Country Kitchen

This high-performance kitchen is designed to accommodate a crowd

Written by Mervyn Kaufman • Styled by Brice Gaillard
Photographed by J. Savage Gibson

VIEW MORE PHOTOS Photo: J. Savage Gibson

It was a chance encounter—but not a brief one. New Englanders Jan and Roger Treese had rented a vacation house on Lady’s Island, just across the Intracoastal Waterway from Beaufort, South Carolina. The house, which they loved, was designed and built by Charles Ferguson, of the Meridian Company in Beaufort, who happened to be a neighbor. Soon the Fergusons and the Treeses were fast friends. When Jan and Roger decided to settle in the Carolina Low Country, they bought land along the waterway and naturally turned to Ferguson and his design/build firm for guidance.

Jan and Roger were clear on what, in general, they wanted: a traditional house with some period details that reflected its Southern location. Their way of doing research was a far cry from spending long hours in the public library. “They were moving their boat south from Connecticut,” Ferguson recalls. “So my wife and I flew up to join them. From Norfolk, Virginia, southward along the waterway, we noted every house on the shore for ideas. By the time we reached Beaufort, we essentially had the house designed.” Because Jan was a trained chef who would conduct French cooking classes, much thought was given to the kitchen.

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