As we celebrate our Feast Issue, the hub of the home becomes more important than ever—for home cooks and chefs alike. Here are some of our favorite spaces in the Roaring Fork Valley, created by great local designers.
The breakfast room features a banquette by Bartlett’s Fine Cabinetry, ebonized wood chairs with black leather straps by Flexform and a Gervasoni pendant.
Who wants to spend time in the kitchen during the summer? We do! Especially if it’s one of the four kitchens featured here, by some of Aspen’s top interior designers and architects. Get ready to be inspired.
The kitchen’s bright breakfast nook.
“There’s something about a Waterworks kitchen,” says Joe McGuire, founder and principal designer of Joe McGuire Design. “It’s so bespoke, and there’s so much detailing. The fittings are so nice, and there’s really beautiful movement to the veining in the marble.”
The welcoming kitchen contrasts white marble countertops and white-brick wall tiles with dark custom cabinetry, all by Waterworks
There’s also something about the intuitive approach he and partner Matthew Tenzin take with all of their design projects. This one is home to an active family and their many friends.
“It’s a very active, fun house,” says McGuire. “The refrigerator drawer is always full of beverages, and somebody’s always at the island or the breakfast table, playing games or on the computer. The whole concept design was to make it as bright and inviting as possible.” A protective film was placed atop the marble to help protect the surface, just in case.
Pendant lights are by Allied Maker, and counter stools at left are from CB2.
KRISTIN DITTMAR DESIGN
Expanding seating and dining space, the open dining area features an oak and metal table by Mark Jupiter paired with classic Wegner CH20 Elbow chairs.
The Red Mountain location of this elevated home (by Thunderbowl Architects) greatly influenced its interior work, and the kitchen is a perfect example. “It’s a big open floor plan with a focus on entertaining,” says interior designer Kristin Dittmar of Kristin Dittmar Design. “We wanted to make the kitchen feel light and user-friendly.” Another goal, to make a statement with marble, was creatively achieved with dramatic effect. Behind the sink and framing the views, Dittmar specified natural Statuarietto Italian marble, aligning its veining to reflect the mountainscape outside. High-end, industrial laminate BenchCraft cabinets—stained to resemble white oak—were added for contrast. “It’s calming and monochromatic,” says Dittmar. Major appliances, including a pair of giant Sub-Zero refrigerators with wine storage, disappear into the walls. Counter stools offer front-row seating to the culinary show.
An adjoining dining area infuses color into the space—the custom upholstery is by Tatterdemalion (tatterdemalioninc.com), and the pendant is by Graypants
ROWLAND+BROUGHTON ARCHITECTURE AND INTERIOR DESIGN
For most kitchens, whether designed for preparing an informal family dinner or a feast for a crowd, success comes from the organization of everything—from cooking, prep and dining areas to storage for dishes and glassware. An ample pantry is a must.
Open and inviting, the kitchen features a skylight with motorized shades, and the countertops are Glacier White Corian.
And while this white-on-white kitchen in a home at the base of Aspen Highlands accomplishes all that handily, it takes the design concept to new heights. “Everything is centered on the skylight,” explains Sarah Broughton, principal of Rowland+Broughton Architecture and Interior Design. “It has motorized shades that can be adjusted to flood the kitchen with natural light or cool it down as needed.”
Light oak flooring, a stainless-steel stove, backsplash and hood, and white Corian countertops provide a neutral backdrop for culinary artistry. “We kept it really clean and soothing,” says Broughton. “We let the food be the art.”
Dining and entertaining are easy in this stunning space, which opens to an equally stunning mountain view. Flooring is poured concrete.
Z-GROUP ARCHITECTS
“It’s the focal point of the home,” says architect Seth Hmielowski, principal architect of Z-Group Architects, about the 600-plus-square-foot kitchen and pantry he designed in a client’s luxe Snowmass home. No surprise there. Designed for entertaining, the space is organized around a substantial central island, which, beyond providing workspace for everyday cooking, often is center stage for catering chefs. “People can interact and the chef becomes part of the party,” says Hmielowski. Key features—custom rift-sawn, oak-paneled Florense cabinets framing double Gaggenau ovens and disguising the refrigerator and freezer, and an oversize Gaggenau range with double stainless-steel hoods—are all functional and attractive. Topping it off is the 30-foot-wide glass door system that slides open to unobstructed views of the Elk Mountain Range.
The experience extends to an outdoor dining and gathering area with outstanding views.
Photography by: DAVID MARLOW, BROOKE CASILLAS, BRENT MOSS PHOTOGRAPHY, SHAWN O’CONNOR
