Design New England - January/February 2009

the view from the entry hall into the kitchen shows the dining room beyond. “We looked at different tile plans, and this wasn’t too random or too linear,” says designer Megan McClure of the pattern she and the homeowners chose for the rectangular and square ceramic tiles.

The new owners wanted more than just a kitchen; they wanted to shift the interior architecture from Colonial mash-up to American Craftsman, with heavy notes of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie style. For starters, the space needed to facilitate traffic flow between the dining room on one side of the kitchen and the great room on the other. It needed to do double duty as a kid friendly play area and cooking space, yet keep with their uncluttered design sensibility. Also on the list: downsizing the overly large butler’s pantry to augment the tiny dining room.

“They are both well-traveled professionals and were open to using interesting, dense colors

An Unusual Palette

This cheerful kitchen gets its glow from an unexpected mix of colors. “Purples and oranges are nice earthy tones for a kitchen,” says interior designer Megan McClure. “The muddy color of the cabinets is very forgiving.” To keep the room down-to-earth yet have it pack a wallop of color, she limited her palette to two shades, with small bursts of accent colors. She chose a gray-and-orange ribbed fabric for the window-seat cushion and a mix of mauve, umber, salmon, and sky-blue prints for the pillows. “All the colors are muted, and so the pillows are little surprises,” says McClure. “As long as they’re used in small quantities, it’s easy to mix colors that aren’t predictable.”