The Kitchen Witch Wants to Say Hello

The Kitchen Witch Wants to Say Hello

Welcome and thank you for stopping by my web site. Inside many wonderful vintage homes it is not uncommon to discover a kitchen in dire need of serious attention or a newer kitchen sadly unrelated to the home’s architecture and period style. It is my role as your Kitchen Witch to remedy this dilemma by fashioning 21st century kitchens, each one thoughtfully and lovingly detailed to truly compliment and enhance the history and grace of a bygone era. Your kitchen should be as individual as you are, fitting your needs perfectly and be at peace in its surroundings. It should fit within a reasonable budget, if that is your choosing, and it should have the “wow” factor regardless of cost.

You should know that The Kitchen Witch, born to bless and oversee the total kitchen setting, is required by law to have at least one capricious cat to assist with what continues to be a most unusual calling and huge responsibility, especially when many of the best assignments are inside the kitchens of irreplaceable vintage homes. I’ll admit to pulling rank to get the territory, but I did it only because I knew I would do the finest job with the utmost care. These homes are treasures. They have lived longer than most of us, heard more secrets than any of us, experienced mountains of sorrow and joy, seen little of the world and everything of the world, and are needed just to be here because we need the past as much as we need the present and the future.

Captivating neighborhoods, with diverse cultural settings, awaken the heart and salute the spirit of those who favor living in these timeless houses, which are charming and beautiful in a most imperfect way. It is here I find a range of people, from accomplished gourmet cooks to others who simply want their kitchen largely as a special place to rest, pour a sparkling glass of wine, or chat with a friend. All have unique style, assorted interests, and high expectations; many have a kitchen needing to happen. It is this understanding that draws The Kitchen Witch through open doors, into homes, requesting people’s trust and the trust of the walls that surround them. Although we must respect the past as we lead them to the future, many kitchens inside these treasured homes are more than ready for a warm hug and a bright new smile. I find great joy in making that happen.

Certification in kitchen design, a degree in interior design, and numerous years spent space planning tight spaces and managing large-scale projects helped me to graduate with top honors from The Kitchen Witch Academy and fly off with passion to do what I was born to do. Let me assure you, I have no magic, special powers, or formulas. What I have is a great deal of experience, immense respect for historical architecture, high standards, common sense balanced with imagination, a keen ability to see the big picture yet scrutinize the smallest details, and I do not get intimidated when multiple doorways lead into one room. I know that small or challenging spaces require big design and unique design solutions, a true calling for The Kitchen Witch.

Almost every person I have had the privilege of designing a kitchen for willingly lets me know that they could never have imagined such a wonderful kitchen or even begin to understand how to put all the parts together. Along the way I have met many people who once they know what I do, or have seen my work, will say, “I wish I had known about you before I remodeled my kitchen.” My response, “so do I.” I hope my work speaks for itself.

Blessings To You!

Testimonials

Jan designed a kitchen for our 1930’s brick Tudor home. She is undaunted by the awkward spaces, and other eccentricities of an older home. She views the kitchen not as a separate entity but how it relates to the whole house in style and feel. She stays with the client through the whole project. Jan has a very strong sense of design. If the client is unsure about making a decision, they can trust Jan to help them make the right choice. All of her kitchens are different. Anyone who hires her will not have a kitchen that looks like anyone else…

 

We first saw The Kitchen Witch’s work whilst touring on the kitchen and bathroom remodeling tours 15 years ago. We were impressed with her ability to fuse a modern kitchen and a traditional home. Fast forward to 2016 and we were finally ready to remodel our own house – with 4 and a half bathrooms and a 400 sq ft kitchen. We are not high fashion people and believe that the more fashionable something is the sooner it will be last years fashion. So some of Jans ideas were ahead of our own and we took some time to come to terms with e.g. removing french doors in the kitchen, multiple (5) different types of tile in the bathroom etc. But now that its all done and complete it looks completely modern…

 

My wife and I had been planning a kitchen remodel but were stuck on how to best use our space. We contacted Jan on the recommendation of some friends and we were immediately grateful to have found her. After a couple of meetings she helped bring our project into focus, and soon presented us with preliminary plans for three options of how our kitchen might best work. She walked us thru picking the one that best met our needs. Jan did an excellent job helping us select appliances, tile, flooring and an overall color scheme. Going into actual construction we had a clear understanding of what to expect, thanks to her careful explanation and detailed plans. She helped us search for the right contractor…

 

We had our first dinner party this past weekend in the beautiful new kitchen Jan (the Kitchen Witch) designed for us (she also designed a new bathroom for us too). We are so happy with how it turned out, and that is in no small part due to the time Jan took finding out what we liked and what we specifically wanted to use our kitchen and bathroom for. We had small spaces in our 1924 home in Wallingford for her to work with and she showed so much talent at finding imaginative ways to solve problems and give us what we wanted with so many limitations and obstacles for her to work around. She also has a talent for creating something modern that fits seamlessly into an old home…

 

Jan was a BLESSING to our home! She thought outside the box, where others couldn’t She truly did make out dream kitchen happen! If it wouldn’t have been for Jan, I’d still be trying to process and visualize what my dream kitchen would look like! Her expertise, integrity and creativeness made a very stressful process EASY! Jan truly has a gift of listening to the client and has the talent and expertise to put it together. This is money well spent, because there will be “no surprises or problems” down the road that most people face with a kitchen remodel. If you are looking to remodel a kitchen the FIRST step should be with Jan! It will be the best decision you’ll make!