Natural Harmony

A collaboration between architect Ken Linsteadt and his client, interior designer Carol Knorpp, resulted in a kitchen that balances this Victorian-era cottage’s history with contemporary style. With the Larkspur, Calif., home’s main level elevated a full story off of its site, the kitchen boasts a treetop-level view of nearby Mount Tamalpais from large windows above the breakfast bay. To offset the pale materials palette of white paneled walls and ceiling and white Calcutta marble countertops, Linsteadt and Knorpp wanted to bring the warmth of the natural surroundings indoors by using hand-scraped recycled white oak floorboards. But the duo didn’t want a cold, obtrusive steel hood above the range: “At the beginning I wanted to add a bit of warmth to the kitchen by introducing the recycled wood up on the hood as well, but I wasn’t intending to do the whole thing,” says Linsteadt. He describes the original design of the detail as a strip of wood at the base of the hood capped with plaster rising to the ceiling. But when Knorpp started to play around with leftover floorboards covering the entire range hood, both she and Linsteadt preferred the rough, natural feel.