Inside the Kitchen That Inspired The Greenwich Collection
When we began developing The Greenwich Collection with Unique Kitchens and Baths, I knew I wanted my own kitchen to become our testing ground.
It gave us the opportunity to experience the entire process firsthand, to draw, refine, manufacture and install the cabinetry, but also to ask the same questions we ask when designing for our clients: How will we actually use this space? What should be displayed? What should disappear? Where can we introduce something unexpected? And how do we make a beautiful kitchen work exceptionally well every day?
The finished kitchen incorporates four of the six styles in The Greenwich Collection, but what makes the room most meaningful to me isn’t any single cabinet or material. It’s the combination of old and new, practical and beautiful, and the personal things that have accumulated over a lifetime.
A China Cabinet Filled With Memories
Today, there is a tendency to hide everything away. I wanted to do the opposite.
Our Wesley china cabinet was designed to display the silver, crystal and objects that have stories attached to them. There is my grandmother’s silver butter tray, my parents’ silver champagne flutes that came out for their late-night parties, a Christofle champagne bucket found at a Paris flea market, antique German teapots and crystal we selected at Saks Fifth Avenue for our wedding.
Individually, they are beautiful objects. Together, they’re a trip down memory lane.
That’s what I love about displaying collections. Our homes should have room for the things that make us smile and remind us of the people and places that are part of our story.
Wesley was the perfect cabinet style for this piece. Its architectural metal detailing feels refined and tailored, while the hardware gives it a sense of age and character. I love taking something rooted in tradition and finding a way to make it relevant again.
The Modern Coffee Bar
Just steps away is one of the hardest-working areas of the kitchen: our coffee and beverage bar.
For the way we live today, I think this has become one of the most useful additions to a kitchen. Ours brings together espresso, tea, juice, smoothies and everything we use throughout the morning in one dedicated place.
Retractable doors allow it to remain completely open while we’re using it and disappear when we’re not. We incorporated outlets along the back, a dedicated tea drawer and generous storage below for the juicer, vitamins, KitchenAid mixer and other small appliances.
Inside, we used warm walnut-stained oak. I love opening the doors and discovering that richer material inside. It’s a small luxury, but those are often the details that make something used every day feel special.
Function doesn’t have to look purely functional.
An English Influence, Interpreted for Greenwich
The kitchen draws heavily from the traditions of bespoke English cabinetry, but I never wanted it to feel like a reproduction of an English kitchen.
The decorative mesh, furniture-inspired cabinetry, warm metals and layered finishes introduce that sense of history and craftsmanship while keeping the overall space fresh.
Hardware became an especially important layer. We incorporated pieces from British makers we have long admired, including Armac Martin and Hendel & Hendel. The combination of brass, mesh and furniture detailing evokes something that could have evolved over time in a European country house—yet feels completely at home here in Greenwich.
That balance is something I continually return to in my work: respecting tradition without being bound by it.
The Colors That Changed the Kitchen
Interestingly, one of the defining decisions wasn’t mine.
I designed the kitchen, but my daughter Ashley immediately had a vision for the color palette: Benjamin Moore Pale Oak and Farrow & Ball London Clay.
At first, I wasn’t convinced that the two colors were where we would ultimately land. Then she put them together.
She was absolutely right.
The warmth of Pale Oak against the depth of London Clay gave us the foundation for the entire room. From there, we introduced walnut-stained oak, richly veined marble and warm metals rather than creating sharper contrasts.
It’s also a reminder of something I believe strongly about the design process: the best idea in the room doesn’t always have to be yours. Good design gets better through collaboration.
Lighting From Charleston to Greenwich
The lighting brings another meaningful part of the Clarity story into the kitchen.
We have specified lighting from The Urban Electric Co. in Charleston for years and have toured their factory several times. Seeing the pieces made by hand and understanding the craftsmanship behind them has always inspired me. I hoped that one day I would have their lighting in my own kitchen.
The island fixture combines unlacquered and antique brass with metal shades that complement the London Clay cabinetry. At the sink, Urban Electric sconces are paired with custom shades from Lewis & Wood.
Those details connect two places that have become an important part of both my life and Clarity’s story—Charleston and Greenwich.
A Kitchen That Holds Your Story
Perhaps that’s what I appreciate most now that we actually live with the finished kitchen.
A kitchen needs to work incredibly hard. Storage matters. Layout matters. Outlets, appliances and clearances matter. We spend an enormous amount of time solving those details because good design has to function.
But once those things are solved, there is another opportunity.
A kitchen can hold more than what you need. It can hold some of your story.
It can hold your grandmother’s silver alongside a modern espresso machine. Something found at a Paris flea market beside something made today in Charleston. A traditional raised panel beside a contemporary detail. Things inherited, things collected and things chosen simply because you love them.
That is very much the idea behind The Greenwich Collection.
The six cabinetry styles give us a foundation, but they are meant to be interpreted, layered and personalized for the people who will live with them.
This October, we are thrilled to officially introduce The Greenwich Collection with Unique Kitchens and Baths at High Point Market. What began with drawings, memories and conversations around my own kitchen is now something we have the opportunity to share with others.
And for us, this is only the beginning.