Guests and family alike seem drawn to kitchens with large islands. There’s something about the expanse of counter space and the openness that causes people to gather around. When homeowners come to Wood Wise to remodel their kitchen, they ask for an island – or maybe two – to be included in the designs. Our kitchen designer Kathy Walker understands optimum island sizes, distance needed between cabinets, and what shape looks best in a space. She works with clients to choose the best cabinet configuration for good storage with additions of shelves, good lighting, and countertop. Our kitchen gallery features many shapes and sizes of islands. Here is one that is a favorite with everyone who sees it:
The lighted glass-front cabinet at the end of the island provides a place to display a favorite collection.
“We need more light in our kitchen!” is a refrain we hear from many homeowners who choose Wood Wise for their remodel. Hank and Kathy have several tools they use in their designs to provide better lighting:
Recessed lights are the #1 tool used to increase the lighting and are spaced out to cover the whole area.
Under-cabinet Xenon puck or strip lights are fully dimmable and give warm lighting to work areas.
Island lighting can include pendants, chandeliers, or other kinds of decorative lights.
Solatubes bring in natural light.
Enlarging windows or adding transoms over existing windows can dramatically improve the lighting.
Removing the wall from an adjoining room can flood the room with additional light.
Every kitchen poses different challenges to good lighting. Wood Wise brings the skill and experience to maximize the lighting potential of each space.
This Wood Wise designed and built kitchen exhibits many of the good design tools to add much needed light.
This is one of the big questions homeowners ask us when remodeling their master bathrooms. We have found that one bathtub in the home (usually located in the hall bath) is sufficient for resale. Some homeowners want to get rid of the large garden tub and replace it with a smaller slipper tub. Often a larger walk-in shower (no door or frameless) is the goal by removing the existing tub. Whether including a tub or not, Wood Wise designers can suggest the best configuration of your space and help achieve the fresh new look you are wanting.
This homeowner chose a large frameless shower with half wall and no tub for his good-looking master bathroom.The large tub was removed and the space turned into a window seat with storage.These homeowners chose a slipper tub along with a large walk-in shower.The existing large garden tub was removed in this redesigned master bathroom.
Cooking outside is easy on this beautiful Wood Wise porch. It features a built-in grill with an exhaust hood that is vented to the outside so wet weather doesn’t interfere with the plans. The grill’s stone base is topped with granite and the wall behind is a glass mosaic. The well-designed space ensures many happy gatherings of family and friends for these homeowners.
Give us a call and we’ll build an outdoor living space that works just right for you.
When you choose Wood Wise to remodel your home, one of the many benefits is our beautiful cabinet showroom. Samples of both of our cabinet lines, KraftMaid and Waypoint, are beautifully displayed. You can see the many finishes including stain, paint, glazes, distressed, and more. You can open the full-extension drawers and experience the wonderful feel of soft-close hinges on the doors. You can explore the newest storage options that include roll-out tray shelves, adjustable drawer dividers for dinnerware, spice storage, novel ways of using every inch of storage in corner cabinets, to name a few. Our designer, Kathy Walker, has put together cabinet vignettes to help you envision what your dream kitchen will look like. Call us today to set up an appointment to see our showroom and get started on your remodeling project.
Here is our newest KraftMaid cabinet display featuring door style”Lindsay” in maple, finished in Dove White with Cinder Glaze.
The bathrooms in this 40’s era Raleigh inside-the-beltline home were in need of updating. Wood Wise was called in to design and remodel the spaces. In the master bathroom, WW designer Kathy Walker took out the tub to make room for the large corner shower. The glass and tile half walls along with the glass mosaic racing stripe provide sleek styling. Waypoint cabinets with granite countertops feature rectangular sinks and polished nickel hardware to complete the great new look.
The Wood Wise design-build model makes remodeling easy and stress-free for homeowners. With our more than 25 years of experience, we have taken the complex remodeling process and divided it into 4 orderly steps. (Read more about our 4-step process here:https://woodwisedesign.com/what-we-do/our-process/)
This process is one of the reasons these homeowners chose Wood Wise. As parents of 3 busy children, they had a kitchen that was too small. Wood Wise was brought in to design and build an addition that provides plenty of room for two large islands plus a wonderful family dining and gathering space. Large windows and five big skylights fill the happy room with plenty of light.
Wood Wise was trusted with the major renovation of the homeowners’ master bath several years ago. The experience was so good that when it was time to tackle their kitchen renovation, they asked WW to put their design and building skills to work again. The end result of the partnership of WW and the homeowners is a stunning kitchen, made for family and entertaining. Read the Houzz review this client gave of their great experience working with Wood Wise:
“During the summer of 2014, we renovated our kitchen using Wood Wise Design & Remodeling for the design and the construction. The entire staff is simply wonderful to work with, taking our preferences into consideration right from the start to addressing any and all concerns that we had along the process. We basically gutted the kitchen and redesigned the layout into a much more usable and updated space. Wood Wise’s staff brought both considerable experience and knowledge to the project and guided us with great recommendations during the selection phase with details seemingly unimportant but actually critical such as sink placement and fixture sizes. The staff also skillfully handled implementation issues that arose such as how to handle the exhaust vent since we have a cathedral ceiling that prevented a direct path to an outside wall. This was not the first remodel project that we worked with Wood Wise on; we chose them again for this large project simply because they were great to work with, professional at every step, kept within budget and time frame, and did an awesome job. I love love love my kitchen!!”
These North Raleigh homeowners knew exactly what they wanted: a new and stylish master bathroom with old world flavor. They called Wood Wise to design and build the large room, incorporating a generous walk-in shower, separate commode room, large double-sink vanity, and lots of storage. The KraftMaid cabinets have fine furniture detailing and are topped with granite. The tile mosaic with the fleur de lis continues the master suite European theme.
These Cary homeowners thought their kitchen remodeling options were limited. Then they contacted Wood Wise whose designers saw the space in a whole new way. By moving the kitchen-to-garage door and relocating the half bath, the kitchen space was opened up for lots of possibilities. Working closely with WW designer Kathy Walker, the homeowners chose the large curved island, redesigned perimeter cabinets, and lots of additional lighting. She helped them with the beautiful selections that include KraftMaid cabinets, granite countertops, and porcelain backsplash. The results of this carefully thought-out design and construction is this striking new kitchen.
Recessed lights are the #1 tool used to increase the lighting and are spaced out to cover the whole area.
