The sky’s the limit in this upscale-rustic cook’s kitchen at Chestnut Hall, a spectacular Brevard-area home. Well, actually, a reclaimed-hemlock ceiling is the room’s tangible limit. But that feature is so extraordinary — boldly primitive, but niche-fitted with an unassailably modern sensibility — that it gives the space a timeless, storybook feel.
Repurposed chic is also apparent in the reclaimed-oak flooring and even in the ceiling fixture over the breakfast table, from Underground Salvage Co. in Brevard. The top of the kitchen island, by Mountain Marble, is black-pearl granite with a leathered finish. Another vintage wonder, a family-heirloom butcher’s block, forms a smooth interstice, built to meld with the island top and oak base.
Thom Kline of Pisgah Forest constructed the island and all of the custom cabinetry, distressing the end product via a complex finishing technique to match the kitchen’s other swaths of antiquity. But this home is no cabin. The perimeter countertops are made of luxe-look, leathered Labradorite, also from Mountain Marble. And the stainless-steel, glass-door refrigerator from Sub-Zero is large and sleek, ditto the expansive Wolf oven and range — appliances suitable for a serious culinary artist. A temperature-controlled wine rack is fitted into a piece of cabinetry that recalls an old-fashioned pie safe.
Clearly the center of the house, the kitchen opens onto a white morning room/breakfast nook, a formal dining room, and the main living area. Plenty of pleasurable details abound, such as woven chairbacks, low-set curtains that allow maximum light in the breakfast nook, and cherry-red stove knobs that complement bits of crockery, cookware, and photo frames. Blending modern flow with old-world substance, the Chestnut Hall kitchen is the ultimate intentional space.
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Architect: Parker Platt, Platt Architecture, P.A.
Builder: James H. McGinnis, Inc.
Interior Designer: Sharon Simonaire
Cabinetry: Thom Kline
Countertops: Mountain Marble *
Ceiling Light Fixture: The Underground Salvage Co.