“They had done a nice job for a rehabber,” Pam says.

It worked for the family of four for nearly a decade—until it didn’t anymore.

They met Sue Shinneman, CKD and co-owner of Kitchen Studio: KC, in 2019 to discuss a renovation that would better suit the skilled home chef and baker.

“Pam is like our local Martha Stewart,” says Sue’s associate, Heidi Harrison, AKBD. “Not all clients have the good taste she has,” Sue adds.

Pam had already experimented with swapping furniture from a large living room to a smaller dining room located just on the other side of the kitchen’s dividing wall. “It makes more sense for how we live,” Pam says. “We only use the dining room for holidays.”

Sue’s design removed that dividing wall, as well as a walk-in pantry along the exterior wall, where the fridge now resides. She added a fireplace to the adjacent sitting room.

With the new open floor plan, the kitchen is visible from the front door. “Because you can see everything, we wanted it to look and feel like a part of the hearth room,” Pam says. “Everything is hidden—the TV, the toaster, the microwave.”

“You can shut down all the cabinets and you don’t see a kitchen,” Sue explains. When the cabinets are open, beautiful walnut interiors are visible—and interior drawers slide out so there are no hard-to-reach spaces.

The space is notably airy from the counters up. “Because we drilled in functionality, we didn’t have to line the wall with cabinets,” Sue says.

Indeed, every inch of cabinet space was designed for ultimate usability with helpful dividers and mats. Heidi went so far as to measure clear containers for dry goods at Pam’s baking station.

Cooking oils, spices and utensils are all stored out of sight but are easily accessible in sliding cabinet drawers.