then added a painted crown to create a ceiling design halfway between traditional beams and a coffer which had just enough wood to feel a little more rustic.

With that wall down, I extended the island down to provide more seating for entertaining. I had to watch my space because we also wanted to fit a large table in the now exposed dining space. (The table would later be made out of an old table saw from a shop class that got canceled at a local high school – talk about a cool repurposed piece!). I carried the kitchen all the way down to the exterior front wall of the house which made the kitchen feel twice as large. This also replaced the storage lost from removing the wall. Instead of traditional ship lap, I used planking spaced further apart instead of being tongue and groove. I kept thinking “farmhouse but not farmhouse” and challenged myself to rethink some of the identifiable norms. The final product was inviting, dramatic, and worked in their favorite color: green.

It’s fitting that we got an invite to come see it completed at a MSU gameday party. We walked in and the regulars were blown away at the transformation. Instead of everyone being packed down at the 20’+ bar in the basement with the wall of TVs, people were enjoying the upstairs as much as they were the downstairs!