Ana Quiñones and Eric Karl had lived in their condo in a 245-unit complex on the waterfront in Portland, Oregon for 10 years before they decided it was high time for a refresh. In that decade, they’d lived with the dated, dark interiors—and nowhere showed its age more than the kitchen. Finally, retreating indoors during the pandemic prompted a change. “Some of the heavy cherry cabinets and appliances were beginning to break, and everything needed a refresh,” writes Casey Keasler, the founder and director of Casework, whom the couple eventually hired to re-do the space. “The couple cooks and entertains often, so additional storage and workspaces were key to the renovation, as was a general facelift. Ana and Eric really wanted clean, contemporary interiors and natural materials.”
Casey often chooses three words to guide a project; for this one, she chose a simple triumverate: purposeful, clean, cultivated. What began as a complete kitchen overhaul eventually turned into upgrading the rest of the condo, with new paint, lighting, and flooring and two redone bathrooms, too.
Join us for a look at the totally transformed cook space (and scroll down to see the room before):
Above: Ana in the redone kitchen. Though the couple are not designers—Ana is a gerontologist and associate professor at Oregon Health and Science University; Eric is an engineering manager—they are “lovers of well-engineered and designed details,” Casey reports. She took cues from the couple’s favorite museums and design destinations: The Walker in Minneapolis, SF MoMA, Snow Peak in Portland, and Ett Hem in Stockholm. Above: Everything in the kitchen is new, with the exception of the dining table and chairs. The cabinets are painted a fresh grey-green; it’s Benjamin Moore’s Rushing River. The pendant over the table is the Huxley Small from Park Studio LA.
Above: The details, like a paneled-door refrigerator, add to the functionality and make the small space sing. Above: The vent hood is hidden behind an attractive fluted cover. “It’s a fully customized design,” Casey says. “Hammer and Hand, our general contractor, worked closely with us on the details. We ran through a few different scenarios but ultimately ended with a fluted wood substrate, where we had full control over the stop and start point of each flute. We then had a plaster expert come in and apply layers of plaster to finish the hood.” Above: The counters and backsplash look like marble, but they’re actually Dolomite. “I used these same slabs in my own kitchen remodel last year,” Casey says. “Because of Ana and Eric’s desire for a high-functioning kitchen, I knew they would provide the durability of granite with a look closer to marble at the price of quartz! Basically, spill the wine, slice the strawberries, and make the pasta sauce; these counters don’t stain or etch.”
Before
Above: The space had dated cherry cabinets that were weighing down the otherwise bright space.
For more condo and apartment kitchens we love, see:
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