Joseph Hennessy is a sailor; his wife Gwen Franco is a geologist. Together they wanted to create a kitchen in their new Gibson Island home that represented their disparate interests and their unique personalities while maintaining an overall appearance of sleek modernism.
“We looked at incorporating stone because of the geology; we wanted wood—teak and mahogany—for warmth like you would have on a ship,” explains Hennessy. “[The kitchen] takes in the nautical as well as the natural.”
The couple has a large family and designed the kitchen for entertaining. The space is open to the living room and balances a large fireplace at one end with the striking architectural elements of the kitchen. The room’s plan includes a private “back kitchen” that can be used by caterers during parties or by the couple when they are home alone, leaving the front “public kitchen” open for drinks and entertaining. The homeowners worked with designers from Kitchen Encounters in Annapolis to detail the kitchen’s plan. The thoughtful selection of natural and industrial materials—mostly warm woods and stainless steel—was key to the success of the design.
“I think it is breathtaking,” says Mark White, CKD, owner and chief designer, “because of the overall architecture and how well the kitchen fits into the home.”
Like a ship at sea, the kitchen looks most romantic when it is lit at night.“The faucet in the bar sink has an LED light that changes color so you can really play with the light,” says Hennessy. The tops of the cabinets are outfitted with soft blue lights and the surfboard-shaped island is fitted with LED lights as well. “When we have people over and we want to dim the lights, we light up the surfboard and it’s just beautiful,” says Franco. “It’s perfect for having a few glasses of champagne; it gives an intimate look to the whole kitchen.”
MINIMALISM TO THE MAX
With five children between them and a large extended family, the couple required a kitchen that could function well for big dinners. As such, the design includes a tremendous amount of appliances including two ovens (a must for Franco) and two drawer-style dishwashers on either side of the island’s sink (a must for Hennessy to facilitate cleanup). There are five total sinks and an industrial-grade Sub-Zero refrigerator Hennessy picked out himself. “[The kitchen] is made for a lot of things to be able to happen simultaneously,” Hennessy explains.
“The main challenge was getting all the appliances in,” says Kitchen Encounters assistant designer, Shane Silverman, CKD. “They have a ton of appliances that needed to be functional and also pleasant on the eye.” A carefully crafted strategic plan for both the placement of appliances and the creation of custom cabinetry interiors helped fit everything into the design without sacrificing the modern, minimalist aesthetic.
HAWAIIAN-INFLUENCED ISLAND
The island is perhaps the most unique and personally representative design element in the kitchen. “The island is shaped like the coning tower of a submarine and is covered in stainless steel and on top of it, because Gwen is Hawaiian, we had a surfboard made for the top,” says Hennessy.The mahogany “surfboard” is trimmed with a glass bar that is ideal for breakfast buffets or for friends to lean on and have a glass of wine. A trough sink is sunk into the island, which the couple can fill with ice and use as a raw bar or to serve chilled bottles of wine and champagne.
METICULOUS MATERIALS
In their work as environmental consultants, the couple has seen many homes, from the interior of the White House to Hawaiian huts, and honed their sense of style with each experience. What has become essential to their aesthetic is the selection of materials. The couple was so meticulous, Hennessy quips that “we could build another house with all the samples we ordered and didn’t like.”
The couple had a custom, crackled glass top made in Canada for the bar, and selected large, stainless steel circles for the backsplash that are big enough to anchor the space and balance the barrel ceiling. A combination of slate and Brazilian teak flooring encompasses her interest in geological materials and his affection for warm, nautically-inspired woods.
The most striking material, however, is the cabinetry, a grain-matched ribbon mahogany that creates an elegant continuity throughout the space with a horizontal line that pulls the room together. It is particularly appealing to Franco in that the strips of wood are reminiscent of geological stratifications.
CREATING BALANCE
Architectural elements take on striking proportions in the Hennesy-Franco kitchen, most notably the repetition of arched forms. Using steel trusses, a barrel ceiling is created, a look that was inspired by the couple’s visit to a church in Virginia that featured an unusual barrel ceiling inset with Tiffany windows. When they began their search for a range hood they knew they needed something large (especially to balance the fireplace at the opposite end of the open floor plan) and that had a contemporary presence. The custom-designed stainless steel hood, “is consistent with the ceiling and a focal point that lines up with the fireplace,” says Franco.
Many boats feature skylights that provide a peek at the sky above but the Hennessy-Franco design would not allow for them. Instead, windows were inserted in the backsplash area between the counters and cabinets and above the cabinets to provide that sense of openness and light while maintaining privacy.
Christianna McCausland is a Contributor Editor for ChesapeakeHome.
Contacts:
Kitchen Encounters: kitchenencounters.biz or 410-263-4900
