Design Studio
ELEPHANT’S BREATH
Bluebell Fine Cabinetry & Design took more than the complex shade of mid-gray with a hint of magenta from Farrow & Ball’s calming Elephant’s Breath paint color. We also chose Elephant’s Breath as our name for this showroom kitchen because it embodies the display’s soothing character and palette.
With warmth and symmetry, Elephant’s Breath represents the most traditional design in our showroom. It simultaneously expresses the innovations in design and function that homeowners have come to expect in a Bluebell kitchen. Simply styled painted maple perimeter cabinetry—from our own Bluebell Private Label line of cabinetry—is filled with wondrous practical task and storage options. The island base in oiled walnut and built-in oak lifestyle hutch, both crafted like sturdy yet beautiful free-standing furniture, harken back to when kitchens were far more utilitarian and not the amazing family activity centers they are today. Warm white natural stone has been transformed into countertops and a feature-rich apronfronted sink. The clever baker’s cabinet holds all the equipment and dry ingredients needed to create sweet and savory deliciousness, and the 60-inch gas range is a cook’s dream.
BLUEBELL DESIGNER: Peter Cardamone
BUILDER: Ernst Brothers + Builders
PHOTOGRAPHY: Jason Varney
STYLING: Kristi Hunter
1 | ELEPHANT’S BREATH
“Elephant’s Breath is our nod to the transitional kitchen,” says Peter Cardamone, founder and creative director for Bluebell Fine Cabinetry & Design. “We have stripped away much of the typical detail to make a subtle contemporary statement with simple cove moldings, flush base boards and a stylized kitchen hutch.
“Elephant’s Breath has also provided the ideal opportunity to introduce our own Bluebell Private Label cabinetry to the public. Because we oversee its manufacturing from design through installation, we’re able to offer gorgeous cabinetry of exceptional quality at a competitive price point. Our modern traditional kitchen shows just how much beauty and practicality is available to more streamlined budgets, and how Bluebell’s designers work with every client to identify the essential elements of the most important room in their home.”
The designers had some fun including a range of small but mighty options. Hinges, for one, provide an unexpected education. As a feature that often goes unnoticed unless it presents a problem, a different hinge can fix a cabinet door not opening far enough or opening too far, for example. Elephant’s Breath demonstrates several practical choices so visitors can make side-by-side comparisons. Or specialized cabinetry, such as the narrow pull-outs at either side of the range, which contain a spice rack and utensil storage, and various lighting options for overhead and cabinetry illumination.
“Elephant’s Breath is ultimately a serene, stunning, beautifully featured kitchen that knows what it’s here to do.”
GULFSTREAM
ELEPHANT’S BREATH
INCHYRA BLUE CONFERENCE
REFRIGERATOR/ FREEZER DRAWERS
GAS RANGE
MULTI-FUNCTION SINK DISHWASHER
BAKING PANTRY
LIFESTYLE HUTCH
MICROWAVE
Most of Elephant’s Breath’s dedicated task areas— cooking, refrigeration, washing up—are set around the perimeter of the room. But front and center is the statement island, balanced as it is on the oversized range and its stunning hood. Built of oiled walnut with maple interiors, the island is given a furniture-like heft by the pair of open table legs at one end and 2-inch-thick stone top. A splendid 4-inch-thick, oiled walnut end-grain butcher block at the range end holds its own against that substantial appliance and hood.
We love how it anchors the kitchen and is the place for family to gather ’round.
Island: Bluebell Private Label base in oiled walnut
Hardware: Rocky Mountain Hardware in bronze
Island countertop: Namibian White honed quartzite
Microwave: Wolf
Butcher block: Grothouse, in oiled end-grain walnut with brass corners
Lifestyle hutch: Rift and quarter-sawn oak, wire brushed & stained, with walnut drawer interiors
Hutch countertop: François & Co. in hammered metallic pewter with Voge edge
Our built-in, recessed lifestyle hutch is reminiscent of the freestanding pie safes, dry sinks, jelly cupboards and other practical furniture pieces found in kitchens of generations ago. In wirebrushed and stained rift and quarter-sawn oak, its distinctive texture and coloring mimic its antique forebears. Even the countertop, wrapped in hammered pewter for a nod to old “zincs,” and glass-paned doors borrow from the past.
The restoration glass used for those upper cabinet doors mimics the subtle wavy look of hand-blown, but allows for larger expanses of glass at a better price point than true hand-blown—and without the brittleness that sometimes comes with actual old glass panes. Integrated lighting set into the underside of the upper cabinet illuminates the metal-wrapped counter, while pendant sconces hang on the wall to either side as light source and attractive detail.
But a secret advantage of this hutch are the hinges. Go ahead, pull open those doors and educate yourself on the characteristics of a Salice minimalprofile air hinge versus a standard Blum concealed hinge. We want every client to understand what they’re choosing as they make the myriad small and large design decisions for their new kitchen.
Hutch countertop: François & Co. in hammered metallic pewter with
Hardware: Rocky Mountain Hardware in bronze
Lifestyle hutch: Rift and quarter-sawn oak, wire brushed & stained, with walnut drawer interiors
Voge edge
This view of Elephant’s Breath delivers the full impact of the painted perimeter cabinetry in combination with the walnut chopping block, quartzite counter and metal hood. The simplicity of the cabinetry exhibits its strengths in the glass-front cabinets flanking the range, paneled refrigerator and freezer drawers, crown molding and open shelving. The transitional style allows the statement features to shine.
Another attention-grabber that shows well here is that elegant hood over the 60-inch range. An interpretation of an industrial style in pewter with brass bands, the hood shares accents with the pendant lights’ shiny brass undersides. These pendants themselves provide great task lighting for the many activities the island draws to its expanse of softly hued Namibian White honed quartzite.
The open shelving’s integrated under-shelf and back-edge lighting bring a glow to that corner, creating an aesthetically pleasing and restful mini-environment within the whole.
Perimeter cabinetry: Bluebell Private Label, in maple wood painted Farrow & Ball’s Elephant’s Breath
Island countertop: Namibian White honed quartzite
Butcher block: Grothouse, in oiled end-grain walnut
Hood: François & Co., Fournier style in metallic pewter with metallic brass bands
Backsplash: Devon Tile’s Basalt tile
Gas Range: Wolf, 60” with 6 burners, 2 griddles and 2 ovens
Refrigerator, freezer drawers: Sub-Zero
Want more versatility without sacrificing the traditional design aesthetic? Our stone engineer and designers came up with this alternative: a multi-function sink crafted of Namibian White honed quartzite to look like a farmhouse apron sink. Angled surfaces cut into either end direct water from washed dishes (or spills!) back into the tub to drain.
What you may not be able to see: small channels cut into the upper inside edges to accommodate cutting boards, drying racks and other convenient multi-function accessories. Slide what you need into place to work on a task, then push it to the side or remove it completely to begin another chore. Those accessories fit conveniently in a cabinet just below. Also directly under the sink is a pull-out drawer, smartly equipped with a stainless steel bottom and configured with a dishtowel rack and little caches to hold sponges and dishwasher pods.
Like the bronze faucet set here, the only “color” in Elephant’s Breath is the shine of brass and bronze, hinting at the sun that glows on a dusty plains landscape of primarily tans, off-whites, browns and grays.
Sink, countertops:
Faucet, hardware: Rocky Mountain
Perimeter cabinetry: Bluebell Private Label, in maple wood painted Farrow & Ball’s Elephant’s Breath
Namibian White honed quartzite
Aspecialized center to the right of the sink counter fulfills a dream for those who love to bake. The tall, counter-depth cabinet is set up with a stainless steel countertop inside and backlit walnut shelves for an impressive storage space. Imagination would easily fill this space with stand mixers, an entire baking pan collection, or perhaps all the esoteric tools that only a pastry chef would know what to do with. Then, in the base are customizable drawers showing drawer-in-drawer tool and equipment storage as well as options for dry goods canisters and mixing bowls.
But let’s talk about the doors, where there’s a lot of detail to unpack. First, each door holds a set of adjustable walnut storage bins to accommodate items of various heights. Second, the five exposed brass mortised hinges that secure each door are the only exposed hinges in the showroom. Not only is that glimpse of brass beautiful, but this style of hinge also allows the doors to open 180 degrees. That’s a tremendous convenience when the baker needs them fully back and out of the way. For comparison, most concealed or interior hinges stop at 135 degrees.
And third, like all our cabinet doors over 48 inches tall, these are equipped with a built-in straightener: an adjustable spring rod prevents the door from sagging or warping under its own weight.
Perimeter cabinetry: Bluebell Private Label, in maple wood painted Farrow & Ball’s Elephant’s Breath
We believe strongly in exacting attention to detail, whether in our own designs, in the work we oversee for our private label cabinetry or in the truly dazzling products our professional partners contribute to our kitchen installations. We don’t settle for anything short of spectacular. Such as this amazing four-inch-thick oiled walnut endgrain butcher block anchoring Elephant’s Breath’s walnut and quartzite island. The brass corners, with their precisely turned screws, help protect the joined blocks of walnut from heavy pots and rough traffic. Plus, it looks fantastic.
This marks the point where Bluebell FCD pulls ahead of other kitchen design firms. Every showroom kitchen demonstrates our installers’ exceptionally high standards. What you see here in Elephant’s Breath is exactly the level of craftsmanship and attention to detail you will experience in your own new Bluebell kitchen.
Butcher block: Grothouse, in oiled endgrain walnut with brass corners
Just look at this countertop! Added dimensionality comes from the hammered pewter texture and its simple but classic architectural edge. But it’s more than just a pretty surface. Between the process used to wrap the metal and the luxurious yet durable material itself, we can be certain that our hutch’s counter will look just as splendid after years of use. A few feet away, the handsome range hood repeats the metallic pewter that lends so much richness and depth to Elephant’s Breath’s palette.
Is it too fanciful to think our pewter’s muted grays call to mind a memory of African elephants lumbering across the Serengeti?
Lifestyle hutch: Rift and quarter-sawn oak, wire brushed & stained, with walnut drawer interiors
Hutch countertop: François & Co. in hammered metallic pewter with Voge edge
