Melrose Kitchen and Bath Addition

In this Melrose home, part of the kitchen sat off the main foundation, in an old porch area. The kitchen had dark wood cabinets, laminate counters and a small window over the sink.

We measured and photographed the house, drew the existing floor plans and a 3D model, and worked through two design options. The plan we built took down the part of the kitchen that wasn't on a full foundation and replaced it with a small kitchen and bath addition on a new frost-wall foundation. Inside, temporary walls held the floor above while we set an engineered LVL beam, which let us open the kitchen wider to the living area. The original roof design for the addition turned out not to work with the unusual framing of the existing roof next to it, so we redesigned the new roof and filed amended plans with the city.

The new kitchen has white maple cabinets, a long stone island with seating, an arabesque tile backsplash and a vaulted ceiling. The new bath has a tiled walk-in shower with a corner bench and a sliding glass door, plus radiant floor heat. We also installed seven new double-hung windows, put new roofing over the kitchen, bath and family room, and laid new oak floors woven into the old ones. We designed it and built it.