StyleCarrot

Here is a preview of a story that will be featured in this weekend’s “Kitchen & Bath” issue of Boston Globe Magazine, about the renovation of architect Bill Boehm’s own kitchen in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Architect Bill Boehm and his wife, artist Danielle Sauvé, used orange and yellow cabinetry to make their small kitchen pop. They knew when they purchased the 1,600-square-foot condo in a Cambridgeport multi-family home built in 1840 that the kitchen would need a major overhaul. Undeterred, Boehm made everything fit in the eight-foot-by-13-foot space, then colored it boldly.

Photo by Bob O’Connor

Behind the yellow door of the pantry (that’s Boehm’s 13-year old son, Theo; they also have a 10-year old), Boehm replaced sliders with a single glass door to the patio, so he could extend the counter, above which he added a pair of large windows. He used an oversize enamel sink (bigger than they had planned for) that he spotted on the curb four blocks away in the midst of the renovation. The counters are Silestone. The backsplash wall is done in soft yellow stacked horizontal tile. He skipped overhead cabinets, which take up a lot of space, in favor of stainless steel shelves from a restaurant supply company.

Boehm worked with Jamaica Plain-based contractor Carr Carpentry and Restoration on the project, which in addition to the kitchen itself, entailed to removing the wall that separated the kitchen and dining room. They were able to salvage the oak floor by simply refinishing it. They exposed the original beams, which had been hiding under old board and plaster, and added extras for necessary reinforcement. “The floor above was bouncy,” says Boehm.

The radiator was pushed aside to make room for the bay window and window seat, that looks out to the garden that Sauvé spends a lot of time tending. Above the radiator hangs objects from his travels, including a toy airplane made by Malawi children from when Boehm lived there as a peace corps volunteer, sandals his grandfather brought back from the Philippines 100 years ago, a mask from Mexico, and a cow skull Boehm found in Colorado.

Photo by Bob O’Connor

For the room’s palette, the couple were inspired by a photo of a yellow and orange kitchen with a mod sensibility. Boehm favors punchy colors in architecture. This goes for residential projects (like my friend Becky & Tom’s Back Bay home that Bohem designed) as well as public projects, like an after school center in Roxbury, in which he differentiated age-group clusters by colors—Caribbean teal, lime green, and juicy orange. For a community center in Mattapan he is working on, he’s using teal, orange, and ochre, set off against a warm gray linoleum floor and walnut-toned wood.

For the kitchen in his own home, Boehm and Sauvé chose Benjamin Moore “Orange Burst” for the base cabinetry and Benjamin Moore “Sun Valley” for the pantry cabinets. When he ordered panel samples for the cabinets from Boston Building Resources in Roxbury Crossing, Boehm says, “they were like, ‘Are you sure these are the colors you want?’ ” For the floor he went with linoleum in a saturated blue tone. It’s a material he uses often, since it’s available in many colors and patterns. Plus, it’s resilient, affordable, and has an eco-friendly, non-chemical makeup.

Photo by Bob O’Connor

See the full story online here or pick up the Boston Globe this Sunday.

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