Compact and wide open to the living area - kitchen plan

Sunset, June, 1988

Compact and wide open to the living area An elegant wet bar? Look again. This small, U-shaped kitchen has been transformed to blend seamlessly with the adjacent living-dining room. San Francisco architect Beverly Willis had two goals: to disguise the kitchen's true identity and refine its function. To the owner, who likes to entertain and seldom cooks from scratch, the kitchen's size and wide-open location were virtues. Willis started by dropping a header over the entry and thickening the walls on either side, creating an illusion of grandeur in the small space. On the kitchen's one wall, she installed a grid of glass shelves, flanked by sleek, extra-wide cupboards. Overhead, indirect lighting from behind the soffit casts an even glow over displayed glassware. Additional fluorescent lamps, tucked under the shelves, provide task lighting. Hiding all appliances in the base cabinets did a lot to clean up the look. A blackglass cooktop (by the rear wall) "disappears" amid marble tile. The architect replaced the bulky refrigerator with a scaled-down version, hidden (along with the dishwasher, microwave convection oven, and a warmer drawer) beneath the counters. Willis even managed to squeeze in a trash compactor and a 25-pound ice maker.

PHOTO : Before: standard appliances and dark wood-grain cabinets seemed to dwarf the U-shaped

PHOTO : kitchen (which opens to the living room), broadcasting its identity

PHOTO : After: crisp styling and elegant finish materials transform the tiny kitchen into an

PHOTO : elegant but functional extension of the living area. Painted edges of countertops mimic

PHOTO : the marble-tiled surface