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Wednesday, October 1, 2003 Remodeled kitchens invite families to come together By MICHELE DERUS American homeowners are expected to spend $214 billion this year on remodeling, to a large extent putting their money where their mouths are: in the kitchen. Whether life’s stresses drove them to this age-old refuge or economics convinced them real estate is the safest investment bet these days, people are spending more time and money in the kitchen. In the process, they’re transforming the once humble room’s look to a point eerily similar to yesteryear’s living rooms — sometimes complete with fireplace and comfy chair. “The kitchen is the living room today, the focal point for the house. Kitchens bring families together, for eating, for entertainment — for everything,” said Mark Brick, president of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI). Among the touches his company, Glendale, Wis.-based B&E General Contractors Inc., puts in homes these days: “dramatic lighting, surround-sound systems, appliances that look like pieces of furniture, paneled dishwashers, flat-screen TVs that are also computers.” All that is costly, but people are in an indulgent mood. The remodeling business is booming and kitchen jobs are its leading edge, said Gwen Biasi, marketing and communications coordinator at NARI headquarters in Des Plaines, Ill. Kitchens account for about 20 percent to 25 percent of all spending, “the most expensive room to remodel because of all the appliances and materials used,” she said. Especially the restaurant-quality appliances and luxury materials favored of late — marble, granite, copper, slate, brick, Italian tile, oak, maple and cherry wood. Customers are shelling out up to $10,000 for minor update work, $40,000 to $60,000 on major renovations and twice that or more for remodeling projects that increase a home’s square footage, remodelers estimate. One sign of the white-hot popularity of kitchen renovations: shopping, shopping, everywhere. And all that shopping has been a shot-in-the-arm to the ailing U.S. economy. The $131.5 billion spent in 2001 on home improvements, coupled with $34.3 billion spent on maintenance and repairs and $48.2 billion on rental properties, “was instrumental in preventing the economy from falling deeper into recession,” the Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies reported this spring. In a possible reflection of kitchens’ added importance in today’s world, the housing industry has bestowed new names on them. Home builders are apt to call them “hearth rooms,” while remodeling contractors dub them “living centers.” The image of a “living center,” conjured by Alan Freysinger, co-owner of Design Group Three Inc. in Glendale: “It may have a couple easy chairs, a conversation area. We just finished a project where the owner’s dream was a fireplace in the kitchen, so she could read or do recipes by the fire.” Valerie Mascitti of Elm Grove, Wis., fulfilled that dream and more: an oversize Viking Range Corp. gas stove which gets heavy use in her newly-remodeled kitchen. “We have five kids and they have desks in their rooms where they’re supposed to do their homework. But they don’t; they do it in the kitchen. And I like to cook. Everybody hangs out in the kitchen,” she said. The kitchen’s size was fine — big — but not its look, Mascitti said. “We replaced the cabinets, put brickwork in front of the fireplace, and closed off a stairway that came right into the kitchen. We extended one wall with an open counter area.” Now they luxuriate in a big, welcoming kitchen as “our hanging-out place” and a living room “that’s more of a quiet escape place,” she said. What the Mascittis wanted in a kitchen was what millions of consumers, bellowing over stove tops to family members or leaning on fridges in animated party chatter, have long favored — togetherness. “Historically, the kitchen was a gathering place. Back in the ’30s and ‘40s, they were designed for that. Then builders decided the kitchen was a utilitarian room. And that’s the way they’ve been until people rejected the idea, saying, ‘No. This is where we’re spending all our time, and we want it to accommodate more people,’” said Bob Sebastian, design consultant at S.J. Janis Co Inc. in Wauwatosa, Wis. Suddenly, kitchen islands with seating, built-in booths, banquettes, benches are all the rage in new construction and remodeling jobs, Sebastian said. This 21st century quest differs from the expansionist 1990s, when homes swelled with owners’ bigger-is-better ambitions. “People don’t want big and cold,” he said. “They want inviting and warm, with furniture-style woodwork and work islands that look more like tables.” Customers sound a recurring theme: Open the kitchen to our world. “Families want to be together — kids can eat while Mom makes lunches — and guests want to be near the cook,” said Marianne Kohlmann, interior designer for Brookfield, Wis.-based Remodeling Center Inc. For customers Rosemary Stewart and husband Joe Otto, that meant remodeling their 1930s Lannon stone two-story Menomonee Falls home so the kitchen spills into an uninsulated porch that will become an all-season sunroom. The family gets more walking space, counter space and seating options in the process. “We wanted a comfortable place our family could use as the heart of the house, a place for cooking, where our kids could do their homework and that I could use when I’m working from home,” Stewart said. A two-room project like theirs, with natural materials like slate and wood, can cost around $100,000, Kohlmann said. Stewart considers the expense worth it. “Is it practical? Definitely. Is it visually appealing? Yes. We’re very pleased.”
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