The kitchen had a dark past

Sunset, Jan, 1985

The kitchen had a dark past

Pushing out a wall a mere 6 feet helped turn a dark, low-ceilinged kitchen into a bright and spacious room. The increase in light comes partly from windows added along the new outside corner--before, the kitchen had only a few small windows. But three skylights centered in the redesigned roof do the most to bring light deep indoors.

The skylights sit in a 6- by 9-foot flat section in the house peak. As the sketch shows, the flat part starts at the top of the original hip roof. Because the roof pitch over the addition remains the same, it's as if the room had been cut in half at the ridge line and pulled sideways.

Doing away with the 8-foot-high ceiling and opening up to the full roof height added overhead volume. But removing the ceiling joists and widening the room couldn't have been done without redesigning the roof structure. An open box made of 4-by-14 beams rings the flat section. Its weight comes down on four 4-by-4 posts; they rest on room-spanning beams that carry the load to the side walls.

Architect Tom Lukes of Holewinski and Blevens Architects in Salinas, California, designed the remodel for owners Donna and Bob Honnors.

Photo: High-ceilinged kitchen has room-spanning beams at level of old ceiling. Light-stained rough white pine siding covers ceiling

Photo: Dotted lines mark former outside wall, roof line, and ceiling. Expansion required new perimeter foundation