Style, storage, functionality and a stellar view: what more can a homeowner ask from a kitchen makeover?
Designed and built by Potvin Construction, a new modern-themed penthouse kitchen in a 1970s-era condo in the Glebe met all those expectations and then some.
“The old one was just a galley kitchen,” says the homeowner, who prefers to remain anonymous.
“The cabinets were very high quality, but they were dated and just not my style … I was looking to go modern; country style is not my look.”
“I wanted more light,” she adds.
“I’d just moved from a big house and the kitchen here felt enclosed. Also, it wasn’t as functional as I would have liked.”
To top it off, the old design included a solid wall partially separating the kitchen and general living area, limiting the potentially stunning view of the neighbourhood and beyond.
With that wall now replaced by an island, “I can see Parliament Hill when I’m working at the island… It’s wonderful. I’m aware of the sky now, the clouds. Now nature is part of my day. I look down and can see the (Rideau) Canal. At night, it’s just magical.”
Having decided to make the investment (“I thought, ‘I’m moving in here for the long term, so I want it to be something I’m comfortable with’”), the homeowner rounded up inspirational photos, including some of the renovated suite on the floor below hers, and checked out a couple of kitchen designers. She ended up working with Pierre Dromaguet, Potvin’s millwork design and sales manager, who designed her new space.
“I told Pierre I wanted a Zen kitchen and dark cupboards,” she recalls. “He picked it up from there.”
Simple ingredients and a tribute to original architecture
Unlike today’s bright, open, entertainment-ready spaces, Dromaguet says, “Kitchens in the 1970s weren’t ‘happening’ places. It was that tucked-away room that no one paid attention to.”
The new one, by contrast, is integrated into the overall living area, giving the condo a greater expansiveness and cohesion.
Being a condo, there was limited room for the makeover, although the new useable space is roughly double the size of what was previously there.
Dromaguet kept to a clean design and simple ingredients, including a mix of black and walnut slab doors and panels as well as light, textured countertops made of Dekton, a durable, manmade porcelain product that is increasingly popular.
“It’s not a big space. The more textures, the more colours you have, you lose the essence of what it is quickly,” explains Dromaguet. “If your space is small, keep the lines to a minimum, keep the volumes to a minimum, keep the colours to a minimum or it gets busy quickly.”
In the case of this kitchen, he continues, “the black is a backdrop, the wood becomes a feature and the Dekton is what tied everything together.”
Concealed appliances help maintain the visual cohesion and relaxed, uncluttered esthetic.
Along with the Zen-like vibe and visual connection with the outside world, the new kitchen includes triple the storage space of the old one, built-in cabinetry lighting, a new peninsula with cupboards underneath, and a wine fridge and bar. The project was a finalist in the 2024 Ottawa Housing Design Awards, a high-end annual affair organized by the Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association.
Dromaguet pushed the project a step further when he incorporated the rich walnut slabs as an echo of the wood panelling in the building’s lobby and elsewhere.
“In a project like that, I value the architecture of the building itself. We need to pay homage to what it is… We wanted to give it a feel of the 1970s although still being contemporary.”
The kitchen, says Dromaguet, has integrity.
“It’s something that’s going to age well because it’s already got a little bit of the flair of the 1970s but it’s clean, it’s streamlined. And the efficiency — in a small space, you’ll find a lot of efficiency in there.”
Patrick Langston is the co-founder of All Things Home Inc. The veteran journalist has covered the Ottawa housing industry since 2008.