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Project Name: Balanced Beauty
Location: Austin, Texas
Date Completed: 2016
Submitted By: Marcus Mohon Interiors
Architect: Gary Koerner and Chas Architects
Interior Designer: Marcus Mohon
Construction Company: Dalgleish Construction
Photography By:

This kitchen embraces the overall home and its environment with enthusiasm. It reflects the homes balance of classic design and contemporary living and invites those in to step out and engage the creek and bluff beyond. The home is a vibrant combination of the classic design and modern living. The kitchen is the part of the home where that combination is the most evident, most experienced and maybe most beautiful. The materials are time-tested and have endured in construction for centuries; plaster walls, limestone flooring and marble work surfaces. All forms are well edited and stripped of details so that those timeless materials appear more modern.

The kitchen is organised for cooking focusing on a large island for prepping the cooktop nook for preparation. No upper cabinets are used in the kitchen. Extra storage is concealed behind panelling on the way to the butler’s pantry. The seating is covered in classic linen and velvet, but those fabrics are made for outdoors and can withstand any kind of spills. A steel custom table pulled up to a banquette calls for lounging and lingering in the kitchen long after the dishes are done. The designers, Marcus Mohon Interiors are said to enjoy the way that the kitchen engages with its setting. The windows, doors and adjacent outdoor space seem to extend the kitchen beyond the house all the way to the creek. The kitchen is cosy and efficient enough for two people, as it functions most of the time however the adjoining butler’s pantry, ample storage and massive island are large enough and flexible enough to accommodate the extended family including children and grandchildren.

The adjacent outdoor porch was designed as an extension of the kitchen. Due to the proximity and climate, dining occurs outdoors as much as in. As mentioned above, the porch’s nearness to the kitchen, along with site lines through the doors and windows give a sense of floating above the greenbelt and creek with fantastic views of the bluffs beyond. Editing and simplicity were paramount. Marcus Mohon interiors reduced the number of materials and colours to take the eye outward. The marble on the countertop was also the backsplash; the plaster on the ceiling was pulled down onto the vent hood cover.

Modern living has come full circle, taking living back into the same space with cooking as it was hundreds of years ago. Gone are the days of the 1960s when unused ‘living rooms’ were kept only for visitors. Today, friends, family and guests all father first in the kitchen. And the kitchen balances warmth and elegance for graceful living.