Stoffer’s first impression? That the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home was “absolutely claustrophobic.” It had the kind of kitchen where they “pack as many cabinets in as possible and hope only one person at a time wants to be in there,” says Stoffer.
Like Stein, however, she could also see beyond what the home was to what it could be. “After doing this for a while, when I look at a potential project, what I’m really looking at isn’t what I don’t like, but what I do have to work with,” says Stoffer. “With this house, it wasn’t so much the aesthetics, it was the great location, a pretty yard, and plenty of square footage to work with. There was room to go places, like vaulting the ceiling.”
She and Stein worked with an architect to transform the kitchen, which now overlooks the backyard and opens up to the family room. They also carved out three distinct but not disparate spaces: the main kitchen; the coffee bar, and the back kitchen, or scullery.
In the open-concept main kitchen, Stoffer tiled the range wall with Ann Sacks' Idris by Ait Manos tile in Nacre White, which she says complements the taupe island and brass-edged taupe range and the veins in the quartzite countertops.