Special Needs Kitchen Addition

AFTER: A gift of love from her husband. Ms. Matsushima was a diminutive and caring Japanese woman who wanted nothing more in life than to feed her family. The original kitchen was far to small and inadequate for her extensive skills and needs. The family came to us for expansion and improvement. We created the cathedral ceiling space seen here and extended slightly beyond the original back wall. This extension opened up the space and gave it character and a place for two islands with varying height, sit at counter-tops. Due to Ms. Matsushima's height challenge, we needed to lower some of the tops to improve her ability to create the food and work ergonomically. Although some of the components did not lend themselves to dropping (think dishwasher etc.) we were able to use this to advantage and weave the many counter heights into a pleasing design. Glass block was used as a private light source and as part of the rear wall design. Many components of the kitchen vary in surface and color as an extension of the design weaving. Don Murray Photography