Style Soars in High-Rise Kitchen Remodel

CHICAGO— While the third time may be the charm for most people, it was actually the fourth time around that did the trick for Mick De Giulio. That is not say that it took him four tries to capture the results of this stunning kitchen remodel; rather, it represents the fourth kitchen project that De Giulio, president/owner of Wilmette, IL-based de Giulio kitchen design, has designed for these clients.

But, while knowing the clients’ needs helped him achieve the streamlined look he sought, pre-existing structural problems in this kitchen – which was located in a high-rise building – posed some unique design challenges.

“Working in a high-rise is always a challenge, and we certainly ran into more restrictions than we would in a single-family home – especially in terms of something like ceiling lighting and recessed cans and venting,” De Giulio explains.

Into the Light

To begin with, the dimly lit kitchen lacked suitable natural lighting, which required De Giulio to integrate some creative lighting solutions. In fact, the ability to introduce more effective lighting was a critical component to the project’s success, according to De Giulio.

“The main thing we did was open up the space with a 9'-foot-wide opening between the kitchen and the dining room,” he remarks. “That let the natural light from the dining room into the kitchen.”

Pocket doors were added between the two rooms for various functional reasons.

“Typical to many high-rises built in the 1960s, the ceilings were relatively low, so pocket doors were devised to not only divide the kitchen and living room, but to open up the space overall,” he says.

De Giulio points out that these doors are kept open in most instances, which allows the beautiful views outside of the dining room windows to be seen from the kitchen, in addition to flooding the entire space with natural light. The doors can also be easily closed, he continues, which provides the clients with the option of more formal living or entertaining accommodations.
To work with the natural light, De Giulio incorporated a combination of recessed lights, undercabinet task lights and special halogen lights under the hood to illuminate the room.

The especially low ceiling over the pantry posed another challenge for the designer. “The ceiling height over the pantry area was only about seven feet high, but had to have an air conditioning vent put down the middle of the space,” he comments.
De Giulio was also able to meet and overcome this obstacle.

“We made sure the vent was located in the middle and did tracks of recessed lighting on either side, mainly because we couldn’t do recessed cans. We literally did troughs of light,” he remarks.

“So, even with the low ceiling and the cabinets going to the ceiling, it still came out very well because of the interest of the lighting and simplicity of how the ceiling was detailed,” he explains.

“Overall, we were able to incorporate the structure of the building into the lighting applications, which was impressive because the mechanicals in a high-rise are typically not easy to manipulate,” he states.

A Modern Design

In order to fully capture the modern look desired for the 20'x16'8" kitchen, De Giulio worked first-hand with interior designer Barb Gorman and architect Dick Gorman of Manifesto Gallery in Chicago, and cabinet manufacturer Premier, which supplied stainless steel cabinetry and Santos Rosewood African Mahogany cabinetry for the perimeter cabinets and center island.

“A modern look is reflected throughout the entire home,” De Giulio explains. One of the ways he tied the look of the kitchen into the rest of the home was through the use of millwork, which featured the same finish throughout the home to provide continuity.

De Giulio worked closely with the interior designers who were doing a lot of millwork throughout the apartment, which led the team to a wood called Santos Mahogany.