Mountain Modern - If The Heart Of The Home Is The Kitchen, Then This Home Has A Heart That’s Both Rustic And Refined.
By Cara McDonald / Photos by Carter Photographics

For many, building a mountain getaway means starting with a home design, and creating a kitchen to fit within. But when considering their family home in Rendezvous, Jack and Susan Sperber flipped the script: everything began with the kitchen.

“I wouldn’t say we’re gourmets,” says Susan, “but up here we become creative cooks because we have the time. Our goal was to have a place to congregate as a family and have solid family time.”

Not a new refrain for those in the home building business up here, but Susan wasn’t just looking to create a kitchen for hanging out; she also wanted to avoid the stereotypical mountain kitchen – matching cabinetry, rich wood, lots of slab granite and copper accents. Instead, she was looking for something more urban, “with the worn, tactile feel of an old warehouse or loft.” She latched on to a magazine photo of a home in Aspen that captured the essence, and handed it over to her design team.

Together with architect Carl Rhode andbuilder Brad Smith, of Terra Firma Custom Homes, kitchen designer Jason McConathy helped create a space that combined modern and urban details while stealing inspiration from open, rustic buildings – old barns, churches, lofts. What began to take shape was a kitchen that flowed into several communal spaces, with easy, open access to a dining nook, living area, fireplace, and wraparound porch.

Rhode and Smith situated the kitchen carefully, taking into consideration the changing light and views from each window. But instead of yawning expanses of picture windows, the kitchen has windows of a more modest scale, narrow and tall; combined with the presence of exposed beams, they create a church-like quality, and frame the views with precision, not abandon.

“The design set out to capture eastern light, which is very calming and shows true colors,” says Smith. “The architect even considered the perspective of a 5’8” person standing at the sink, and we built accordingly. It’s a sophisticated design move, and the kind of thing that differentiates a project from budget design.”

Though the ceilings are vaulted, the space doesn’t feel hollow or cold. Plenty of hand-hewn beams bring the eye down, creating a sense of intimacy, and beetle-kill pine provides warmth to the ceiling. But more warmth comes from the mix of design choices that followed.

When Sperber turned to the details, she chose McConathy, of New Mountain Design (formerly of Country Home Outfitters). The award-winning local kitchen designer has a key aspect to his design philosophy: “I refuse to work straight out of a catalogue.” His work in this kitchen is the antithesis of matchy-matchy, and McConathy achieves it by pushing the envelope and working with small, independent suppliers, such as Homestead Cabinetry, a tiny operation in Utah that makes every piece to order.

And the cabinetry illustrates McConathy’s design sensibilities perfectly. The perimeter cabinetry is clean-lined, made from knotty walnut, the kind of aesthetic that can easily fit in a more urban environment. It creates a beautiful contrast to the more rustic center island, handmade from reclaimed barn wood, full of nail holes and character, and in a vibrant red. Instead of the usual granite slab, the island is topped with a 300-pound 10-foot piece of Ipe wood (Brazilian walnut), a plantation-farmed tropical wood that has high oil content and can withstand exposure to water. Anchoring the island is a white handmade farm sink by Rohl®, which takes on a sculptural feeling when situated against the worn red cabinetry.

Juxtaposition is a theme in the space, and the team showed no fear when combining surfaces and materials – the clean lines of leather club chairs, the rough-hewn beams, the glint of milky porcelain and stainless steel. Instead of competing, the different lines and textures provide a worn welcoming.

“We didn’t want clutter,” says Susan, “but didn’t want it to look like nobody lived there. And we were working on a budget.” To that end, interior design help came from Jack’s sister, Denver-based Joy Wardrope of Room Therapy Design. She helped the family choose furnishings and details, like the dining room table, a Craigslist find, made by a Denver craftsman working out of his garage making tables from reclaimed wood and old scaffolding beams. The table has burn marks and warping – definitely not glossy perfection, but the kind of piece that welcomes long, loud dinners full of family and friends.

The end result is a kitchen that feels balanced, that harmonizes with a rustic setting and a couple’s urban sensibilities, the kind of place that has the shine rubbed off already, and is ready for a lifetime of coffee sipped and meals made to deepen its patina.

READ MORE STORIES FROM THIS ISSUE:
• Bunking Up In Style - Bunk Beds Graduate From Kids-only Purpose
• HIstory Hones Home-building Skills - Meeting Bob Wolf
• Art in the Open - Elk Horn Art Gallery Hosts 2009 Plein Air Event
• Special Lifestyle Section
• 2009 Feature Articles