AJO ROAD - COOL CONTEMPORARY

Location: Scottsdale

Style: Cool Contemporary

Our Ajo Road project involved reworking the kitchen & adding a fireplace to the living room. Our main goal was to give the kitchen a more contemporary feel and take down the wall between the kitchen & living room. In the end, this kitchen turned out to be a great space to entertain!

Before we remodeled this kitchen, it had a dark, outdated feel. Prior to demo, the kitchen and living room areas were separated by a wall, closing off both spaces. The flooring blended with the old wood cabinetry giving minimal contrast, but our client decided to keep the floors since they run throughout the house. The window at the sink was small which minimized the natural light from entering the kitchen.

Removing the wall that separated the kitchen from the living area allowed us to design a large peninsula for entertaining and setting up food. At the front of the peninsula, there are 2 beverage fridges and deep drawer storage for bottles. The perfect spot to make a drink! The peninsula uses a concrete-look quartz that has a 3” mitered waterfall edge. To complete this area, the backside is paneled to match the cabinetry and is lit up with an LED strip.

The microwave was previously located above the range, we moved it into the island as a drawer microwave, giving a kitchen a more custom look. We also made the island longer to accommodate four seats. Lighting in this space was important, so we installed fresh LED cans and new decorative fixtures over island and peninsula – this helped to tie both spaces together. We doubled the window size at the sink to allow more natural light in to brighten the kitchen. Taking down the wall between the two rooms also helped the spaces share light.

When looking at finishes, our clients knew they wanted a contemporary vibe with clean lines. To achieve this, we used flat panel cabinetry with a cool gray tone for the perimeter and a deep brown tone at the peninsula. These finishes gave nice contrast to the exiting flooring.

For the pulls, plumbing fixtures, and decorative lighting, we used a brushed pewter finish to pull everything together. A full height quartz backsplash was used around the perimeter to give the kitchen a clean, seamless look. Plug molds were placed under all upper cabinets to remove outlets from backsplash giving the quartz a sleek look. We also added LED strip lighting to let the quartz shine!

In addition to remodeling the kitchen, we also added an electric fireplace to the living room. We used a dark stone-looking tile surround to contrast the floors. This fireplace can throw heat when you want it to, but you can also turn the heat off and just have fire on for aesthetics. Perfect for our Arizona weather!

Opening up this kitchen to the living room was just what this space needed. This along with a cool contemporary style gives our client a new & functional space to entertain their guests in. Little touches like lighting and quartz backsplash helped to tie this space together!