10 Dream Kitchens To Inspire Every Home Chef

May 3, 2017/Chapel Hill Magazine/Home & Garden

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We’ve compiled a few of our favorite kitchens from previous issues to show you where your neighbors are cooking up and sharing their meals.

Featured in our January/February 2017 issue, Sandra and Stephen Rich‘s home on East Franklin Street is recognizable by the rose garden out front and by the storied treasures inside.

After developing a taste for North Carolina pottery since moving here, the Richs have added to their pottery collection comprised of both French and American styles.

In Jeremy Samelson‘s home on Country Club Road, which appeared in our November 2016 issue, the kitchen is where the solid old elements meet polished new ones for a simultaneously rustic and stately elegance.

The herringboned floor in the kitchen was done by the previous owners. Jeremy added in a wine rack to the island, and by coincidence, its wood crisscross pattern mirrors the floor.

Terry and Chris Woodfin decided to build a Craftsman house on a wooded lot five miles south of downtown Chapel Hill, which was published in our September/October 2016 issue. The kitchen – accented with white beveled subway tile and dark leathered rough-edge granite countertops – features an island with seven barstools: five leather seats and two end stools.

The floor-to-ceiling cabinets in the kitchen give the Woodfins plenty of storage – not that they need it with a dream pantry a few feet away.

Stephen and Ann Aylward built their dream vacation home right on Old Greensboro Road. In our May/June 2016 issue, we featured their living-dining-kitchen area built for entertaining large groups.

“We went to the Lumina movie theater at Southern Village, and they have a bar where you can order wine and beer. [Our kitchen has] the granite of that bar. We saw it, thought it was nice, went home and Googled until we found it,” Ann says of her kitchen’s inspiration.

First-time homebuyers, Alex and Kate Sayre found a fixer-upper on Graham Street that had been vacant for two years and decided to roll up their sleeves. The story of their revamped home originally appeared in our March 2015 issue.

“Cooking is obviously very important to me – and we love to entertain – so we know that it looks like this is half of our house,” says Kate, a registered dietitian, “but we’re OK with that.”

In Renee Floyd‘s townhome on the main drag of Barbee Chapel Road approaching Meadowmont Village, the kitchen was the biggest priority. Marble backsplashes and wide wooden plank walls accent stainless steel appliances in her modern oasis, featured in our April 2016 issue.

The view from the kitchen window is surprisingly vast and hilly. “Look out the back here,” says Renee. “We could be in San Francisco or somewhere!”

Kimberly Jenkins and Mac Chisolm’s huge kitchen – and by extension, the house – is a gathering place for loved ones coming together for food, fellowship and stories. The story of their Chapel Hill farmhouse was originally published in our September/October 2014 issue.

For her 60th birthday, Kimberly threw a party and brought in chefs to cook. Clockwise from top right: guests Yvette West, Rich West, Susie Morris, Van Morris, Tom Hadzor and Susan Ross with Kimberly and Mac.

In Steve and Joyce Winterbottom‘s home in The Woodlands, clean architectural lines are warmed by natural woods. Their home − and window to the world – appeared in our April 2015 issue.

“I would say we bought a lot of new decorations for the house, as opposed to using what we already had,” Steve says. “This house is so different from the other houses that we’ve had, so we tried to honor the spirit of the house … with all the parallels and perpendiculars, and there’s a lot of recesses in the ceilings and the walls. It’s fun.”

Marty and AraLu Lindsey gave back to their alma mater, UNC, through a renovation of their home on Battle Lane. The story of this historic home was featured in our January/February 2015 issue.

Wyndham Robertson‘s cottage in The Cedars is both sophisticated and spunky. The story of her home – reflective of the retired writer’s lifetime – was published in our January/February 2016 issue.