Homes of the Year/Best Kitchen: Unique details and luxe embellishments make this kitchen in a circa 1860 South End town house a feast for the eyes.
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Photograph by Diane Anton
Karen Watson and her husband, Stuart, refurbished their whole circa 1860 Venetian Gothic town house in the South End, but the most significant overhaul was in the kitchen. Karen partnered with kitchen designer Barbara Baratz of Venegas and Company to re-imagine the garden-floor space, both functionally and aesthetically.
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Photograph by Diane Anton
“The first thing she told me,” Baratz recalls, “was that she wanted the kitchen to feel like the rest of the house.” Before making choices about cabinetry and finishes, Baratz reworked the layout. She instituted a classic L-shaped setup, complete with an island, to replace the existing galley formation.
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Photograph by Diane Anton
Karen, who owns Acorn Hill Design in Boston, had been admiring the home for two months when a For Sale sign appeared. By the next day, the town house was theirs. “The minute we walked in,” Karen says, “it felt like home.”
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Photograph by Diane Anton
A glossy charcoal-gray Aga cooker is the kitchen’s centerpiece, set against a glistening backsplash of herringbone-patterned mosaic marble tile.
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Photograph by Diane Anton
The cabinetry, which has a traditional milk-paint finish, blends classic and fanciful elements.
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Photograph by Diane Anton
Some of the cabinets boast glass fronts with an arched silhouette that mimics the bow windows at the front of the house.
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Photograph by Diane Anton
Beneath the glass-front cabinets, bi-fold doors with polished-nickel mesh insets hide the coffee maker, blender, and such.
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Photograph by Diane Anton
On either side of the Aga, the cabinets are relatively simple — inset doors with beaded frames, exposed polished-nickel hinges, and glass knobs.
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Photograph by Diane Anton
Countertops are of darkly veined calacatta blue marble.
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Photograph by Diane Anton
In the eating area, the detail is all in the ceiling. Above the well-worn wood dining table is a magical architectural touch — the ornate frame to an antique skylight, reclaimed from a mansion on Commonwealth Avenue. A huge oval, with spokes radiating from the center and half circles looping around the inner edge like icing on a cake, it’s the room’s crowning glory.
