Indian Sunset

A modern lake house kitchen outside Toronto reflects the owner's international savvy and penchant for color.

This contemporary new home on Lake Ontario is graced with lots of soft, organic bends, and working with the view and those spectacular curves for a sophisticated family that has lived around the world was heaven for Tim Scott of XTC Design. "Most of their family is still in India," he says, referring to the couple and their adult son who has his own suite above the kitchen. "They are very open to color. From the moment we met, the samples they showed us included oranges, purples and reds."

Originally the plans called 'for show' in the living area where entertaining takes place, with the actual cooking, including frequent Indian dishes, occurring in the back catering kitchen to contain aroma and mess. But Scott put the brakes on that idea. "Why work in a closet?" he asks. "Shouldn't you be out there with people, and be able to enjoy that view?" His solution: proper ventilation and multilevel counters that mask the hard-working countertops of a functioning kitchen. "Those two things changed the space and how it's perceived," he says.

An organic purple—a brilliant eggplant tone—is picked up in the countertop granite called Red Sunset, which Scott says matches the colorization of the sky when the sun goes down on the lake. Most of all, he says the ability to integrate Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove products kept the design true. "There is a glamour aspect to this space," he says. "We painted the walls to match the cabinets and the kitchen is so open to the rest of the house that it had function, but it didn't have to look like a kitchen. You also need to have the products that are up to speed with the quality of a nice, prestigious home. We didn't consider anything else."