San Carlos
Craftsman

The clients came to us with a 1920s Craftsman that they loved structurally but couldn't quite live in. The original kitchen was small, isolated, and disconnected from the rest of the home. They wanted to entertain. They wanted a place for their two young children to sit and do homework while a parent cooked. They wanted to keep what made the house feel like the house — the original trim, the wide-plank floors, the original dining room with its embossed wallpaper.

Our solution was to leave most of the home alone and pour everything into the kitchen and the small adjoining nook. We opened the wall between the dining room and kitchen — but preserved the original casing as a framing element. We added a custom built-in banquette under the corner window for the kids' homework station. And we carved out a dedicated bar nook on the far wall, anchored by a deep green hand-glazed diamond tile that becomes the visual heart of the entire entertaining space.

"They preserved everything we loved about the house, and gave us a kitchen that finally lets us live in it."

Every cabinet in the project is custom — built by our millwork partner to match the proportions of the original trim. The walnut bar counter is a single live-edge slab. The brass fixtures and shelving are sourced from a small Brooklyn workshop. The wallpaper in the breakfast nook is a hand-printed botanical from a Bay Area studio that the homeowner had been saving on a Pinterest board for three years.

The project ran on time and within five percent of budget — including two scope changes the homeowners initiated mid-construction, both transparently quoted and approved before any work proceeded.