The old kitchen didn't have space for a table

Sunset, Nov, 1986

The old kitchen didn't have space for a table More is less when unnecessary walls rob a room of needed living or working space. In an old-fashioned kitchen compartmented into pantry, service porch, and cooking area, the walls came out and the space became the single, airy, open room shown here. Counter placement establishes the kitchen functions previously separated by walls.

The original kitchen didn't even have enough space for a table. Berkeley architect Jay Claiborne replaced the wall between pantry and service porch with a butcher block-topped peninsula. By setting the new peninsula 3 feet inside the space of the old service porch, he gained enough space for a breakfast table.

Claiborne also removed the wall between the service porch and the kitchen proper, taking advantage of existing windows on three sides to create a single work zone with a flood of natural light. The sink, refrigerator, and range are carefully situated off the main traffic path, which leads through the back of the kitchen to a guest room beyond.

A new sliding door, hung on a barn-door track, opens to the dining room, taking up less space than a conventional swinging door would.

The old kitchen did have handsome, glass-gaced upper cabinets, as well as serviceable drawers and under-counter cabinets; these were recycled to serve the present room.