kitchen island | Walker Zanger Blog

From Rabbits to Roku, a Retrospect.

As we continue to celebrate our 60th Anniversary, we thought we would take a look back at one of our favorite kitchens. We here at Walker Zanger are very fortunate to have working kitchens in some of our showrooms. Other than allowing for some amazing lunch creations, it also lets us feature our materials in an actual lifestyle setting. Clients can sit at the kitchen island, have a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, and get a feel for how materials might live in their own environments. Our West Hollywood, or Melrose Showroom as we like to call it, opened its doors in 1988. At the time, we were very proud of how avant garde our kitchen looked…

Walker Zanger West Hollywood Kitchen c. 1988

Installed with our original Musa Mandalyn tile, paneled refrigerator doors, and a custom hand painted menagerie on the dishwasher… we were definitely stylin! But as with good design, trends come and go. As we moved into the 90′s, kitchens became the focal point of in home entertaining. People started traveling more and bringing home the influences of their European experiences. We were right there with our version of the “Tuscan Kitchen”.

Walker Zanger West Hollywood Kitchen c. 1993

From one of our most popular collections, The Fresco Series, the Pianissimo Verde Liner graced the back splash. With terracotta accents, warm travertine tiles, and a French Limestone island, we brought a bit of Europe into many a stateside kitchen.

Fresco Pianissimo Verde Liner

Kitchen Island with Camargue Limestone top

As hard as it was to say good bye to the dishwasher bunnies and raised panel doors of the previous 2 decades, we were well into the new millennium and ready for a change. And what a big change it was…

West Hollywood Kitchen c. 2004

Well ahead of our time for the early 2000′s we choose Calacata Borghini honed white marble for the counter-tops and Lagos Azul limestone for the now much more contemporary island. Our then new Roku Glass collection in Sharkskin accented the backslash in soft muted grey tones, and French limestone 12 x 24 pavers graced the floors.

Integral Calacata Borghini Marble Sink

Did we know then that white marble and glass tile would be all the rage in this decade of design? Somehow I have a sneaking suspicion we did. For during the past 8 years this combo has continued to stay at the top of the kitchen design food chart.

Any thoughts on what the next Melrose kitchen should be?

The Creative Process Begins.

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As the “Executive Director of Facilities Design” at Walker Zanger, I am charged with the space planning, design and construction of all Walker Zanger showrooms and offices. I am challenged on a daily basis to creatively mix and combine our tile and stone to visually engage and entice our clientele into buying our product. So- I should be able to select all of the materials for my own home with equal ease- right? WRONG! Choosing the materials for your own home is anything but easy. As designers, we are able to take a step beck and be objective when we are making these decisions for a client. But when it’s our own homes, the tables are turned and we get a taste of what it is to be “the client”. We not only get emotionally involved in the decision, but because our work allows us access to so many options it just makes the process all the more difficult. As I began work on my new kitchen in “Happy Hollow”, memories of my old kitchen haunted me… I knew I had “The Island” to work with, but how was the rest of the space going to take shape… where was my inspiration? Well, come to find out, I didn’t have to look very far. For right in front of me was a living reminder of one of my most favorite color pallets…

…Miss Jolie, my Lynx Point Siamese. It proves that sometimes inspiration is right before your very blue eyes!

Materials L to R: Muse Interlude,Tuileries Fedora,Prado Travertine,Vintage Brown Limestone slab

Island not included.

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Beauvigny French Limestone Island

When I decided to sell my house and buy another with my fiance of several years, I began to agonize over all the work that I had done to it over the years and began doubt that I could really leave it all behind. After all, not only was this my little “divorce house” where I raised my two children and staked my independent claim in the world, but it also contained years of design decisions and Walker Zanger jewels! Even though the challenging new prospect of a blank canvas beckoned, I couldn’t seem to shake the sadness of leaving all that I had created behind. Truth be told, most of it could be recreated… all except the Kitchen Island. Besides the emotional memories of family and friends gathered around it’s patinaed edges, was the fact that this French limestone beauty was no longer being quarried. As I lamented this sorrow to a friend (and fellow WZ workmate), she pointed out that the one thing I actually could take with me was the Beauvigny island! Now- was this a fiscally sound decision? Of course not! But we people of the right brain persuasion are often more prone to follow our hearts desires for the esthetic rather than the pragmatic.

And so it was written…into the contract that is…that I would replace the existing island top with another so that I could keep one little token of what I spent so long creating. Here I share with you it’s installation into it’s new home and hope you will join me in future posts for the design journey of my new home “Happy Hollow”.