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So this is the way to a home's heart

A kitchen with both modern conveniences and historic charm is a gem in one Tampa bungalow. Visit it and others during the Old Hyde Park Kitchen Tour on Saturday.

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published April 7, 2006

The Christenberrys had spent the past three years living in Paris and loved to cook and entertain, frequently inviting guests to linger in the kitchen to talk and eat.

"The kitchen really is the heart of the home,'' Elizabeth says.

The couple knew just where to turn. They sought the help of renowned Tampa kitchen designer Chip Vogel, a master of making magic from the tightest kitchen spaces.

Vogel, whose work has appeared on HGTV and in national home magazines, created a kitchen for the Christenberrys and their two school-aged children that is both family friendly and beautiful.

It will be one of six featured in the second annual Old Hyde Park Kitchen Tour from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $20. Last year's tour attracted 600 people, a manageable number that allowed for lingering in some of the featured kitchens.

"This is a serious kitchen tour,'' says Elizabeth Harrell, a co-organizer of the event. "There are a lot of things that people can glean. It's not as crowded as some others, so you can really see what the kitchens are all about. And we're including everything from design sources to materials in the program.''

This year's tour includes one particularly historic kitchen: the newly renovated Leiman-Wilson House, the landmark prairie-style home built in 1914 that recently earned its own book, If Our House Could Talk by Robin Robson Gonzalez.

The home, the Frank Lloyd Wright-ish folly of cigar box baron Henry Leiman, is rich with mahogany, teak and walnut woods that Leiman imported from Brazil and Cuba for his business.

The house is owned by international hotel developer Joe Collier, who is just completing an extensive 15-month renovation that included replacing all the wiring and plumbing. Collier, who plans to move into the house within the next few weeks, says his goals were to open up the kitchen for better flow and use of space and to create a look that melds with the rest of the interior.

"We really wanted to stick with as much of a historic theme as possible,'' he says of the house, which features original pocket doors with beveled glass, a working elevator, mahogany woodwork, quarter-sawn white oak floors with a walnut border and a downstairs bathroom outfitted with an original rib-cage shower, once considered state of the art with its multiple jest and claw foot basin.

The kitchen restoration included knocking out the walls of a butler's pantry while retaining its lines. A new, smaller breakfast nook allows for better light from the generous banks of windows and for more space in the kitchen itself. Two sinks in separate areas of the kitchen allow for easy entertaining and cleanup.

"We just wanted to make the kitchen as large as we could,'' Collier explained. "We were also able to make use of all those big windows. Now the light pours in into the breakfast nook and the view now looks out toward the pool and the pretty cedar trees.''

Contractor Steven Beyer, whose company, Wedgewood Construction, oversaw the restoration, says he was trying to emulate the home's original look with Shaker-style kitchen cabinets and a counter top wrapped around the old contours of the butler's pantry.

The look pays homage to the Arts and Crafts period, but the space is definitely designed for 21st century in-the-kitchen entertaining.

"We had 38 people in here for the first party at Christmas and it worked,'' Beyer says.

By contrast, the Christenberrys' kitchen might be described as 1930s Hollywood meets Florida cottage.

Buttery granite, mirrored back splashes and steel mesh cabinet doors are Vogel's signature, giving his kitchens a retro-modern look that also works well in historic homes. The kitchen features stainless steel appliances; a deep, industrial stainless steel sink (ideal for washing pans); a built-in icemaker; and a small, additional refrigerator. The kitchen, which flows seamlessly with the rest of the house, overlooks a bricked pool area designed by Vogel's business partner, with flower boxes designed by the just-off-the-Bayshore florist Bloom!

Elizabeth Christenberry, who grows herbs from a flower box thick with pink and yellow snapdragons and petunias, can reach outside the window and pluck fresh dill, cilantro or sage.

[Last modified April 7, 2006, 08:28:33]