July 11, 2022

The Scott’s Addition neighborhood in Richmond, Va. is a newly vibrant enclave of entrepreneurial undertakings, from microbreweries to galleries to boutiques. Recognized as a historic district, the area offers opportunities and incentives for reuse of buildings, many of them former industrial spaces. That’s what drew designer Jennifer Stoner to explore the neighborhood when she was looking for a new showroom for her business, Jennifer Stoner Interiors.

“We were lucky to snatch up the space when a company planning to open a bar backed out due to Covid,” Stoner said. “We were able to walk into a wide-open space that had already had some mechanical improvements made, yet provided us with a blank slate for our showroom.”

The size of that slate – 5,000 square feet – offered both freedom and challenges to the designer. The expansiveness allowed her to install multiple vignettes, yet it was also that spaciousness that left some parts of the showroom devoid of natural light. Stoner corrected this condition in two ways.

First, she added a 12-ft. by 10-ft. glass-paned roll-up door at the back of the building. Then, she looked at the issue from a slightly different perspective.

“We had our technology integrators come in and create a Ketra lighting lab at the front of the space, where the kitchen would be located,” Stoner said. “It’s an ideal place to demonstrate the capabilities of the system, which we use in a lot of our projects.” Primarily a wellness-oriented feature, it can also be programmed to provide some fun party atmospheres that the firm activates when they host events in the showroom.

With the lighting scheme resolved, Stoner turned her attention to the kitchen design. “I have had several smaller studio spaces throughout the years, but we were limited to just showing samples to clients in terms of cabinetry, hardware, lighting, and plumbing. This is the first space that allowed us the square footage to incorporate a working showroom kitchen.”

Allocating about 180 square feet for the kitchen, the design team was able to do some more creative things with the cabinetry layout and incorporate some more unique finishes intended to push their clients a bit out of their comfort zones. “We’ve done a lot of white kitchens over the past few years, so we loved bringing in the rift-sawn natural oak,” said Stoner.

Because the showroom kitchen doesn’t have to function in the same way as one of Stoner’s clients’ kitchens, she developed the design to serve more as an idea center and an entertaining kitchen for events. An induction cooktop, a multi-mode oven and a 30-inch glass-front refrigerator with a convertible freezer/wine storage drawer from Monogram allow efficient preparation of party menus.