A Vintage (Yet Modern) Chicago Kitchen

When a young Chicago couple wanted to renovate their home to represent their unique personalities, Jasmin Reese wasn’t afraid to jump in and help them navigate different style choices.

While the pair had disparate tastes, Jasmin met the challenge of designing their kitchen, powder room, dining room, living room and bathrooms. The wife felt comfortable with collections and soft colors, whereas the husband preferred a vintage style with diverse elements. Through a series of style sessions and meetings, however, Jasmin was able to blend together their aesthetics.

Owner of Jasmin Reese Interiors, a Chicago-based residential luxury firm that also services Naples, FL, Jasmin is passionate about pushing people slightly out of their design comfort zone, but not too much. “I start with a style session in the beginning to see how high octane they’ll go and how much I can push them,” she says. “But I don’t like to push people past 10% of their comfort zone, because that’s when things get weird.”

Jasmin enjoys the exploratory phase of the design process almost as much as she likes designing itself. She especially appreciates when her clients make unexpected style choices. The first meeting starts with an inspiration session, where the homeowners look at design pictures. “I try to show them images—things I think they won’t like, and things I think they might like,” she says. “Sometimes I’m surprised when people say, ‘I love this grouping.’ They might look like Kate Spade up and down, and they like a little punk.”

Jasmin’s background is in fine arts. A painter for many years, she put herself through college, working in design firms and lighting stores, and flipping furniture. She met a lot of homeowners in the process. “I loved working with them,” she says, “and I didn’t even realize at the time that interior design was a profession. I thought you had to be an architect.” She was a natural designer and has been employed in the field ever since.

When Jasmin worked with this particular Chicago couple in the Bucktown area, the design sessions weren’t traditional because many took place during COVID. There were added challenges of meeting virtually as opposed to in person, which can be difficult when you’re designing a home. But Jasmin didn’t let the pandemic stop her from designing. Rather than focusing on the lack of in-person meetings, she looked at the bright side of the virtual ones. “It was a blessing that we could be on Zoom so I could hear them and see their facial expressions,” she recalls. “That was actually a good thing.”

Jasmin knew how important it was for both husband and wife to have “a win” with the design process. To achieve this, she had to navigate some design clashing, but both husband and wife were happy with the results of the renovation. When talking about the floors of the house, says Jas- min, “Even though the husband might have been super excited about a high-contrast floor, I knew he would be getting some things in another area. So I kind of pushed for more gray, neutral flooring for the wife.” Jasmin made sure the husband got to see his aesthetic when she included some vintage elements in the renovation. “With the kitchen, he was so excited about the vintage-type bar and some cool vintage hardware we incorporated. For the adjacent dining room, we added some medallions to the ceiling, which is a Chicago staple.”

Thanks to the designer’s expert touch, the clients were able to merge their two styles and even find some romance in the process. They discovered a beautiful historic mirror—which looked like it had been in the house forever—and incorporated it into the wall. Jasmin encouraged them to include art pieces they found together to decorate their home, which in the end tells their love story.

Resource:

Jasmin Reese

Jasmin

Reese Interiors

2545 North Clark Street Chicago, IL 60614 773.857.1240 jasminreeseinteriors.com

Todd Atkins of Phil Kean Kitchens had the unusual challenge of designing and building a kitchen on the third floor of a spec house. The National Homebuilder’s Association had hired Phil Kean and his team to design the custom kitchen of a showhouse in Winter Park, FL.

The house had an urban design, which meant the kitchen was located on the third floor. This floor includes the great room, the dining room and the kitchen. While guests are dining, they get to enjoy the views of Winter Park, which is very scenic.

When designing the kitchen, Todd thought carefully about how he would integrate it into the home’s design. “I want the kitchen to be an extension of the living space and the architecture, so it has a nice flow and complements the other rooms,” he says. “I don’t want the kitchen to be just another room in the house.”

Todd hails from Chicago, where he spent 22 years in traditional design. He’s an alumnus of the Art Institute of Chicago and takes pride in his artistic background, which informs his current role as a designer. Todd had to make quite an adjustment when he relocated to Florida, and it was a learning curve to understand the area’s design culture. One of the challenges he sees in Florida homes is the high ceilings. “Coming down here I found different architecture, interiors and kitchen planning. In the kitchen we do these framing surrounds—that’s the dark wood surrounds we kind of wrap our cabinets in because the ceilings are so high. They bring the space down so it feels comfortable. Fourteenfoot ceilings don’t always feel so good.”

A crucial element in Todd’s design process is what he refers to as “zones.” He believes it’s important to dedicate particular areas of the kitchen to various activities. A large space needs to feel connected and purposeful—that’s why zone planning is critical for Todd. “There’s prepping, cooking and clean-up zones,” he says. “For your messy kitchen, there’s a section behind retractable doors. You pop it open, and there’s your extra sink, a place to hide your toaster, your blender and your mess. You close the door so nobody sees your mess.”

One of the essential materials used in this showhouse was walnut wood. Todd designed a big dish hutch area, where he could bring out his traditional design background using this material. “I did the walnut, and it has a light stain on it,” he says. “That whole dish hutch is supposed to emulate an antique piece in a turn-of-the-century house.”

It was a fulfilling experience for Todd to create a dish hutch in walnut wood—and it’s not just attractive but fully functional. Todd made sure that homeowners could use it for serving pieces and a second or third set of dishes, and to showcase what they have. It’s a living, beautiful piece.

Todd also designed elegant wall cabinets with mirrors, made for storing everyday glasses, not fancy glasses. “This is your real house,” he says. “And to the right of that, the food pantry is where it actually lays out for a normal space.”

The kitchen design was a collaborative effort involving Phil Kean’s team and many vendors. Todd partnered with Signature Kitchen Suite, which supplied all the appliances, and LX Hausys, which provided the quartz countertop, backsplash and wall treatment at the dish hutch. Other brands Todd worked with on the showhouse were Plato Woodwork, Element Design, Kohler, Kichler Lighting, Emtek Hardware, Rehau, Salice and Hawa.

The final product is a lovely kitchen and dining area that sparkles no matter what time of day.

Resource:

Phil Kean Design Group

Todd Atkins

912 West Fairbanks Avenue

Winter Park, FL 32789

407.622.1636 philkeandesigns.com