“I didn’t want a traditional style of kitchen, where you have you three pennants over the island and all these uppers and a tile backsplash,” she says. “I entertain a lot, and I wanted my kitchen to feel like a hotel lobby. So I decided to do a waterfall 9-by-5-foot island and a backsplash that was a slab.”
To her surprise, she discovered that Ann Sacks had a slab gallery. “They’re known for the most incredible tile ever,” she says. “When I found out they were opening a slab gallery in Dallas, the synergy was perfect timing.”
She opted for the Ann Sacks Calacatta Viola, which she calls the “hero” of the kitchen. “It was the jumping-off point for everything else. I loved the warmth and depth and the Bordeaux color,” she says. For lighting, she installed sconces on the backsplash and hung a 9-foot chandelier over the island.
“When you see the Calacatta Viola, you say, holy cow, who would have thought to make that decision? There’s so much color and movement, and yet it’s still a very modern, updated kitchen,” she says. “The way I did this kitchen is completely contemporary, but the warmth of this slab takes it to the most high-end, beautiful, unexpected place. I’m obsessed with it.”