A Walnut Creek Super Eichler Gets a New Kitchen

Joseph Eichler built a small neighborhood of Claude Oakland designed homes during the late 1960s, in Walnut Creek’s Northgate Neighborhood. Personally, we have always admired these particular Eichlers, for their larger home and property size, and they happen to be located very close to our kids’ schools. These homes show the classic Eichler details: tongue and groove ceilings and expansive windows, while featuring Double-Gable, Gallery Style and H-Plan layouts, which at over 2300 SF, are much larger footprints than our Rancho San Miguel neighborhood Eichler homes.

We have been working with a young family in this neighborhood, tackling a project at a time. Life gets busy! (We can certainly understand that). So over several years, we have helped our clients with a number of different design projects, which started with selecting new cohesive flooring, to working on a kitchen design, then eventually moving to the bathrooms (just to name just a few).

Kitchen Before

Early Design Concept Rendering

For the new kitchen design, we kept to the original kitchen layout. Relocating the oven to be recessed within an adjacent wall was a game changer, removing the visual block of the original oven unit. With a large dining table right nearby, the clients did not need additional in-island seating, which allowed us to introduce a larger workspace island that doesn’t feel too overwhelming for the space. Plus, we got to incorporate a ton of additional storage, which is always a win!

Kitchen After

We brought in natural wood finishes for the island (reminiscent of the original wood laminate from many similar 1960s Eichler models, but this time real wood veneer) mixed with white slab perimeter cabinetry to add a modern and airy feel. The globes, "greenhouse-style" windows and exhaust vent were all original and retained. We updated a small, original built-in storage area with a mix of white open shelving and closed cabinetry, perfecting for display and storage of everyday dish ware and favorite collectibles.

Stay tuned for the other newly redesigned spaces within this home ... there's a lot more where this came from!