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When Julie and Craig Ream bought their O’Hara Township house nine years ago, they knew they were buying a spec-built house. At the time that didn’t matter. The house was big enough for them and their three boys. (Daughter Lucy came along three years later.) If there was one problem with the house, the Reams say, it was the size of the kitchen. The couple liked to cook and the kitchen in their new home didn’t feel right. It was small and dark and didn’t have enough cabinets. There simply was not enough room in the kitchen for the young couple and their growing family. “We always felt we should renovate the kitchen and make this house our own,” said Julie, adding she and her husband, an insurance executive, talked about redoing their kitchen off and on for years. Nothing ever happened until Craig finally green lighted the project in the summer of 2008. “He said ‘let’s get our dream kitchen,’ ” Julie said. “And I really didn’t care what he wanted in the kitchen. I just wanted a new kitchen.”
“He told me I should get over to Julie’s house as soon as possible,” remembers Ruth. “And I did.” Ruth said her first thought on seeing the Reams’ kitchen was “this couple needs more space.” More importantly, the kitchen needed to be practical for the couple, their active lifestyle and for their children; twins Chris and Andy, 12; Ben, 9 and Lucy, now 6. Julie says when work began, she sent her sons to a two-week summer camp. When the boys returned, the family spent the rest of the summer on Cape Cod with Craig’s mother. The first thing Ruth suggested to the Reams was taking down the wall that separated the formal dining room from the kitchen creating one large, open space. By taking this step, Julie would be able to stand in the kitchen and have an unobstructed view to the front and the back of her home. It also boosted the size of the Reams’ kitchen from 380 square feet to 615 square feet, making it the largest room in the house. “We only used the dining room maybe once or twice a year,” Julie said. A tiered ceiling with recessed lighting and built-in speakers was installed to give the entire kitchen a unified look and take away any impression the kitchen was once two rooms. To complete the sensation of wholeness, the original oak floors were completely refinished and given a soft, muted new tone. The longest wall of the kitchen was now the far right wall running virtually the entire depth of the house. A small powder room by the front entrance claims the final few feet. The back side of the wall faces the home’s three car garage and laundry room. It was along this wonderful, new long wall that Ruth remedied the original kitchen’s lack of storage by having floor-to-ceiling Seville cabinetry installed. The finish is honey maple with a chocolate glaze, a beautiful compliment to the new floor. Worked into this wall of cabinetry is a professional, five burner DCS oven with a 17-inch griddle and a large refrigerator with a separate freezer. The refrigerator and freezer are disguised by matching cabinet fronts. “I am a paranoid designer when it comes to appliances,” Ruth said. “I like to keep them hidden.”Finishing off this portion of the cabinetry is a microwave oven embedded in the wall. A shelf matching the cabinetry sits underneath the microwave. If Julie, or one of the children, is cooking something in the microwave, they can slide out the tray and put the item on it to cool. Finally, where the dining room once was, Julie kept her dining table and chairs giving the family the option of a more formal space for special occasions. Ruth had a special floating cabinet designed to resemble a credenza. “Craig and I didn’t think we would like it,” Julie said. “But, we do.” THE GRAND ISLAND A large, granite-topped island sits at the center of the Reams’ kitchen. This 10-foot long, L-shaped island not only dominates the kitchen, but acts as its nerve center as well. The island itself is two-tiered. The lower tier of the island serves as a food preparation area, with the short end of the L toward the back end of the kitchen serving as a baking area with its own built-in mixer. The long-end of the L, paralleling the cabinet wall, The upper tier of the island is designed as a casual eat-in and gathering spot for family and guests with room for six “This island incorporates the 2009 way people are eating and communicating,” Ruth said. Julie agrees. “With this island, the kids can come into the kitchen without coming into my space. It is a straight shot from the front door to MORE CHANGES Julie said her husband wanted a wet bar because they entertain frequently and think nothing of having 100 people in their home at a single gathering. Ruth placed the bar at the near end of the kitchen in the opposite corner from the dining table. It features a small sink, a temperature-controlled wine cooler and the same granite finish as the lower tier of the center island. To really open the space for entertaining, Ruth also widened the entry way between the family room and kitchen. Specially-built wooden panels that match the kitchen cabinets were installed on both sides of the entry way, blending the rooms together.
Aside from their four young children, the Reams have two large dogs, Truman, a Golden Retriever, and Stella, a Chocolate Labrador. To the left side of the deep sink, the Reams had a special cabinet made. When the bottom drawer is opened, two large dog bowls are visible. “You would never know they are there,” Julie said. Above the counter in the far corner is mounted a 37-inch, flat-screen television. The TV is easily viewed from the center island. As a final touch, two Tiffany-inspired pendant lights, provided by Lighting by Eric of Mt. Lebanon, hang down from the ceiling above the deep sink. NO REGRETS Julie says her entire family loves the new kitchen. And she loves the fact that she can make dinner uninterrupted and be able to talk with her children at the same time. “It really has brought us closer together as a family,” she said. “The kids love it. They sit at the island and do their homework and talk about what is going on in school. They get pancakes more often too.” If there is one regret, it would be the cost of the 12-week renovation. While Julie declined to say how much the total project ran, she did say it cost more than originally anticipated. “It was way more than we thought we Despite having a brand-new kitchen with a professional oven, Julie sheepishly admits she still goes out to eat. |
The Reams asked a friend, David Milcheck, owner of Premier Construction & Design, an Aspinwall general contractor, if he could recommend a designer. Milcheck recommended Ruth Thompson, president of New Angle Design in Allison Park, with whom he had worked on previous projects.
features a sink, dishwasher and trash compactor.
While the sliding glass doors leading from the kitchen to the back patio let in a lot of natural light, still more was called for. To accomplish this, Ruth had the original small window replaced with a large three-panel, bay window. Beneath this window sits the final section of Julie and Craig’s dream kitchen – another length of Sienna Bordeaux granite and custom-built cabinetry, which houses a second, hidden dishwasher. In the center of the counter is inset a special deep sink at Julie’s request. “I wanted a deep sink so no one would see the dirty dishes,” Julie said.