Wait till you see what this kitchen looks like now

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For many families, the kitchen is the hub of the home, where everyone converges every day.

Shelley and James Morgans kitchen is more than a zone for cooking. Located in the center of their Cowan Heights home, their kitchen is a busy place where they and their two elementary school-age boys sit down to have meals, where their younger son, Marcus, does his homework, and where guests gather almost every weekend for libations and good food.

To make the kitchen friend- and family-friendly, the Morgans had it professionally renovated over two months last year by architect and interior designer Carol Fox and contractor Joshua Cutler as part of a larger remodeling effort. They bought the home in 2002 and lived with a less-than-ideal kitchen for 12 years until they decided it was time to give it a makeover to suit their lifestyle.

Boy, did the space need an overhaul.

It wasnt an eating kitchen, which is really what we wanted, Shelley Morgan said. The kitchen had a center island and a peninsula that they used as a bar. But the island was too small, she said. It only sat two people. You could see that the previous homeowners tried to fudge that because one of the corners of the island was on a diagonal so you could fit a chair there. The refrigerator door opened onto that spot so if you were sitting there, youd have to have that person move. Up until we did the kitchen, James and I would bring our chairs from the breezeway so we could sit at the counter sideways and the kids would sit at the end. That was one of the things I knew I wanted to change.

Fox agreed. The previous kitchen was poorly laid out, especially for true cooks with young children who entertain a lot, she said. Access from the family room was narrow. A previous remodel tried to squeeze a small island between a peninsula and the sink wall without adequate clearances, which only made things worse in a crowd. This island cut off direct access to all of the major appliances and provided counter seating for only two. Also, there was very little counter space around the cooktop.

SUITABLE LAYOUT

Before designing the new kitchen, Fox got a wish list from the Morgans.

I wanted the entire family to be able to sit together, Morgan said. I wanted a station where the kids could do their homework and plug in their computers or mobile devices, so I could see what they were doing.

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Wait till you see what this kitchen looks like now