Dark Horse Woodworks | Inman Park Home | Atlanta, GA

Inman Park in Atlanta, Georgia, is an idyllic neighborhood known for its Victorian houses, curved streets and verdant parks. Despite its historical look, the neighborhood has always been at the edge of innovation. Inman Park was Atlanta’s first planned residential neighborhood, featuring the city’s first electric trolley.

Today, the neighborhood continues to be a vibrant community of historic Victorian housefronts with contemporary touches. One homeowner decided to add a personal touch to their space by enhancing the functionality and aesthetics of the kitchen. Built in the 90s, the design had worked for them for decades, but now felt outdated and confined. For the renovation, the homeowner contacted Chris Dehmer of Dark Horse Woodworks and Kerry Escobedo of Dencity, a design firm, who had coincidentally worked together to renovate her neighbor’s home. 

The kitchen design featured an L-shaped island and walls that closed off the space, creating a compact feel and minimizing the kitchen’s footprint. “The prior design of the kitchen was very traditional and very cramped, so enhancing storage and aesthetics were big goals,” said Dehmer. “The homeowner wanted to change it up by lightening the space, enhancing the flow of the room and simplifying the design.”

After using REHAU RAUVISIO surface lines in the house across the street, Escobedo had a general idea of cabinetry surfaces the homeowner would want to use to replace their traditional white shaker cabinets. Escobedo and the homeowner exchanged many emails consisting of inspiration photos, all of which included light outer cabinetry with a dark recessed area.

In line with this inspiration, Escobedo showed the homeowner RAUVISIO terra soft, textured HPL surface in Loft Oak and RAUVISIO crystal acrylic surface in Nebbia.

“The client wanted a shiny high gloss product but needed a touch of color to warm it up,” explained Escobedo. “RAUVISIO terra Loft Oak added this with its natural-looking gray charcoal color, while RAUVISIO crystal Nebbia added a modern feel with its high gloss.”

RAUVISIO crystal Nebbia was chosen for the bright outer cabinetry, while RAUVISIO terra Loft Oak was selected for the layer of dark recessed cabinetry between the cooktop and hood.

“RAUVISIO terra Loft Oak provided a striking layer of cabinetry that boldly contrasts with the lightness of RAUVISIO crystal Nebbia,” said Dehmer. 

This visual intrigue was repeated throughout the kitchen. Escobedo noted that RAUVISIO terra Loft Oak was used for the center island and RAUVISIO crystal Nebbia was used for the second island, tying together the theme of light and dark juxtaposition. 

Choosing RAUVISIO crystal helped address the homeowner’s wish to maximize available space, as its reflectivity brought a bright and open feel to the kitchen. “RAUVISIO crystal Nebbia added so much light to the room through its highly polished gloss surface, which made it feel like the kitchen doubled in size in combination with other design decisions we made,” said Escobedo.

To make the space feel larger, along with the reflective surfaces, Dehmer and Escobedo added height. “We brought the cabinets all the way to the ceiling, in order to brighten up the space and make it seem bigger,” said Escobedo. 

The cabinets also open upwards, “like a ship,” as Escobedo put it, providing a modern touch as opposed to the traditional cabinet hinge.

In addition to the new cabinets, the kitchen was completely reshaped. Dehmer, under Escobedo’s direction, added a double island, moved the sink and removed two columns to improve the flow of the space and transition into the living room.

“The challenge of the space was making it seem larger, and the cabinets really did that. They reflected the light from the very large windows on the other side of the room,” said Dehmer.

Escobedo suggested pairing a stainless steel Wolf Range and Wolf integrated appliances with the cabinets to complete the kitchen. The integrated appliances added a modern feel to the kitchen, aligning with the seamless appearance of the cabinets provided by REHAU LaserEdge zero-joint edgebanding. “If we are able to use matching laser edgebanding, we will use that,” said Dehmer. “RAUVISIO surfaces are perfect when they come off the edgebander, always.”

The remodeled kitchen strikes a balance of historic and modern design– from the old-fashioned soapstone countertops and Victorian housefront, to the modern integrated appliances and sleek cabinets and islands made with RAUVISIO surface lines. “There’s a lot of push and pull throughout the space. It all ties together well,” said Escobedo.

While renovating a kitchen that has been used for more than 20 years is a big change, the homeowner loves their new spacious layout and the aesthetic appeal provided by the contrast between RAUVISIO terra Loft Oak and RAUVISIO crystal Nebbia. 

As for the future, Dehmer has additional projects in the works featuring RAUVISIO surfaces. “REHAU’s sample book is the first thing I show clients,” said Dehmer. “Their surfaces are easy to work with and provide lots of design possibilities with their color options.”