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The J-shaped layout of this 1940s ranch-style home doesn’t do it any favors. It feels long, narrow, and disconnected. The owners, a couple from the Bay Area with ties to India, lived in the 1,300-square-foot home in Redwood City for five years before hiring Hiromi Ogawa and Lynn Fisher of Ogawa Fisher Architects Renovated with the help of Er. CB Builders.
The home has a series of small, self-contained spaces, including a tiny kitchen really only suitable for a cook. But that didn’t work out for the couple, who are both avid cooks and enjoy spending 50 hours a week in the kitchen cooking, baking, marinating and fermenting together.
“The other major pain point was the entrance – a small square at the front of the house, but it was the most heavily trafficked space because it was the only connection between the kitchen and living area,” says Hiromi. “Then, there’s a back deck, arguably the most spacious area of the home, but it’s rarely used because it’s several feet lower than the house and feels secluded.”
Hiromi and Lynn’s main goal was to transform the home’s enclosed space into an open and functional place, without losing the charm of the interior or the cottage-like exterior scale of the home.
“Our clients requested a larger, more functional kitchen with a better connection to the outdoors,” says Hiromi. “They also dream of a home where they can feel like they are in the same (or adjacent) space even if they are doing different things – they want to be able to feel each other’s presence and be able to move in and out of what they are doing. Things go together.”
The kitchen becomes the focal point of the new design. “After exploring several different kitchen locations and layouts, the winning design was an addition that enclosed the ‘J’ of the original house and turned it into an ‘O’ or donut,” explains Lynn road. “This creates a small elevated exterior courtyard in the center of all living spaces. It is also a familiar and attractive building type for homeowners as it reminds them of Indian houses.”
In the new kitchen, they vaulted the ceiling to bring in plenty of natural light and showcase views of the backyard. Design decisions and details were made with the couple’s love of cooking in mind: custom cabinets tailored to daily cooking habits and preferences; roll racks that open under the stove for storage; long-bowl sink; open shelving ; The island features a butcher block for baking; a large blackboard for recording shopping lists and recipes; hooks for men’s and women’s aprons; and even a curing cabinet with recessed metal mesh so the contents can breathe.
“From the new kitchen, you can access the central courtyard through large glass doors—an unexpected, magical outdoor space in the middle of the donut,” says Lynn. “The courtyard is bright and comfortable and serves as a light well for all the surrounding rooms. When the weather is nice, you can use the courtyard as a shortcut to the living room, which also has large glass doors.”
Throughout the rest of the house, Hiromi and Lynn made other layout modifications to open up the space and improve flow. “We repurposed part of the original kitchen into a relocated entrance closer to the garage to allow for better flow and increased storage space,” says Hiromi. “The remaining half of the original kitchen was transformed into a seating/reading nook with views of the courtyard.”
The living room, bedrooms, and master bathroom have been updated, and windows and doors have been optimized to provide views of the courtyard and other outdoor spaces. and added a guest bathroom to the old entrance space.
In addition to architecture, the pair were also responsible for interior design. The clients weren’t afraid of color and texture, and they were open to the idea of a different theme for each room, so Hiromi and Lynn were intrigued. “Pops of color are incorporated throughout the house, from the green wall in the reading nook to the blue-and-white gradient tiles in the kitchen,” says Hiromi. “The client mentioned they loved the color yellow, so we were excited to finally use Lynn’s long-time favorite Heath tile (bright yellow). She is patiently waiting for the right client to come along!”
Their clients love the changes to their home, describing it as comfortable, coherent, tidy and connected. Of course, they spent a lot of time in their dream kitchen. “We’re doing something a little crazy this year with food,” they said. “We celebrate days from around the world through cooking when we can—Chinese New Year, Persian New Year, Ethiopian New Year, Burmese New Year, and more. The kitchen gives us space to play and develop eating habits. The pantry is stocked with various Grow spices and can. The plum trees produced 40 pounds of fruit, and we spent two weeks making jam, fermenting, making vinegar—not that we couldn’t do it before, but it just feels a lot easier now.”
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