“She had cooking features in the island previously,” says designer Michael Smith. “ But it was not very convenient for storage of pots and pans.” Now, the homeowner has plenty of custom-made drawers and cabinets for stowing the essentials.

After 21 years of metropolitan condominium living in downtown Honolulu, B. Sue Chang was ready for a change. While she loved the location and layout of her Pawaa home, almost every room had begun to need some TLC.

Chang decided to focus on her bathrooms and kitchen first. For these integral spaces, she called on Michael Smith, CMKBD, of Kitchen Concepts Plus Inc. “Thirty years ago, he reworked the kitchen in our house in Manoa,” explains Chang, “and we were really impressed.”
Smith, who has been designing kitchens for more than 40 years, jumped at the chance to work with Chang again. The first step? As most great designers do, he sat down with his client to discuss her desires. “The kitchen was 26 years old, and it had never been touched,” says Chang. “It was beginning to look very grungy—very early ’80s. It wasn’t retro. It was just plain dated.”

In addition to an update, Chang was ready to convert the kitchen’s design style into something more evocative of her personality. “I call it Tropical Mission,” she says. “We have a lot of Craftsman-style homes here, up in Kaimuki, in parts of Manoa—in the older suburbs of Honolulu.” Chang’s favorite architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, was a champion of Craftsman-style design as well. And Wright’s style was also highly influenced by the East. “He was very much influenced by the Japanese aesthetic design,” Chang says. For these reasons, she’d always dreamed of having a Mission-style home in the Craftsman/Bungalow tradition and wanted to marry that with her love of Honolulu, the place she has called home for 46 years.

With Chang’s vision in mind, Smith got to work changing everything in the existing kitchen, starting with the flooring. “We wanted large tiles, and I wanted to place them on the diagonal,” says Smith, who often chooses this orientation to add more visual interest. To that end, he picked 18-by-18-inch tiles in Jerusalem Gold from Daltile. That set the neutral color palette, and Smith was on to the cabinetry and countertops.

When it came to cabinetry, Kitchen Concepts’ exclusive Rutt line was a no-brainer. Many of its styles, handmade by the Pennsylvania Dutch, echo both Mission and contemporary Asian design. Smith chose cabinetry in a cherry finish to add richness. He put translucent resin faces with real pressed reed on the four main cabinets. He then added simple, stainless-steel pulls for a touch of shine. The new cabinetry features several custom touches, including a 12-inch-deep frame that’s roomy enough to hold even the largest formal dinner plate. There’s also a built-in dishwasher, camouflaged with cabinet faces, and plenty of pull-out drawers to house Chang’s new cookware.

Chairs from C.S. Wo fit perfectly underneath the island eating area, which was lowered at Chang’s request. Smith also incorporated special display cabinets to house her collectibles.

To open up the space to the rest of the home, Smith removed a counter and cabinet case that ran perpendicular to one of the kitchen walls. He also reconfigured a central kitchen island that now houses a five-burner induction glass cooktop. Chang’s new cooking area features a partitioned fan and exhaust system that rises at the push of a button, and disappears seamlessly into the countertop area when not in use. The system eliminates the need for a traditional vent hood, which would normally hang from the ceiling. “That really cleaned up the space,” says Smith. The new island also features a warming drawer, a pull-out spice rack and even more storage for cookware.

Anchoring the space are Zodiaq quartzite countertops by Sii in Autum Light. “I’m really, really happy with the choice of quartzite,” says Chang, who loves their low-maintenance appeal. She also likes to work a little above waist-height in her kitchen, so she requested that the height of the countertops be raised a few inches. Smith gladly obliged. He then added new stainless-steel appliances, including a French-door refrigerator with a large pull-out-drawer freezer on the bottom. Chang’s favorite countertop feature? “I love my instant hot-water dispenser,” she says. Located next to the sink, it provides instant preparation for oatmeal, tea or her daughter’s favorite noodles.

Above, gorgeous new pendant lighting in alternating shades of gold and white crown the space. The sparkling metal fixtures hearken back to the heyday of Mission- and Craftsman-style décor. In this kitchen, every simple touch adds up to the functional workspace Chang has always wanted—and the historical design she has always dreamed about. “I guess, when people remodel, they’re looking for a dramatic change, and this was a dramatic departure for us. This is a beautiful kitchen,” Chang remarks. “I’m very happy.”