Designed to accomodate multiple cooks, the generous island is where Gary's son Miles gets tips on peeling. The low counters favor kids as well as adults.

We are back at Gary's house preparing salmon for a get-together with mutual friends. It has been almost a year to the day since we designed and rebuilt Gary's kitchen, and we have been by only briefly to check up on things since we packed up our tools. Curious to see how our ideas have played out and how useful our space planning is, we suggested cooking a brunch together in response to Gary's request for my recipe for gravlax, a Scandinavian sugar/salt-cured salmon appetizer. So it was with self-evaluation on our minds, and fish and spices in hand, that we gathered to cook on a recent Saturday morning.

We believe in a kitchen design where all functions can take place simultaneously with the least amount of overlap. The principle we work from is really quite simple. Called Function Centers©, it is based on the notion that similar cooking functions can be performed in several places in the kitchen complex. We already see this trend happening with the two sinks, but what we do not see much yet is a layout based on specific tasks and functions rather than on a set number of appliances. We believe in an open space plan as much as possible to facilitate this philosophy. To us the so-called Kitchen Triangle, touted as the golden rule in kitchen design, is a vestige from the days of the stay-home mom; a time when only one person was cooking for the family.

Open shelves for easy access

Gary's kitchen had undergone a previous renovation sometime in the 1990s. It was Poggenpohl with all the amenities: double wall ovens, smartly used six-inch raised kicks with room for drawers, and all kinds of inserts. The cabinetry wasn't bad, but it was tired, and Gary definitely didn't want fiberboard and delaminating Formica, so we donated the kitchen to Hudson Valley Materials Exchange.

What really got to us all, however, was the layout—it was way wrong. There was no visibility from the functional part of the kitchen into the main space for eating. A good third of the kitchen was partitioned off by a peninsula, with no overhang to sit by. This separation accommodated a washer/dryer closet and a space for a breakfast table. From there, French doors led into the dining room. As for the existing kitchen area itself, it was U-shaped and made abundant use of Non-Working Corners—our definition of an interior counter corner with an appliance, a wall, or a door placed less than 24 inches away, which makes it impossible for two people to occupy the area without butt-bumping. There was no connection between work space and eating area. There were too many or awkwardly placed access points into the kitchen, making it difficult to plan the flow. There was only one area to prepare food with water. There was not enough counter space on both sides of the cooktop. All the elements of an old standard kitchen design that do not take into account the modern lifestyle: busy mornings, jam-packed evening meal preparations with a side order of homework, a family that cooks together.

The kitchen, being the center of the house—and cooking being our client's passion—deserved all our imagination and good design sense.

Gary is of a utilitarian bent: If it's not useful, it doesn't belong in his kitchen—or anywhere else, for that matter. So the marching orders were clear: efficient, efficient, efficient; lots of room to swing the pots; the industrial feel of a commercial kitchen; large storage spaces; open shelves; no small nooks and crannies; and, for God's sake, no frou-frous! (We are still defining what that means; currently it ranges from Cuisinart covers to overly decorated door panels.)

The window bench serves as seating and storage for large platters.

We didn't completely eliminate an inside corner, so when the time came to outfit it, Gary vehemently refused a lazy Susan or a metal foldout unit. Luckily, the dead space was right off the garage entry, so we installed a three-drawer unit on the hallway side for gloves and hats, and a wide utility drawer unit on the kitchen side extending all the way to into the corner. No wasted space.

The new kitchen dwells in a completely open plan and is done with green materials. Similar to his bathroom, which we had completed a few months earlier, Gary's kitchen cabinets are made from bamboo plywood fabricated in our shop. The base cabinets rest on custom-made stainless steel frames, so cleaning is made easier. The main countertop and backsplash is a continuous welded piece of stainless steel, with an integrated steel sink designed by us and manufactured by a professional kitchen supplier in the Bowery. The island has a bamboo countertop finished in tung oil that is polished to a silky-smooth finish. The decorative sides of the island are Kirei Board, and the low counter is burl wood supported by steel brackets.