Life & Style

Building Character

A Bristol couple trusts their instincts in creating a perfect home cook’s kitchen

Sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants and for Bristol homeowners and home-cooks Chris Silva and Jason Conley, they wanted a kitchen built for cooking from scratch. This vision for their 1929 Dutch Colonial involved a bold structural change: an exposed ceiling. “This choice, which we insisted on from the beginning despite the construction complications it presented, served both aesthetic and functional purposes,” begins Silva. “In a small house, every square inch mattered, even in regard to height.”

The couple looked to RIKB Design Build of Warwick to make this joy-of-cooking kitchen work. Says Erika Pearson, design consultant, “They knew they wanted rustic wood finishes, decorative open storage, and a better layout, but needed help bringing everything together and navigating the construction. They recognized that a typical cookie-cutter kitchen wouldn’t make them happy, and they were looking for a firm that could do something more creative and tailored to their style.”