Ingenuity floats all through this great space in Sylva’s Balsam Mountain Preserve. The homeowner favored a fresh open plan over a formal dining room — but she wasn’t quite into the lounge room/kitchen combo so prevalent in today’s modern architecture. “My husband and I agreed that the kitchen could not be an isolated location, nor did we want it to be part of the living area,” she confirms. In the end, the cabinetry and appliances were hung in an A-frame steel grid, an organic installation accessorized by a breakfast nook and an outdoor dining area. The complex project required myriad subcontractors, and the homeowner says that “Traci from Alchemy Design Studio was instrumental in taking the concept and making it a reality.” Craig Weis, owner of Architectural Woodcraft, was also a top collaborator. The premise for the cabinetry, he says, “was to let the steel read as the structure and to minimize supports.” His company used one-inch white-oak rift-sawn plywood to “carry the weight on the outer assembly,” he explains. (The floor is also white oak.) Absent a traditional ceiling from which to dangle pendants, the lighting, designed by Lux Lighting, “needed to be integrated with the electric outlets,” notes Weis. Architectural Woodcraft fabricated the steel range hood and steel-I-beam breakfast table. (He credits Iron Maiden Studios for crafting the steel patina on the hood and tabletop.) The hanging style allows for gallery niches in the kitchen to display artwork, and the linear minimalism is carried throughout the home, including in platform beds, he adds. The homeowner mentions the cabinets’ tall, narrow design and the tricky engineering of the breakfast nook. “These components would have proven an obstacle for other cabinet designers,” she muses, “but not for Craig.”
Resources
Architect Carlton Architecture (Asheville)
Kitchen Designer Chad Harding (Asheville)
Interior Designer Traci Kearns, Alchemy Design Studio (Asheville)
Builder Bob Dylewski of Bronco Construction (Mills River)
Cabinetry Craig Weis, Architectural Woodcraft (Asheville)
Countertops Mountain Marble (Asheville)
Lighting Jonathan Bissett, Lux Lighting (Asheville)
Appliances Haywood Appliance (WNC)
Steel Trim Iron Maiden Studios (Asheville)