Northern Kitchen Studio wanted this Lake Muskoka kitchen to blend with its natural surroundings. It features hand-carved acorn and leaf motifs and a touch of blue in the granite countertop to pick up the blue from the water outside. Photograph: Jan Pitman

Throughout Muskoka the kitchen is experiencing a renaissance, and renovation and new home designs are returning it to its rightful place as the heart of the home. Gone are the compact workspaces of the past, hidden behind walls and small windows. As the space where family and friends meet, make plans, enjoy a break, engineer a night of entertaining, snatch a snack or cook up comfort food, the kitchen is being opened up and shown off to the rest of the home.
Appliances, cabinets, and countertops can be works of art that deserve the spotlight as much as fine furnishings and fireplaces, and the region’s top designers and builders are creating showcase kitchens all around Muskoka.
Amy Gutoskie-Black, design specialist with Northern Kitchen Studio at the Northern Buildall Tim-Br Mart in Bracebridge, recently finished one on Lake Muskoka that made the most of the natural beauty surrounding it.
“It’s probably one of the best views on the entire lake,” she says. “The main focus of the kitchen was to make sure that no matter where you were standing or where you were working you could see the view from where you were.”
Interior details such as hand-carved acorns and leaves in the woodwork echo the world outside.

“Simple things like the slightest detail such as the blue in the granite countertop was meant to pick up the blue in the lake when the sun was shining,” Gutoskie-Black says. “We took the inspiration of the home and brought that into the kitchen.”
Some of the inspirations came from further afield, she explains.
“We did a custom coral range hood. It’s Canadian coral. It’s a high-density resin product which looks and feels like coral, but it’s not. It’s really light, and we did a custom hood out of that.”
Along with her role as designer, Gutoskie-Black also served as the project manager.
“We try to make everything go smooth as possible,” she explains. “We coordinate with the appliance people, the plumber, the electricians; everybody. Some clients need to be involved every step of the way, other clients just like to pick a colour and that’s it, so we offer both. One of the nice things about us is that we’re not just a kitchen studio; though we have one of the most complete showrooms in Muskoka. We’re also Tim-Br Mart. We’re pretty much a one-stop shop, from construction materials to finishes.”
Finishes for the Lake Muskoka kitchen were carefully selected.
“There’s three different colours in the kitchen. The cream, which is the neutral, is kind of the hub of the kitchen. And then we accented that with a cherry finish on maple as well, with a glaze,” says Gutoskie-Black. “The island, which is centered around the large timber post, is in a black-painted maple with distressing. So the cherry pre-stain actually runs through with the black, and it picks up on all the details throughout. The dining set even matches it; different accents throughout the whole place all tie in with that kitchen.”
The homeowners started the project with a very clear vision of what their final kitchen would be.
“They knew exactly what they wanted,” Gutoskie-Black says. “They did want it to be a showpiece, yet functional, because they do a lot of entertaining. A few of their friends are professional chefs . . . they’ve said it’s one of the most functional kitchens that they’ve ever used.”

Tom Tekavcic of Teka Homes turned a mundane kitchen into a showpiece, pictured here, which features slate floors, granite countertops, and cherry wood cabinets in a custom finish. Photograph: courtesy of Tom Tekavcic

Functionality can be a challenge where space is limited, however, as Andy Johnson, sales manager with ORA Kitchens in Orillia, explains.
“A common problem in the kitchen business is that they’re designing bigger homes these days, but the kitchen didn’t grow in size,” Johnson says. “People want a big beautiful kitchen, but the challenge is putting what the customer wants in that space.”
It was a tricky task that ORA Kitchens tackled head-on at a recent job.
“A couple of challenges we encountered on this project were the lack of space and the coffered ceiling,” Johnson says. “Lighting would be an issue so we tried to use a coloured finish which lends itself to low light. We also chose to install light rails so the client could utilize under-cabinet lighting. Along with a glossy backsplash and the granite countertops it will help provide workspace lighting where it is needed most.”
A combination of white with black highlights allowed Johnson’s crew to create a classic look for their client.
“For this project we used a 4000 series maple door, with a painted finish in ivory followed by a glaze in black,” he explains. “The accent pieces in the kitchen, which are the fluted columns and corbels on the peninsula, were finished in black paint.”
The look was extended to a custom hood over the oven.
“We were very excited to construct a custom cabinet to house the Sharp Insight Pro Microwave Drawer,” Johnson says. “It’s a drawer-operated microwave that is integrated into a lower cabinet, leaving more counter space available for working.”
Johnson believes the key is learning how people work in their kitchen space. He tries to find out what each client’s day-to-day routine is so that he can build a kitchen custom fitted to their needs.
“Space is secondary to the personal touch,” Johnson says. “The ultimate goal was to design a kitchen that would reflect the personal taste and style of the home owner while keeping functionality alive.”

A surprising number of people are finding ways to express their personal taste and style outside the traditional staid choices of appliance designs.
“The cottage is a place that represents a mental break. People are willing to do anything to break it up visually, and express themselves more,” says Tony Dowling, business development manager for Elmira Stove Works. Based out of the Ontario town by the same name, the company produces kitchen appliances – gas or electric stoves, microwaves, fridges and dishwasher panels – in a couple of unique styles.
“We have two main design lines,” Dowling says. “There’s Antique, which is meant to evoke styles of 1850 to 1890. And then we have our retro line, Northstar, which captures the look of the ‘50s.”
The appliances come in a range of colours that reflect the design eras, and Elmira Stove Works can produce custom finishes on certain orders.
“They can give your kitchen that extra little visual kick you want, but the designs are really timeless,” Dowling says. “They can fit into whatever look you’re going for.”
Balancing contrasts and complements makes it a delicate art to find the right look for a kitchen. It’s the kind of challenge that Gita Mahmoudian, senior designer with Cameo Fine Cabinetry in Toronto, sank her teeth into last year on Lake Joseph.
“They wanted a kitchen that was light, but not white. The room needed casual but not country, formal but not stuffy,” she explains. “Using the finishes and details that we did, we achieved the overall picture they had in mind. The room looks warm and inviting with just the right touches of detailing.”
Cameo president Marwan Rizek describes the scope of the job, which was a collaboration between Cameo Fine Cabinetry, GHP Design and architect Bill Hicks.
“The floors are natural barn board, and it has a beautiful, big wood table. It’s a cottage; it has that country feel. It turned out beautiful – the customer was very, very happy,” Rizek says.
Mahmoudian understands customer satisfaction depends on materials just as much as colours and finishes.
“For the most part, medium density fibreboard (MDF) was used,” she explains. “For painted finishes MDF is the best material to use as it does not expand and contract from temperature fluctuations, which reduces the chance of paint cracking.”
Quality materials and manufacturing are cornerstones of what Cameo can bring to a kitchen.

Using light colours, Cameo Fine Cabinetry created this warm, inviting kitchen, which features barn board floors and big wood table. Photograph: courtesy of Cameo Fine Cabinetry

“We emphasize the inside of our cabinets as much as the out,” Rizek says. “A lot of people don’t pay enough attention to the interior – the way the quality of the product is built. They look at the product on the outside and they say, ‘Wow, that looks good.’ But you need to open up the hood and look at the engine. Don’t just look at the body, because that’s one of the things that’s going to distinguish the product between a custom, quality product and a mass-produced product that you’ll buy at these box stores.”
The customer’s ultimate satisfaction with the work Cameo did on the project is the team’s constant goal.
“We pride ourselves in having a strong design team who can rise to every challenge and ensure the client’s needs are met,” Mahmoudian says. “Every project we do is exciting and interesting, and the challenge is to be able to understand and create what the client has in mind, and bring it to life.”
Communicating with the client and helping them bring their dreams to life is key to Tom Tekavcic’s approach with his company, Teka Homes, which is located in Sundridge. When Jason and Lori Darling asked him to do an addition and renovation on their home recently, he was able to help them visualize exactly what to expect.
“The Darlings commissioned me to do some concept plans and then take it to a stage where we could get permit drawings done,” Tekavcic says. “In this case it was a design and build, so they approached me for that whole picture.”
Over a series of meetings with Jason and Lori they refined several drafts before arriving at a final plan for their dream kitchen.
“They knew what they wanted,” Tekavcic says. “They knew through the design drawings what they wanted conceptually – what type of range they wanted, what type of range hood – so I input that into the design, and the design program I have allows you to do 3-D positioning from any point in the kitchen. They could say, ‘I’d like to see it from this vantage point,’ and I can show them from that vantage point. Then we lay out and build accordingly.”

Once the framing was done, Tekavcic laid out cabinet and appliance positions on the floor with chalk lines, and brought the Darlings in so they could see how their ideas were really going to work in the space and make any final adjustments.
“When we have something final we’ll actually put it with an indelible marker, so it stays there for all the trades and the clients,” Tekavcic explains. “We’ll get our spacing correct, etcetera. It helps many other things after that, like very clear specifics for the pot lights. We’ll do laser shots from the floor exactly where they need to be based on the cabinet work as laid out on the floor.”
Jason and Lori took a small family kitchen to a stunning modern showpiece with a very clear idea of the look they wanted, from the slate floor to the granite countertop, appliances and the finishes used on the cherry wood cabinetry.
“It wasn’t something that they saw on another cabinet or even on a cabinet sample,” explains Tekavcic. “They found the colour that they wanted and then they worked with the cabinet maker and came up with the formulation, so it was really something that was unique to them.”
No matter what your vision or how closely you’ll be working with your designer and contractors, Tekavcic recommends carefully choosing the main players on your project.
“Start early,” he advises. “First you have to build your team around you. With Jason and Lori, they were pretty sure what they wanted, and they were ahead of the game all the way.”

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