Kitchen of the Week: White, Wood and Blue Perk Up Tudor Style

Design details that fit this Seattle home’s traditional look mix with modern upgrades and personalized storage solutions

Jeannie Matteucci 22 February 2019

Houzz Contributor. Home design writer and lifestyle reporter with a love for stylish spaces, smart lighting and a good decaf dry cappuccino.

Houzz Contributor. Home design writer and lifestyle reporter with a love for stylish... More

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Liz Harris and wife Madalyn Urdal thought they could wait five years to remodel the kitchen in the 1939-built Tudor house they had just bought in Seattle. But it was so dysfunctional, they had to get right to renovating. “There was no counter space, and it just didn’t work for us,” Harris says.

With the help of a kitchen designer and a builder, the couple created an updated kitchen made for modern family living, with refreshing white cabinets, rich wood details and dashes of soothing blue that complement the historical nature of the home.

Before Photo

MLB Design Group

“After” photos by Julie Mannell Photography

Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: Liz Harris, Madalyn Urdal and their two daughters, plus three cats, a dog and a guinea pig
Location: Seattle
Size: About 170 square feet (16 square meters)
Designer: Marie Lail Blackburn of MLB Design Group

Before: The U-shaped kitchen lacked countertop space. A four-burner range took up most of the short peninsula, which separated the kitchen from a small breakfast area that was unnecessary considering the dining room is just through the opening on the left. “This was kind of a wasted space that was not utilized in a functional way,” says designer Marie Lail Blackburn.

Meanwhile, the cherry-toned upper cabinets stopped well short of the ceiling, limiting storage. And the steel backsplash on the left and the dark granite countertops hardly fit with the Tudor style of the home.

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MLB Design Group

After: Working with Prestige Residential Construction, Lail Blackburn removed the existing cabinets and appliances, widened the opening to the dining area and changed it to an archway that matches other archways in the home.

She removed soffits, narrowed the windows and expanded the kitchen into the breakfast area. This made room for a generous range area and increased storage.

Wood crown molding and window frames against white walls and ceiling better complement the Tudor style of the home. “We wanted something warm and kind of bright,” says Harris of the white paint (White Dove by Benjamin Moore).

The blue paint (Santorini Blue by Sherwin-Williams) on the tall cabinet was inspired by a treasured family needlepoint. The open shelves display collectibles, while the bottom cabinet puts everyday plates and bowls within reach of the couple’s two daughters.

Lail Blackburn sanded down the classic-style pendants and painted them the same color as the cabinet. The lights hang above an 18-inch-wide freestanding island topped in Calacatta Vagli marble. “We use it every day,” Harris says. “We take stuff from the refrigerator right to the island, and Maddy [Urdal] makes lunches there.”

The sink to the right of the blue cabinet is a prep sink.

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MLB Design Group

The main sink is where the breakfast area used to be.

Dimensional glazed stoneware tile (Nottingham field tile in the Cascade pattern from Ann Sacks) creates a focal-point backsplash behind the new dual-fuel range and stainless steel hood. The plain glazed white backsplash tile is from the same line. “I can’t tell you how many weekends we spent looking at tiles,” Harris says. “Our entryway is parquet, so we settled on this because it coordinates with that and Maddy was really into the three-dimensional effect.”

The new white oak floor was stained to closely match the adjoining dining room floor, which was refinished and patched where needed.

The Case for 2 Kitchen Sinks

MLB Design Group

The decision to expand the kitchen into the old breakfast area required changes to window sizes and the replacement of bricks on the exterior of the home. “That was a big financial consideration, but we’re happy we made the changes,” Harris says. “You can be at the sink now and look over our backyard and pool.”

Custom painted maple cabinets with full-overlay doors and well-placed drawers give the family lots of storage. An open cabinet to the bottom right of the apron-front sink features a pullout rack for drying kitchen towels. A custom composting drawer with metal tins sits right above the towel rack, and a rollout trash and recycling center with a hands-free electrical opening support system is located to the bottom left of the sink.

Custom cabinets: Prestige Residential Construction; hands-free system: Servo-Drive, Blum

MLB Design Group

New wood cabinets housing a broom closet and a rollout pantry are recessed into an old closet. “They added an outlet for our vacuum in there too, which is great,” Harris says.

The perimeter countertops are Marron Ginevra marble with a leather finish.

Sink: Whitehaven, Kohler; sink faucet: Bellera, Kohler

MLB Design Group

This view of the kitchen from a hallway shows a fun cat archway in the bottom of a chalkboard door leading to the basement.

MLB Design Group

The island has a built-in outlet strip. “We have plugs everywhere you need them in this kitchen,” Harris says.

MLB Design Group

Harris is an avid gluten-free baker, so having more storage for her baking supplies was a must. This user-friendly baking center sits between the built-in stainless steel refrigerator and a tall wood cabinet. The baking center was painted to match the kitchen’s white cabinets, and the backsplash is the same dimensional stoneware tile used behind the range.

“This tile helps establish the personality of the overall design of this kitchen, and ties it to the beautiful features in the original home,” Lail Blackburn says.

MLB Design Group

This photo of the baking center with the cabinet doors open shows the easy-access storage inside, with an open shelf for a microwave, slots for baking sheets and a pullout for the family’s standing mixer.

The tall wood cabinet next to the baking center holds dry goods. It also conceals an existing chimney that was boxed in.

“We carefully measured the storage containers to make sure our new tall cabinet would hold them properly,” Lail Blackburn says.

MLB Design Group

The dining room through the archway next to the blue cabinet features bench seating with storage drawers beneath.

MLB Design Group

Dishes from the kitchen can be transported to the new built-in sideboard. Its U-shaped frame detail manages spills and provides a backrest for reading while enjoying outdoor views. The top drawers include electrical outlets and USB ports for charging devices. The added wall sconces make it easy to serve food and read during the evening hours.

The family now enjoys an updated, well-functioning kitchen that coordinates with connecting spaces and has classic charm. “It now feels like the true heart of the home,” Harris says.

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