Behind Blue Islands

Wood-top kitchen island and record shelves in matching blue are at the center of first-floor remodel

By Garth Bishop

For almost 20 years, the home of Kristopher Weiss and Maureen MurphyWeiss had a formal dining room that rarely saw any actual dining.

But in the comparatively short time since Westerville-based Custom Home Works completely replaced their kitchen, the couple have had a lot more diners on the brand-new kitchen island – and a lot more attention on the many other eyecatching changes to the first floor of their Hilliard house.

The couple have lived in the house since 2001. There was a lot they liked about it from the beginning, but it took almost two decades to address one of the major issues.

“When I first walked into the house … I loved it, but it had this hideous linoleum floor,” Kristopher says. “It took me

18 years to finally get to that point.”

At the same time, though the existing kitchen was adequate, Maureen had always envisioned having a much larger space to cook. She went into the process with a long list of ideas, which Custom Home Works took and worked to incorporate.

“They wanted a place where they could entertain as well as cook for a handful of friends, so we created an extra-large kitchen,” says Bill Maibach, owner of Custom Home Works.

The centerpiece of the reimagined kitchen, and the component most commented on by visitors, is the island. It’s built with an all-wood top and painted blue, with the color scheme extending to multiple other kitchen features. Though the dining room table was moved to the kitchen for larger gatherings, the island has enough seating for entertaining smaller groups.

“Everybody that comes in, that’s the thing they focus on,” Kristopher says.

The renovated kitchen also sports quartz countertops, with a natural stone backsplash and a new 36-inch cook top set under a wooden range hood. Can lighting brightens up the space from the ceiling, which Custom Home Works replaced twice after Maibach decided the first attempt didn’t cut the mustard.

Custom Home Works knocked down a wall and repurposed the space previously occupied by the dining room to put in a double oven, turning an entire side wall into pantry space. New mocha-colored cabinetry; a built-in refrigerator space; plenty of storage, including a variety of rollouts and pullouts; and new appliances, including a dishwasher, fill out the kitchen space.

Elsewhere in the House…

Though it was the biggest part of the project, the kitchen wasn’t the only room that was transformed. The living room at the front of the house saw some significant changes as well, including built-in shelving and a new fireplace.

“The front room was another room that didn’t get used a whole lot prior to this, and now it’s pretty much where we spend the winter,” Kristopher says.

The new shelving is of particular importance to Kristopher. While some of the shelves are standard bookshelves, others –positioned on either side of the fireplace –were designed for a different purpose.

“I’m a music geek and I still have vinyl, so underneath the bookshelves, they built shelves that hold records,” he says.

The home had no fireplace previously, and while Custom Home Works didn’t put in a full-size chimney, the company did install a mantle and surrounds picked out by the homeowners, with the self-contained fireplace itself at the center.

“It has zero clearance, so you can put cabinetry right up against (it),” Maibach says.

The new shelving matches the wood on the kitchen island, as do the drawers of the desk in the new work space off the garage. The latter replaced a phone nook that –big surprise – wasn’t as useful in 2020 as it was when the house was built in 1996.

Oh, and those much-maligned linoleum floors? Long gone – replaced by luxury vinyl tile, except for the front room, which is now carpeted.

Some of the old kitchen cabinetry was moved to the garage, adding convenient storage space that makes it easier to fit both cars in there. The work also included an upgrade to the half bath downstairs, as well as flat black casing to replace Colonial-style baseboard.

The changes to the kitchen and first floor won’t be the only alterations Custom Home Works makes to the house. The homeowners are already working with the company to replace the vanity in their guest bathroom, Kristopher says. CS

Garth Bishop is a contributing editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.