Imagine opening up your home to show off your remodeled kitchen. That’s what 8-10 Rockridge homeowners do every other year along with their builders, architects, and interior designers.
Seeing these renovated and reimagined kitchens with the latest cabinetry, space-saving ideas, and glowing cabinet hardware is the ultimate inspiration to refresh your kitchen — especially if you are a foodie, like most Rockridge residents.
Check out some pics of beautiful kitchens on the 2024 Rockridge Kitchen Tour along with detailed architectural advice before you remodel a kitchen (or house) with a local architect.
Q&A with Rockridge Architect Jason Kaldis
Architect Jason Kaldis stands by a compact ADU he architected as a garage conversion.
Susie: What should home owners think about before starting a kitchen remodel?
Kaldis: Wish list and budget cap are starting points. An articulation of what they have liked about their home and what they wish to change and improve is also a very good place for a pre-design discussion to start. We all have our pet peeves and simple pleasures and no two are exactly the same even when we have a lot of common ground.
Plenty cabinets make this remodeled Rockridge kitchen usable for the family, along with an island. Fewer cabinets near windows ensure light is not blocked and the kitchen is bright.
Jason: Trying to substantially level existing out of level floors. Check existing floor levels early so you can have time to make the right decision for the remedy. Remember that many of the homes we live in are one hundred years old. They need periodic tending. Providing new drainage and deeper foundations can help address out of level floors.
Susie: What can clients would do to be most successful?
Jason: Be involved, trust the experience and expertise of the architect or designer you are working with and communicate frequently. Your architect or designer has a lot of experience in resolving your needs in ways you may not have thought about and they see the ripple effects of decisions often before you do. Trust them, but verify that they “get you.”
You see spice cabinets that pull out but this idea to have a narrow cabinet for cleaning supplies and paper towels is just genius — rather than having all of the cleaning supplies under the sink.
Susie: What regrets do you most often hear after a remodel?
Jason: Very few, but:
Occasionally, something became important to the client after the permit plans were approved or after the remodel started or even after it was completed, that they simply hadn’t prioritized or articulated before, and later it became more difficult and more expensive to incorporate, than if it had been anticipated or incorporated in the project before completing plans and applying for permits. To avoid regrets, work with someone who has experience guiding the kitchen development process and will interview you regarding your needs and preferences. Look at image banks such as Houzz and Instagram, but remember the best of what you see there is very expensive, because it is custom designed and fabricated. If you like that, be prepared to pay for that. Then, no regrets.
Make a new space just a little bigger than you initially think (this takes experience and a shared vision and a little fearlessness with budget). Sometimes, with older houses, small lots, and planning regulations, there just isn’t the space to do this, but every existing or new wall location becomes a choice, carrying a cost or a consequence. Design is compromise. Say that to yourself three times.
This enormous custom-made kitchen island was the largest the countertop company had ever made, according to the architect. It is the essence of a statement.
Susie: What are your favorite timeless kitchen upgrades?
Jason: Daylight a kitchen: skylights, big windows, large doors to the exterior, broad connections to adjacent interior spaces. Make spaces that support social connections within your home. Make physical connections to the outdoors. (Chef’s kiss)
Use open shelves above countertops near windows where there is a good view and access to daylight. This keeps the view itself from feeling cluttered or sightlines getting obstructed by more solid wall cabinetry.
Think about where you can best extend the use of tile backsplash to enliven the space, where you will appreciate it daily, and also make it always feel like it was completed yesterday. Use more tile, if you love tile, not less
Rely on more base cabinet drawers and fewer base cabinets doors with fixed or rollout shelves.
The right depth of storage cabinets are where you can reach the cabinet, and when you can’t reach the back of the cabinet, omit it or seek a cabinet accessory product that aids reach.
If there is room to make countertops deeper than standard, especially when a countertop has a really long, straight run, consider it. You’ll enjoy having more room for a plate in front of countertop microwave or toaster oven
Improve overhead lighting to generally illuminate the space and ceiling at night, to provide recessed ceiling task lighting at the countertop leading edges after sunset, and undercabinet mounted strip lighting to showcase backsplash tile and supplement other kitchen lighting in the evening, located to minimize shadows while working at the counters.
This sleek and spacious Rockridge Kitchen managed to hide multiple appliances behind cabinetry to create a modern and clean look.
Susie: Are there any small changes home owners can make to make their kitchen more usable?
Jason: Small existing kitchens can be made more useful by taking as many things off the counters and finding a home for them in tall, pantry-like cabinets, base cabinets and wall cabinets that are supplemented by devices that allow cabinet storage to pull out into view and easy reach, such as rollout trays on deeper cabinets, swing up or swing down shelves, Magic Corners at blind corner cabinets, pull out waste bins and pull out pantries, and other third party products. Avoid lazy or super susan corner solutions where possible.
Featured on the 2024 Rockridge Kitchen Tour was this kitchen remodeled using Form Kitchens. This company has Bay Area showrooms and crafts smartly designed kitchen cabinets in Germany. The inserts feature stainless steel and the designs are European modern style. This “kidney” shaped corner cabinet maximizes storage space. Message me for more photos.
Susie: What design features do you see more as passing trends?
Jason: Cooktops on islands with downdraft vents or pop up vents. They barely work, the latter are visually obtrusive when deployed and the fans have to work against, rather than with, natural convection.
Large sinks on islands. If you must have a sink on an island, keep it small and locate it where you would not lament the loss of that piece of counter. And where a faucet would not be visually or physically obstructive or a nuisance.
Custom cabinets and high-end classic brushed gold cabinet and sink hardware from Rejuvenation turned an awkward Rockridge kitchen design into a highly functional and beautiful space.
Susie: How do home owners unexpectedly spend a lot more than they had planned?
Jason: Not hiring an experienced architect or kitchen designer. Some architects do not offer interior design or kitchen design. The very best ones offer both.
Not knowing how much everything (materials, labor, equipment, products) is likely to cost before getting too headlong into the preparation of detailed plans. Strive to get a couple of preliminary cost estimates before hurtling towards all of the details.
Homeowners don’t typically initially know what “all of the details” means. Details are the design. Identify them, understand your choices, refine them, be comfortable with them, enjoy them.
Not to be funny, but bad or no planning or doing it yourself without enough prior experience or without an experienced professional designer or advisor guiding you, are the paths to spending money you didn’t and couldn’t anticipate spending. You didn’t anticipate aspects of kitchen remodeling that others know to be part of every successful project.
Trying to substantially level existing out of level floors. Check existing floor levels early so you can have time to make the right decision for the remedy. Remember that many of the homes we live in are one hundred years old. They need periodic tending. Providing new drainage and deeper foundations can help address out of level floors.
Hidden conditions in an old house can add some cost – such as the discovery of dry rot or floor or ceiling framing that had been substantially notched or cut during a prior alteration, to the point of no longer being safe.
Not coordinating rough in services with appliance specifications and not coordinating cabinet dimensions and door hinge and swing clearances of appliances with cabinets, islands, or aisle widths.
Thanks to Jason Kaldis, Architect for this incredibly informative architectural advice.
Take a peek at Rockridge homes for sale or a roundup of the 2022 Rockridge Kitchen Tour to see what else locals are doing to transform their Rockridge homes into ideal living spaces.
It’s a perfect way to age in place, and if you would like to explore that idea, get in touch!
Susie Wyshak is a Rockridge resident, Realtor® with Compass, and an aspiring kitchen re-designer. (DRE 02144226).
