Mr. Hollars installed the stainless-steel bar along the face of the cooktop as a safety measure. Without it, when one leans against it, the burners ignite.

While Mrs. Hollars picked out most of the items for the kitchen, her husband chose the impressive 36-inch cooktop and professional-grade faucet. He doesn’t even cook, she jokes, but he does wash dishes.

  When the Hollarses decided to remodel their 30-year-old kitchen, Mrs. Hollars shopped around, talking with a lot of different people. After visiting with five or six professionals, she met Ed Sugawa of EMEE Kitchens & Baths. He was relatively close by—they were in Waipio and he was in Aiea—and, while everyone else had said no to tearing down the wall between the kitchen and the dining room, Sugawa said it was OK.
That’s just what she’d been looking for.


Sugawa, who’s been designing kitchens for nearly 20 years, prides himself on knowing both ends of the business: concept to completion. He knows what will work and what won’t. “I’m more practical,” he says. “My kitchens always work. Always. Everything is in the details.” For instance, if Sugawa draws a shelf or a cabinet, he knows the mechanics and reality behind installing that shelf or cabinet. Unlike purely conceptual designers, his designs can easily exist both on paper and in real life.
While Sugawa took care of the building permits, design and engineering, he encouraged the homeowners to become very involved in the process by picking out everything they liked—from colors, countertops and cabinets to appliances and layout. That was the hardest part, Hollars says. But looking around her newly completed great kitchen, she says it was worth it. “This is where I live,” she says. “This is basically where I spend all my time. I come home. I feed the pets. Put things away. The whole house needs to be redone, but I wanted to do this first, because this is where we congregate, where we spend all our time.”
Sugawa explains, “We’re committed to having the customers get what they want. We spend a lot of time asking questions and finding out what they really want. We’ve found over the years that homeowners are much more capable than they think. They know what they want. When they become involved in the process of selection, they wind up being happier in the long run.”

That’s how the Hollarses ended up with a kitchen with appliances from GE, Thermador and Bosch. They even matched a GE hood with a Thermador cooktop. The stainless steel finishes match seamlessly, and each item is exactly what the homeowners wanted.

Hollars loves her new appliances. The stove regulates temperatures nicely, especially low temperatures for keeping things warm. The refrigerator’s drawers keep produce fresher, longer. And the dishwasher allows for small loads by cleaning the top rack only, which saves water and is easier for just the two of them.

Hollars, a veterinarian, has lots of pets: two cats, a dog and a bird. Keeping them in mind was an important aspect of redoing the kitchen, particularly the flooring. “I talked to my clients who had redone their kitchens or their houses,” she says. “Everybody was giving me their opinions about what was good to put down on the floors. We decided on a porcelain tile with epoxy grout. It’s easy to clean.”

The kitchen’s new layout accommodates the animals, too. “We expanded the kitchen with a new eating area and a display area,” says Sugawa, “and also a nice place for her cats to sit in the window.”

Where to Get it

Designer: Ed Sugawa of EMEE Kitchens & Baths
Cabinetry: Modified Shaker-style cherrywood with a honey stain, from Canyon Creek Cabinetry
Cooktop: 36” Thermador Pro gas, from Servco Home and Appliance Showroom
Counters: Golden Lightning granite, from Selective Stone
Dishwasher: Tall Tub by Bosch, from Servco Home and Appliance Showroom
Hood: 42” GE Monogram, from Servco Home and Appliance Showroom
Microwave: GE Monogram Advantium built-in, from Servco Home and Appliance Showroom
Oven: 30” Thermador convection built-in
Refrigerator/Freezer: 30” and 18” Thermador Freedom Collection