DESIGN by RACHEL NOWIKAS OF RS DESIGN MANAGEMENT
PHOTOGRAPHY by VIC WAHBY
TEXT by MARISA SANDORA CARR
When you’ve lived in a house of 30 years, some updating is no doubt due—including an update of the update you did 25 years ago. That was the case for Natalie and Steve Bartner of Florham Park, who had once redone their English Tudor’s kitchen—then had proceeded, over the years, to redesign their living room, family room and dining room, going lighter and brighter and more neutral in color as time passed. Now, with their kids grown and out of the house, they found that their needs had changed. It was time to redo the kitchen—again.
“We wanted to lighten and brighten it and pull together the other neutral tones on the first floor,” explains Natalie. Things like the cork board to keep track of the kids’ busy schedules were no longer needed. Instead, the couple wanted the design to focus more on entertaining, as well as aging in place.
When designer Rachel Nowikas of RS Design Management in Morristown presented a mood board to the couple, “she nailed it,” remembers Natalie. “We fell in love with her design concept from the beginning.” The light beige, custom maple cabinets, the Biancatto quartzite running up the walls, and the custom metal hood over the range worked together to create the bright, more modern but still timeless impression that the Bartners desired.
“They wanted a very neutral look without much contrast, but you need some drama somewhere, some impact, so we did that with the decorative metal hood and the stone on the walls,” says Nowikas. “When you walk in, you see this beautiful stone and then a hood that allows the eye to soar up because it’s such a statement. It was one of the focal points from the beginning.”
Nowikas kept the footprint of the kitchen the same, but added a wet bar on one wall for entertaining, as well as cabinets to hide countertop appliances such as the toaster and coffee maker, giving the kitchen a clean, seamless look. The 48-inch Sub-Zero refrigerator sits behind panels next to wall ovens that will ensure that the cook doesn’t have to bend down too low if that gets difficult as the couple ages.
But for now, they are more focused on the fun to be had in their new space. “In the morning we use the wet-bar area for coffee or smoothies, and then toward the evening I’ll use the sink as an ice bucket and put wine or champagne bottles in there,” says Natalie. “And my three kids love the beverage cooler, where they can grab their drinks when they come home.”
After all, family members still drop by. Their number, in fact, is growing— the Bartners’ first grandchild was born just five months ago, Natalie reports.