“Just because I worked for Schloegel didn’t guarantee I would use Schloegel,” says the company’s marketing director. “But for this type of project, I wouldn’t trust anyone else.”

The Girards—including Amy, her husband, Calvin, and their two kids—lived in their 1952-built Leawood home for years, knowing that a renovation was in their future.

“We love this home,” Amy says. “We intended to stay and make this our own.”

That love was tested when things in the kitchen started to fail. Dust sprinkled down when they opened cabinets. Their old Thermador range was on its way out. A major plumbing repair was required. And the space was just so small.

“It all came to a head,” Amy says. “We were ready to remodel, and the kitchen was ready to remodel.”

Yet there were a couple of kinks to come: The COVID-19 pandemic, of course, was one, delaying the start of the project for more than a year; the other was that their designer at the beginning of the process went into preterm labor and then left her job to stay home with the baby. That’s when Nina Schmidt, CKBR, stepped in, joining up with Leslie Hatfield, Schloegel’s director of design and in-house degreed architect.

Their first priority was an expansion, pushing out the exterior wall along the back of the house and combining it with the existing kitchen space—doubling the workable area.

That additional 240 square feet would be a game changer for the family’s lifestyle. It included space for a mudroom, which also redirected flow from the garage into a dedicated drop zone instead of directly into the kitchen, the way it used to. A large island with seating for six became the family’s favorite spot to eat and hang out together. And all that storage!

“Nina and Leslie did our home justice,” Amy says.

More than just an increased amount of storage space, the cabinets also include “fun things” like a pull-out trash bin, a built-in knife block, hidden drawers and pegged dividers for dishes. Nina specifically designed cabinet drawers so Amy could easily access her heavy Le Creuset cookware. And because Amy bakes often, Nina additionally devised a station with a mixer lifter—for a green mixer, of course. Green is Amy’s favorite color.

“My toes are painted green; my purse is green,” Amy says. “I can’t get enough of the color!”