You Don’t Need to Take Out a Wall to Open Up a Kitchen

Removing walls to open up rooms and ease traffic flow is a common home improvement request you see all the time on home improvement TV shows. But there are less costly ways open up a room.

The owners of this beautiful Eden Prairie Minnesota home were looking to enjoy a beautiful view of the forest from their kitchen. But an interior wall between the kitchen and the dining/great room was in the way. Instead of removing an entire wall, as well as loosing a lot of cabinet space, Rick suggested putting a large opening in the wall. He designed and constructed what appears to be a window above the stove, connecting the kitchen and great room while offering a great view.

One challenge was venting the stove and still having the wall opening as large as possible. A custom header encloses the range hood and exhaust fan using the design of the existing soffits. This is a high-powered vent, required because of the distance between the stove and the vent.

The exhaust vent has a remote control that can be left on the counter, or stored by plugging it into an outlet above the counter.

Dimmable under-cabinet and in-cabinet LED lights add a touch of functional beauty.

One highlight: A custom glass door cabinet with glass shelving and white tableware creates a clean, stunning look from lighting on the back side of the cabinet face frame shinning into the cabinet itself.

The kitchen’s design also features a solid Oak floor, white paneled cabinets, glass tile backsplash, and Forest Fire Granite countertops.