Designer Taryn Bone Brings Dark Elegance to a Somerville Kitchen
Sleek and a little bit sexy, in this kitchen, the whole is greater than its parts.
Denver Modern stools with matte black-leather seats and a walnut dowel detail correspond perfectly to every aspect of the kitchen scheme and provide another stretch of walnut across the space. In addition to roughing up the otherwise smooth tableau, the uneven surface of the tiles catches the light. / Photo by Tamara Flanagan
This article is from the fall 2024 issue of Boston Home. Sign up here to receive a subscription.
Although the kitchen in the triple-decker that Taryn Bone’s client purchased in Somerville was warm and cheerful—white subway tile, butcherblock countertops, and a farmhouse sink—it did not align with her distinctly contemporary taste. “She wanted a super-modern design with clean lines and dark colors,” says Bone, the creative director of Bone Collective Studio.
The kitchen was not laid out particularly well either; the back wall was mostly blank, and the center had a too-small freestanding island. To streamline the space and allow for a substantial center island—the homeowner is an avid vegetarian cook—Bone closed windows on either end, did away with a pesky column, and swapped the chunky French doors for spare ones with industrial style.
The majority of function—a Sub-Zero refrigerator/freezer, a Wolf range, a pair of dishwasher drawers, and a workstation sink—sweeps across a single wall. Bone suggested FORM cabinetry for its modern aesthetic; her client quickly embraced its matte-black laminate fronts with anti-fingerprint finish. “She was adamant that the kitchen be no fuss and maintenance-free,” Bone shares.
Bone devised a black-on-black scheme using the matte-black fronts for the base cabinets and vertical elements, a textural field of stacked, matte-black porcelain tiles for the backsplash, and a sculptural, black gooseneck faucet that all but disappears against it. The Neolith countertops are black, too, and highly durable.
A swath of walnut-toned upper cabinets warms the tableau, and the material repeats on the base of the island. Oval-shaped, smoked-black-glass pendants soften the multitude of crisp lines and offer contrast at the top of the room. Behind the island, the coffee-bar cabinetry follows the same matte-black-and-walnut format. “The materials are the focus of this kitchen, not the functions; those are hidden,” Bone says. The effect? Handsome, mod, and a little bit sexy.
Architect and Interior Designer Bone Collective Studio
Cabinetry FORM
Contractor Artisans Homes & Renovations
First published in the print edition of Boston Home’s Fall 2024 issue, with the headline, “Field of Focus.”
