Dovetail president and principal designer Amy Hart had the perfect assignment: Work with a customer with great taste, an extensive budget, and the humility to listen to her designer.
The result was a high-end kitchen, outdoor space, lounge, and powder room on one of the top floors of 550 Water St. “It’s just gorgeous,” Hart says. “Their outdoor area is the size of my house.”
Hart recently chatted with Abode and offered details on the decisions she and the owners made throughout the clean sheet design.
Kitchen layout
“We were limited due to some of the mechanicals, because it’s a strange building, almost like a commercial building. There’s no proper ceiling, so we had to put the range on the outside wall. And it’s a very narrow space, yet we really wanted to get an island in there. So given that we did the big window doors feeding out on the patio, the space really feels larger than it is.
“I meet so many people who think their kitchen is too small for an island. I think this project proves that idea wrong. Obviously, you can’t make everything happen, but we were able to make a really big island happen here with a standard 32-inch sink.”
Kitchen cabinets, tile
“This cabinetry is frameless, and so many people don’t understand what that is. There are several overlays in cabinetry; regular or standard (your basic builder cabinet), full overlay, and this frameless European style. This has no face frame, which gives you three extra inches of wood. You get all that extra storage, and it’s sleek looking. The margins between the cabinets are minimal.
“I also pushed for the black cabinets. People are hesitant to choose black, but it’s dramatic. When we finally established black cabinets for the kitchen and the bar, [the owner] went to town on tile. It’s very elaborate tile. Then, right off the kitchen is this beautiful, huge pantry with more custom cabinetry.”
Appliances
“We balanced this very unique, eclectic style that [the owner] has, which kind of tends to be traditional. She found this amazing range, which we couldn’t get locally. We’re a Sub-Zero, Wolf dealer, but I loved it, and we used that color scheme—the brass—to continue the hardware throughout the kitchen, including on the pot filler on top of the range.
“We chose a Sub-Zero fridge with a bottom freezer, and there are several big wine coolers separating the living room from the dining area—a wall of wine coolers.”
Outdoor kitchen
“Above the grill, we have a custom metal piece that maintains [their] privacy. We worked with another company to do the outdoor kitchen in resin, which is completely watertight. The drawers have gaskets, so they have no issues with water. They love to entertain, and beyond the kitchen is a monstrous sitting area with a fireplace.”
Bar
“The bar right off the kitchen has two Sub-Zero units on the right and the left and a cabinet in the middle under a sink with a brass faucet. On the left is an ice maker, and on the right is a wine cooler. It was challenging to make it symmetrical in this small space, but it works.
“The wallpaper has this alligator texture, and the glass shelves work better than cabinetry here. I love incorporating other materials and the glass really fits there. You have to be confident to make these things work together, and you have to have things in hand. You cannot buy them online. It’s very tempting, but I will tell you that my clients come to me later and say, ‘This pink doesn’t match this brown.’ It’s really important that as designers we order all the samples and lay them out and work together with everything so that it all coordinates.
“I also love that we got artwork in the bar. I believe that these are lived-in spaces, and they shouldn’t feel commercial in any way. They should feel welcoming. You should feel like you can walk right in there and make yourself a drink if you’re a guest in this home.”
Powder room
“The flooring is penny tile—there’s penny tile everywhere, inlaid with the rectangular tile around it. The big deal was this shelf. I wanted this to feel really upscale, and when you walk in, to feel like you were being pampered. So you could turn on the overhead light if you wanted, but you can also just turn on the shelf light, and that illuminates upward and downward, and it just feels like a cool nightlight when people are visiting or when you’re having a party.
“The countertop is Cambria quartz. The reason we chose a light countertop is because we had to have a white toilet. This unit was not plumbed for a toilet here, and it was too late to add the plumbing because it’s a multi-story building. This toilet kind of breaks down everything on its own, and then it goes out to the sewer.”
Lounge
“This fireplace space is all marble. We went to our fabricator’s place and looked through hundreds of slabs. We decided on this because it all worked together with her copper accents and black tones. The shelves on the left are cherry, and it all really goes together well.”
