Wood
Quartersawn Fiddleback Macore veener comes from an African tree also known as African Cherry. The beautiful, wavy, diagonal veining - running at a slight angle to the vertical grain - creates vibrant patterns in the wood that resemble the figuring often found on the backs of fine violins. It took a review of veneer from six trees to finally find the one tree that yielded enough veneer with consistent color and grain to make over 40 lineal feet of 9 foot tall cabinetry.
Glass
The laminated glass backsplash creates a look similar in color to stainless steel but softer and more subtle – and much easier to maintain. It’s made like a car windshield, but with a grey film instead of a clear plastic layer between the two pieces of glass. Each section of the backsplash is one piece of glass. There are no seams.
Countertop Art
The countertop is a stone called Pietra Cardosa. The client, who collects contemporary art, wanted the peninsula countertop to feel like a contemporary sculpture and wrap down over the cabinets to the floor. The top slab has a beautiful, rippled white streak (that looks like a stream of water) running the full 7 feet from the wall to the end of the peninsula. With much searching, we found an end slab with similar white figuring and aligned it to make the white appear to “waterfall” over the end of the peninsula.
A Very High Vent
With a 45 degree ceiling, this kitchen has an 8 foot high outside wall and an interior wall 24 feet high. The clerestory windows, at the top of the wall, dictated the one possible location for the hood vent – and required a custom, stainless steel chimney and vent – at a spectacular 21 feet above the cooktop.
