The islandís dark gray concrete top is honed and polished, and a matching side piece anchors the seating area. Architect Bud Wilson says that the two pieces were cast separately and bolted together on site. The islandís stainless steel base picks up on the steel used for the door frames on the upper cabinets. Cabinet designer John Campbell with Kitchens & Interiors International, in Shelburne, Vt., suggested creating a stainless steel soffi t to hide the HVAC ducts and wiring.
Mike Furey The islandís dark gray concrete top is honed and polished, and a matching side piece anchors the seating area. Architect Bud Wilson says that the two pieces were cast separately and bolted together on site. The islandís stainless steel base picks up on the steel used for the door frames on the upper cabinets. Cabinet designer John Campbell with Kitchens & Interiors International, in Shelburne, Vt., suggested creating a stainless steel soffi t to hide the HVAC ducts and wiring.

It took a team of experts to fit this modern kitchen into a rustic Vermont house. Sleek materials and simple lines combine with rustic original posts and beams, which frame the new room.

The kitchen is part of a larger whole-house remodel of an 18-year-old barn-inspired home. The homeowners purchased the 3,500 square-foot structure, adjacent to their 100-acre property and main house, to use as a guest house.

They originally planned a minor remodel but expanded the scope to improve the awkward floor plan and wasted pockets of space.

The original walls and ceilings of the barnstyle house were white-washed, including the posts and beams. The team brought in a specialty painter to transform the posts and beams to dark rustic pieces. Wilson says that the painter mixed in bronze metallic paint. “Itís very simple, but details can make a project.” 

For continuity, the designers asked the painter to use a similar metallic finish on the trim around the living room windows. The 12-by-24-inch ceramic tiles on the floor also have a metallic finish.
Bud Wilson The original walls and ceilings of the barnstyle house were white-washed, including the posts and beams. The team brought in a specialty painter to transform the posts and beams to dark rustic pieces. Wilson says that the painter mixed in bronze metallic paint. “Itís very simple, but details can make a project.” For continuity, the designers asked the painter to use a similar metallic finish on the trim around the living room windows. The 12-by-24-inch ceramic tiles on the floor also have a metallic finish.
The base wood cabinets have a black finish and are topped with orange travertine that ties in with the orange walls and brings out the rust shades in the stone backsplash. The backsplash is stone veneer manufactured in 3-by-12-inch sheets that are installed like tile. The same stone veneer was also used to cover the original white stucco area around the fireplace.
Mike Furey The base wood cabinets have a black finish and are topped with orange travertine that ties in with the orange walls and brings out the rust shades in the stone backsplash. The backsplash is stone veneer manufactured in 3-by-12-inch sheets that are installed like tile. The same stone veneer was also used to cover the original white stucco area around the fireplace.

“To get to the master bedroom, you had to go through the kitchen,” says architect Bud Wilson of Wilson Architects, in Waterbury, Vt. He reconfigured the entire plan — creating three rooms from the existing master bedroom upstairs and opening up all the spaces on the main floor. “All the materials branch out into all the rooms,” Wilson says. “Since you can see everything from other areas, this creates continuity in the house that was not there before.”

Interior designer Jessica Carbone with Carbone Designs, in Stowe, says that the clients’ contemporary tastes had to be toned down to match the feeling of this house. “We brought in the stone in the backsplash and above the fireplace to blend in some of the older feel,” she says.