COURTESY OF JOHN COOK KITCHENS
John Cook Kitchens opened the walls up to expansive ocean and city views that can be enjoyed from the kitchen as well as adjacent rooms.
Cooking up space
Today's kitchens are
more visible to visitors
It's a standard scenario: Both partners come home from work and immediately start dinner, eat, go to sleep -- and in the morning, boom, they're in the kitchen again, whipping up breakfast before zipping the kids off to school and zooming off to work.
"Then they come home and do it all over again," said Roxanne Okazaki, who, as an award-winning kitchen designer, knows the drill by heart.
With today's busy lifestyles, kitchens have become the pulse of the home, said Okazaki, who won the Building Industry Association of Hawaii's Grand Award in the $50,000-plus category for her kitchen remodel entry. Winners were announced at a banquet at the Renaissance Ilikai Waikiki Hotel last Friday.
In older homes, kitchens were most often positioned to be out of sight, closed off from other rooms in the house, whether by pocket, swing or standard door.
These days, the typical home remodeler wants to open the kitchen to adjacent rooms, said Okazaki.
Other things that top the kitchen remodel wish list are stainless-steel appliances and stained wood cabinetry.
"We're moving away from white and natural woods to stained wood," said Okazaki, adding that stained wood gives more of a furniture feel to the cabinetry, in light of its visibility from other parts of the home.
COURTESY OF JOHN COOK KITCHENS
John and Joni Arifiles' old kitchen had loads of charm but lacked space and modern appliances.
Okazaki, a partner in Lifestyle Kitchens, incorporated all these in her winning submission of a Hale Kahala project.
"It was a townhouse kitchen, and we basically opened it up and created warmth using wood tones."
Having a kitchen with views of the living room or study space allows the family to interact more. Parents can be cooking or doing dishes and still talk to their kids as they watch television or complete their homework.
Because of hectic schedules, an increasing number of people prefer to stay home and entertain rather than go out at night, added Okazaki, and an open kitchen creates a pleasant experience for the guests as well as the host, who can spend more time with their guests rather than toiling alone in a hidden kitchen.
Mark Olson, who took home three BIA-Hawaii awards, including two in the kitchen and bath division, said most people "entertain casually at an eating bar although they may still have a dining room for formal entertaining."
COURTESY OF LIFESTYLE KITCHENS
Lifestyle Kitchens redesign allows its client space for entertaining visitors.
His Mililani project won a grand award in the residential remodeling division and involved an adjoining family room with kitchen and an eating bar.
"The homeowners have grown children, so there's an eating bar in the kitchen where the two can have quick meals and also use for casual entertaining," said Olson, president and owner of John Cook Kitchens.
A kitchen that can be easily seen by guests means more attention is paid to details, something that adds to remodeling costs.
"Plus people like their gadgets," which might include wine storage, warming drawers that keep foods crisp and coffee machines. Those things bring up the tab.
THE RISE OF THE deluxe kitchen might be attributed to the popularity of TV cooking shows and exposed kitchens that have become the norm in upscale restaurants. You don't have to be a foodie anymore to want a bit of sheen in the home cooking arena.
Once seen only in high-end lines such as Sub-Zero, stainless-steel appliances have become mainstream. Kenmore, anyone? They still fetch a pretty penny but won't run as many digits as the original or commercial brands.
Olson believes human nature is driving the trend for stainless-steel refrigerator fronts and the like. "If someone (high profile) is doing it or says, 'Brown is beautiful,' then everyone else wants to do it and says, 'Yeah, brown is beautiful,' and the marketplace will accommodate that," he said.
However, Okazaki believes consumers are attracted to the durability of the material: "It just feels like a workhorse."
COURTESY OF JOHN COOK KITCHENS
Designer Shelly Tanner of John Cook Kitchens had the sterile tile and the adjoining laminate flooring torn out of an old kitchen in Mililani...
COURTESY OF JOHN COOK KITCHENS
...and replaced it with slate-looking sheet vinyl, adding to the warm tones of the wood cabinetry.
At a time where quick-fix design shows pose challenges of a restricted budget of up to $2,500, the cost of a thorough kitchen remodel, at about $60,000, might sound exorbitant. But Okazaki said that cost is more realistic. This usually involves wall demolition and room overhaul.
She finds clients just want to treat themselves and are willing to pay the price: "They work so hard; when they come home they just want to pamper themselves."
Olson's clients, John and Joni Arafiles, are retired and can enjoy their new kitchen throughout the day.
After 20 years in San Jose, Calif., the Arafileses returned in 2000 to the home John was raised in. But they found themselves with a small kitchen that Joni had difficulty working in. The remodel included tearing down walls and salvaging what they could.
"I wanted to maintain the serenity and charm of the home, and the designers captured it in the remodel," she said. "When you walk in, you feel the way you used to feel when you visited your tutu."
The home is 50 years old and was one of the first built in the area near the National Cemetery of the Pacific. John's father, who was a Realtor, helped with its construction.
The new design included a washer/dryer in the kitchen that allows her to put wet clothes into the dryer without oversautéing onions.
"And we have a secondary sink, so if guests want to help prepare salad vegetables, they can," she said.
The total cost for Joni's ideal kitchen was about $140,000. About $27,000 of that went toward appliances. "We wanted to do it right, and with the help of John Cook and (designer) Shelly Tanner ... I now have a kitchen that is a woman's dream," Joni said.
"We have potluck dinners with close to 50 relatives, and it was difficult with the small kitchen. Now it's so easy -- the women can move around easily in the kitchen and talk story and laugh, and the men can sit on the deck while the children run around."
Her favorite addition is the kitchen island in the room's center. After 20 years of being away from Hawaii, she said, "it's our own island within an island."
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