Tickets Are Available For Fourth Annual NRPS Kitchens Tour

By Shannon Hicks

Newtown Residential Preservation Society is once again planning an event that will offer visitors the opportunity to visit the heart of eight homes. The Fourth Annual NRPS Kitchens Tour will be held on Sunday, October 15, from 11 am until 3 pm.

Tickets are $20 in advance, or $25 on the day of the tour if they are available. The number of tickets is limited, in order to control the number of people who are allowed into the privately-owned homes during the five-hour span.

There are eight homes on this year’s tour, and they are spread over approximately 35 (as the crow flies) of Newtown’s 60-plus square acres. Ticket-holders should plan on spending a few hours on the tour if they want to fully appreciate each kitchen.

As in years past, those who purchase “tickets” receive a booklet with the address of each kitchen, a map to find their way to the homes, driving directions between the homes (with a suggested route given, although ticket-holders are welcome to visit the kitchens in the order of their choice), and descriptions of each home and kitchen.

The kitchens this year include one in a home originally built in 1826, with ceilings just 7’7” high and cabinets on the floor level. Antique open cupboards provide upper space for dinnerware, and a large center island provides more storage (including a wine and beverage cooler) and seating for four.

Also anchored with an island, another kitchen is found in a 1978 spec house which was purchased midway through its construction, therefore allowing customization. Recent renovations were done with Klaff’s, and show a strong affection for Delft.

The third kitchen combines European elegance with “eclectic whimsy in design,” according to tour organizers, with maple cabinetry, stainless steel appliances, French country accents, and a center island fitted with a trio of Biedermeier stools.

Kitchen #4, within a 4,100-square foot log cabin, takes visitors from the rustic beauty of the home’s exterior into an architecturally open floor plan. “Anchoring the kitchen is a commercial Garland stove replete with a double oven, salamander, and a griddle big enough to accommodate 10 to 12 pancakes,” according to this kitchen’s description. There’s more: visitors will find cabinets of solid hickory, a kitchen floor done in Italian ceramic tile, a microwave oven that doubles as a convection oven, and an adjacent dining room with a soaring 24-foot high ceiling.

 The owners of a 2005 Colonial-style home on the tour, who also happen to be the owners of La Pietra Custom Marble and Granite Fabrication (“The only limitation is your imagination”), designed their kitchen to be a showcase of their talents and treasure. A European style kitchen with Tuscan accents boasts a variety of tile, granite and stone. The base of the kitchen table was designed by the homeowner, and it supports a round granite top with a pattern that is similar, yet different, to the kitchen’s granite countertop and large center island.

Another kitchen featuring an island, a circa 1976 semi-custom cottage will welcome visitors on October 15. White cabinetry is accented with chocolate glaze, a six-burner Viking stove is complemented by a oiled bronze pot filler (whose arm discretely folds back into a complimentary porcelain-tiled backsplash), and the stove is centered against the dining room doorway, which offers a sweeping view of Taunton Lake.

An 1840s farmhouse on ten acres continues the tour. A tiny foyer leads into a small kitchen that was completely redone within the past year, including five-inch wide random length larch wood. Today the kitchen features a Jenn-Air five-burner stove, a dual oven with upper toast feature, and an industrial hood over the stove.

Finally, a Mediterranean style kitchen awaits ticketholders at House #8. Cherry cabinetry from Kitchen Traditions showcase appliances, and even a flat-top Bosch 5 burner stove is enveloped into the warm cabinetry. There is also a limestone backsplash with Italian composite inlays, a warming drawer below the double oven, a U-shaped island made of Sana Cecilia granite, glass-fronted cabinets, and a dining portion of the kitchen which continues the cherry cabinetry.

Tickets for the kitchens tour are available in advance at The Little Green Barn, Magic Garden, Shear Image, UK Gourmet, The UPS Store and Victoria Yarrow in Newtown; Kitchen Traditions, Klaff’s and La Pietra in Danbury; and Addessi Jewelers in Ridgefield.

For additional information or to reserve tickets call Richard Coburn at 426-0406; Janis Opdahl, 270-9344; or Jack Russo, 364-9921.