Welcome To The Heart Of The Home: The Kitchens Tour

By Shannon Hicks

For four hours this weekend, ticketholders will be welcomed into the kitchens of seven homes in Newtown.

The Newtown Residential Preservation Society (NRPS) will be sponsoring its Third Annual Kitchens Tour on Sunday, September 18. The kitchens will be open from 11 am to 3 pm. Guests can expect everything from new and vintage kitchens and decorating styles that run the gamut.

“We started with our own kitchens [in 2003], and the tours have just been getting better and better each year,” said NRPS member Janis Opdahl. “The homeowners have been so generous in opening their homes for us.”

“The homeowners are happy, gracious, and very proud of their homes,” tour coordinator Michael Stirk agreed. “And they should be. Their kitchens — and their homes — are just beautiful.”

Last year’s Kitchens Tour saw just over 250 ticket-holders, and NRPS is hoping to accommodate as many as 350 people this year.

“These tours are great for a number of people,” Ms Opdahl said. “They’re great for someone in the process of redoing or even thinking about doing their kitchens. They’re also a fun way to just see some of the other decorating styles and features that are out there.”

The list of 2005 homes begins with Kym Stendahl’s home, the yellow circa 1928 vintage cape at 9 Hanover Road. Decorator Joan Yarrow will be at this house with decorating ideas while visitors enjoy an “elegant yet compact kitchen [that packs] quite a punch,” wrote Michael Stirk. Ms Stirk met with each homeowner and created the descriptions that are in this year’s tour booklets. Look for a home, says Ms Stirk, that “reflects a refined country elegance.”

Jeff and Amy Holmes’ home at 82 Currituck Road is a 1992 cape that sits atop a knoll. Its kitchen features cabinets that alternate in maple and cherry, an extra wide sink with a backsplash made of small tumbled marble tile, and a ceramic stove with a warming drawer at its base instead of the standard one for storage.

This house, which Ms Stirk calls “a warm and inviting home,” is being sponsored by Kitchen and Bath Creations.

Expect to feel surrounded by the Victorian era upon visiting 99 Walnut Tree Hill Road, the home of Diana and Steven Baxter and their family.

Mrs Baxter is the owner of The Painted Bungalow, so her creativity runs rampant at home. An artist with a flair for trompe l’oeil, Mrs Baxter has put into the foyer a faux finish striping with plaster inlays, leading directly into a “painstakingly hand painted kitchen. From the bittersweet berries painted on the pendant lamps, to the corbels securing an extra width of granite on the island, or the kitchen table and walls — the amount of minute hand painted fine detail is stunning,” Ms Stirk noted.

All of that does not even begin to touch on the antique shutters, vintage glass doorknobs, kitchen drapes and valance fashioned by Mary Villa-Lenkeit of Newtown Curtain (who will be at the Baxters’ home on Sunday), and other fine accoutrements that make this home so inviting and comfortable.

The home of Teresa and Bill Guaragno, at 19 Kent Road, features a “massive Mexican table which functions as an extra serving buffet for parties while separating the family room from the kitchen.” Also look for country French cabinetry, a “substantial” island, and “an inviting, spacious area for a busy family.”

Judy Scott’s home, at 40 Boggs Hill Road, offers a kitchen that was designed, wrote Ms Stirk, “to evoke the casual comforts of country life.” There are ivory painted cabinets and wall-mounted cupboards, granite and cherrywood countertops, a large center island with furniture legs and open shelving, and appliances that are set up so “deftly they complement the kitchen’s warm appeal,” wrote Ms Stirk.

Klaff’s is the sponsor for Ms Scott’s home.

David and Bonnie Klanica are the owners of Sunny Acre Farm, located at 6 Palestine Road. The family has lived in this house since November 1993 and while they loved it from the start, they are even more in love with the house now that renovations have been undertaken. A large restoration on the kitchen began in June 2004.

The kitchen now features a beverage center, a self-defrosting automatic icemaker, a pot sink, a Sub-Zero side-by-side refrigerator, two dishwashers and a warming drawer, a trestle table with wheat-backed chairs, and a full cultured stone fireplace. The size of the kitchen also allows the comfortable placement of an office area and four stools at a central island for casual seating.

In addition to the kitchen with its French country/Tuscan feel, the Klanicas also renovated a porch into a full-size BBQ room with its own 48-inch GE grill, smoker, and rotisserie with two side burners, another two-story fireplace created of field stone, and windows on the three exterior walls.

Northeast Kitchens, who worked with the Klanicas on the major project for their home, will have representatives at the house.

Brian Silverlieb’s home, at 21 Platts Hill Road, is called Amber Field. Its kitchen is warm and inviting, with white vintage cupboards, Mexican floor tile, handcrafted Mexican plates and wall art, original rough hewn beams, and large antique baskets.

Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 on Sunday, with partial proceeds to be donated to Newtown Historical Society. They can still be purchased at Avance Esthetiques, The Magic Garden, Shear Image, UK Gourmet, The UPS Store, and Victoria Yarrow, all in Newtown, and The Little Green Barn in Sandy Hook. Tickets may still be available at Addessi Jewelers in Ridgefield (telephone 203-438-6549) and Klaff’s in Danbury (792-3903).

Tickets are in the form of a booklet that has the addresses of each house, Ms Stirk’s full descriptions of the homes, a very clear and easy-to-read two-page map with the homes indicated, and directions to the homes.

Parking areas will be marked and will be on the street, unless assistance is needed. Attendees are not to use the driveways into the homes; they are to be left open for pedestrian access.

Each home will have light refreshments thanks to Andrea’s Bake Shop, Dunkin’ Donuts, Nancy Bamberg Fine Catering, Rudy’s Gourmet, and The UK Gourmet.

For ticket information, reservations, and other information call 270-9344 or 364-9923.