Photography by Alise O’Brien
Some homeowners take a laissez-faire approach to building a new house, turning over the details to an army of architects, builders, and designers.
That would not be Irene Fowle. “I was a hovercraft here,” she says. “I saw everything that was happening. I tried to prevent things from going in a direction I did not like. I was super, super particular on every singular detail, every profile, every piece of wood, every design.”
Mike Beck, president of Beck/Allen Cabinetry (633 Spirit of St. Louis, 636-519-1611; 11626 Page Service, 314-677-6713; beckallencabinetry.com), agrees. “She was amazing and a pain in the ass,” he says. “She had a really distinct idea of what she wanted to do, which always makes my job a little easier. It just took a while to get to where she wanted to be with it.”
Designed by Mitchell Wall Architecture and Design (2 The Pines, 314-576-5888, mitchellwall.com) and built by Amherst Corp., the new house is situated sideways on the lot. The north-facing kitchen is off the main hallway. Light streams in from a window; an adjoining butler’s pantry has a wall of windows. “What I like about it is, it gets more indirect light than direct light, which makes it softer and more cozy,” says architect Susan Bower of Mitchell Wall.
Another element that adds to the inviting atmosphere is the fact that the room is closed off from the adjoining family room. “Today, you see so many kitchens that are open,” Bower says. “This is a bit more discreet.”
Fowle’s previous abode was considerably larger. “My old house was on Carrswold Drive, and the kitchen was six times the size of this,” she says. “The island in my old kitchen? You literally could have parked a car on it.”
Here, the walls are painted a neutral Benjamin Moore Senora Gray, with white trim. The ceiling is coffered, and the insets are sky blue. “My daughter and I had taken a trip to Charleston, S.C., and I was totally intrigued by the blue they put on the porches,” Fowle says. “Every weekend, we would get a million shades of blue, and during construction, she would put a trash bag on and paint the coffer until we got just the right color.”
For the floors, Fowle wanted the look of wood, but not actual wood. She found a porcelain tile that resembles wood and inset it into the travertine flooring. “I went back to Stone Fabricators a million times to pick out just the right slabs,” Fowle says. “The stone is soft, but luminous,” Bower adds. “It bounces the light inside.”
The cabinets are Shaker-style, the pulls are from Locks & Pulls Design Elements, and the color is (naturally) custom, a shade they found through the process of elimination, after Beck had up to a dozen sample doors specially painted.
The island was another collaboration between Beck and Fowle. “I was looking for a unique piece of furniture for the island,” says Fowle. “I never located it, so Mike helped me find something that was distressed and looked old. It wasn’t the exact cabinet as the other ones, but it blended.”
The result is a space that works perfectly. “It is a very user-friendly kitchen,” Fowle says. “If I am entertaining, it is user-friendly. And if I am by myself, it is user-friendly. That is what I wanted.
“I like the fact that no matter what, I see my kitchen—it’s kitchen central,” she adds. “It makes me feel good. It’s a pretty, calming space.”
