Remodeled kitchen blends easily with rural character of rustic Stanwood home

Published 5:41 pm Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Pat and Nanette Nizich fell in love instantly.

They had been house hunting for ages and had all but given up on finding something they liked for the right price.

Then they spied a promising old ranch near Stanwood that they had been eyeing online. Its price had been reduced by more than $75,000.

They ventured out again.

“It was raining. It was February,” Nanette Nizich said, remembering their first encounter with the home of their dreams. “I started crying. I said, ‘This is it.’”

The Niziches had stumbled upon the one-of-a-kind home of Jim Lambright, the former University of Washington football coach, and his wife, Lynne.

Though the home was built in 1978, it had a timeless character with elements of a French country cottage, a Vermont-style farmhouse and a cabin in the woods.

Exposed timbers, wide-plank wood flooring, a fieldstone fireplace and walls of knotty pine were all part of the charm.

They made an offer for the full price the next morning.

“It was really more like walking into a home than a house,” Pat Nizich said. “It’s just really homey.”

Of course, as with any love affair, Pat and Nanette Nizich found it very easy to overlook facets of the home that didn’t meet their design tastes at all, including the home’s dungeonesque kitchen with its dark-stained oak cabinets and awkward arrangement of appliances.

Deep down they knew such a space would never do for Nanette Nizich, who loves to bake, nor for Pat Nizich who delights in crafting flavorful lamb and duck dishes and the occasional foie gras.

When it came time for the couple to remodel the kitchen, however, they faced a complex challenge: How could they blend a shining, new state-of-the art kitchen with the rural character of their country-style home?

They sought counsel in Janet Lucek with Emerald Design of Everett, who helped them create an elegant kitchen with embellishments that bring the adjacent rooms into harmony with it.

Lucek first addressed the interior architecture of the home, bringing in the plaster walls already in place.

“We really liked the look of the heavy plaster and decided to continue with that theme,” Nanette Nizich said. “I think it lends a lot of character to the place.”

Next came a softening of the doorways between the kitchen and the dining and living rooms. Contractors removed the wooden framing set at country-style angles in favor of round, graceful plastered arches.

After removing the kitchen’s walk-in pantry and stealing a bit of space from the garage to expand the kitchen, the Niziches and Lucek began selecting earth tones and interesting textures to define their new space.

They chose granite tile counters with auburn accents and a sandy-beige backsplash, and cobblestone-configured floor tiles. They used metallic copper accents to create an Old World ambience, including a custom-made copper range hood.

They also selected two cabinet colors.

Their kitchen’s nod to the country style is a brandy-stained knotty alder antiqued with a black glaze. In areas where they wanted a brighter look or a contrast, Lucek and the Niziches relied on creamy yellow cabinets with a coffee-colored glaze.

New wood-framed windows carry on the country theme while bringing extra light into the space. Behind the stove, diamond-shaped rustic stones alternate with polished tiles to add a rural character.

Antique-bronze-finish hardware, including drawer pulls, a pot filler over the stove and an antique-style faucet over a white farmhouse sink, tie the room together.

Pat Nizich, who makes furniture as a hobby, chose thick, black walnut to create an inviting warm buffet in the space between the kitchen and the dining room.

“It’s like having a piece of furniture between the two rooms,” he said. “It just shows character.”

Corbels under the bar and cabinets with feet at the floor bolster the effect of simple but superior craftsmanship.

Some of the most interesting features in the space are also practical.

When designing the backsplash, for example, Lucek and the Niziches chose small travertine accent tiles butted together eliminating the need for grout.

“It’s tight,” Nizich said of the intentionally uneven split-face stones. “It’s right on the granite.”

Red-and-white checkered valances at the windows and delicate pendant lights over the bar soften the stone and wood.

What the couple enjoy most about their new kitchen is that their friends and family feel it blends well with the rest of the home.

“It goes with the house. It looks like it’s always been here,” Pat Nizich said. “It wasn’t like someone dropped a new kitchen into an old house.”

Reporter Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037 or sjackson@heraldnet.com