“It’s a different way to incorporate appliances based on how we live, and what we value,” she says.

One of her favorite aspects of the kitchen is the 45-inch workstation sink for tackling any task, from chopping homegrown herbs to washing muddy hands.

“The kitchen is as functional as it is beautiful,” Svehla says.

In terms of aesthetic choices, again, she went with her gut and her heart rather than a trend when she chose dark-stained alder wood for the cabinets.

“The kitchen is rich, inviting, and moody,” she describes. “It’s flooded with natural light from all the windows, so the room never feels dark.”

Svehla selected alder as the wood species for two reasons—first, it’s less expensive than walnut, and second, because of the beautiful way it stains.

“It’s a beautiful wood that gets overlooked; it’s a midgrade option, but it’s a good choice if you’re going dark,” Svehla explains. “For myself, my taste is a more timeless look.”

For instance, even back in 2014, when she designed a kitchen at her previous home in Texas, she chose dark-stained cabinets. Eleven years later, she’s sticking to her guns.

This new house is full of oak wood—both red and white.

“I like seeing the grain, the characteristic of the wood,” she explains.

To balance the visual effect, she went with cleaner lines on other selections, like slab doors and minimal casings. Svehla likes to mix metals, but caps it at two. She did add matte white to the mix in the light fixtures. This third finish adds calm to the space, she says, and she carried those three throughout the house.

For the countertops and backsplash, she installed soapstone. As a natural material mined from the earth, it’s softer than other selections like quartzite and granite that are more often employed in the hard-working kitchen. Scratches can be buffed out, and stains are less likely to show on the black surface.

“It’s the same way I feel about the marble in my home: I understand the maintenance requirements and that it’s more likely to scratch, but the patina it’s going to achieve is worth it, and I love using natural materials whenever possible,” Svehla says.

Svehla is open to the process of evolution in her home. Just as she is learning new skills like gardening, she recognizes the bigger picture for her design work.

“I feel like I’m designing a new lifestyle,”
she says.