The project came about after many years of work with this client from a house in Bergen County to a NYC Apartment and here, by the Sea in New Jersey. This client understood the value of team work and included Gretchen early on to consult on each addition to this house. This latest addition transformed the kitchen for a client who loves to cook and entertain inside and out. Adding on to the back of the house where the new kitchen nearly doubled in size and the deck was re imagined entirely to include a Hot Tub and Bench seating. For the new Kitchen Gretchen and the client did an inventory of every small appliance. They discussed how the client best liked to prep and cook while entertaining and so much of what was created was done so based on real needs and in-depth research. The floor for instance, a luxury vinyl patterned tile, isn’t available in the US but sourced from Harvey Maria in the UK, since the client did not want a hard ceramic tile floor. Hooks in the Mudroom area came from Charles Edwards in the UK and the beautiful Fulgor Milano range from Italy.

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The back deck includes a 10 foot corner built-in seating area envisioned by Gretchen and designed and built by the cabinet Maker Mark Pedley from VT, instead of railings or a large, wide step down to the pool. Also, the steps down were designed to become seats by making them deeper (16”) than usual and having a shorter rise (6”) so to be a fun place to sit for larger parties.