Tradition with a Twist

A kitchen designer tackles a project for old friends who love both traditional and transitional design

Written by Jay W. Schneider • Styled by Gisela Rose
Photographed by James Vochum • Produced By Carolyn Weber

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Before Michael and Stacey Bell officially sealed the deal on their 80-year-old two-story Colonial in the fashionable Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, they asked good friend Rebekah Zaveloff to accompany them on the final walk-through. They wanted Zaveloff, a professional kitchen designer, to assess the situation. "It was simply horrible," says Stacey, of the home's dark, 80-square-foot cooking area, which hadn't been updated since the 1950s. "It was something we couldn't live with." Zaveloff gave it a once-over and got right to work planning a new space before the Bells even moved in.

"Because they're my friends, I didn't have to spend a lot of time getting to know them as clients," says the designer. She knew that Michael wanted a kitchen with traditional elements, and Stacey appreciated transitional design. Blending those two style preferences into one cohesive plan is the kind of challenge Zaveloff lives for. "I love to design in combinations," she says.

With two small children, ages four and six, the Bells — he's a marketing director; she's a stay-at-home mom — live a casual lifestyle, and didn't need a formal eating area. So the first step was to remove the wall separating the kitchen and dining room, resulting in a space that, at 276 square feet, is more than triple the size of the old kitchen.

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