To celebrate her heritage, one of our clients asked us to develop a rustic kitchen design aesthetic that expressed Tuscan style. Tuscan style favors a brawny, earthy look--the look of a space that has been around for a long time and has been well lived in.
A Rustic Kitchen Design Expresses Tuscan Style
The Tuscan style typically expresses a feeling mass and weight. For this kitchen design and remodeling project, the designers took a light-hearted turn on this rustic, hefty looking style. We will call Tuscan lite.
The scheming began the day the clients purchased a wonderfully spacious home in the Kentlands, a quiet, leafy village in Montgomery County, Maryland. They chose the home in spite of the kitchen. It would be only a matter of time until that was corrected.
Like the rest of the home, the kitchen was generously proportioned. So, for once, space was not the problem. The problem was that
a) the interior had not been well designed
b) the cabinets, counter tops, paint colors--everything really was pretty blah and generic.
See for yourself:
This is the kitchen that came with the house
As you can see in the photo above it's a large, open kitchen space just crying out for something NOT this.
Our kitchen designer answered the cry for help with this lush expression of color and personality.
Burnished earth tones are classic in the tuscan color palette.
New hardwood wide plank flooring was hand finished to give a "distressed look.
The visual aesthetic of the kitchen was carried through in a remodeling of the adjacent family room. A thematic element that ties the kitchen and family room is the rustic looking faux ceiling beams.
The profile of the hearth repeats the profile of the range hood in the kitchen
The keys to achieving the Tuscan kitchen style have to do with materials and finishes. Rough looking textured surfaces include porous stone and wood work that has been distressed. Obviously, we toned down the roughness and traded it for richness in the look of the family room which nevertheless includes similar tones and materials.
Learn about how to approach a kitchen design and remodeling project by downloading The Definitive Guide to Kitchen Design & Remodeling Success.
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