Why This Designer Tore Out Every Cabinet to Make Way for a Kitchen Full of Rosy Pink Drawers

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OK but hear me out—every interior designer is basically an artist when you boil it down. Like most creatives, the best ones can turn just about anything into a masterpiece, but instead of a blob of clay, that thing is a soulless spec house or, in Zoe Feldman's case, a stark, builder-grade kitchen. The founder of Zoe Feldman Design's clients bought the 6,100-square-foot home sight unseen during the COVID-19 lockdown when the family—a husband and wife with two elementary school–age daughters—relocated from Utah to Washington, D.C. Their only two requests? A little personality and a lot of storage. Honestly, same.

The kitchen came with all the standard contractor classics: white quartz counters, a white subway tile backsplash, and lots of—you guessed it—white uppers. But when the wife found two towering stained-glass doors at a secondhand shop called Community Forklift, it became obvious that the entire reimagined room needed to revolve around them. The vintage pieces were transformed into a pantry entrance (where the fridge used to be) with the help of bespoke framing from Custom Home Productions. Then Feldman got to work on all the supporting details. And oh, the details.

Feldman knew she wanted to play off the marbly green and blue glass but didn't want the space to be too splashy (and therefore overwhelming). Her solution? Swap out all the white for a "new neutral." It's the nuanced tone that adds interest, she says. The kitchen's custom cabinetry, from the designer's collaboration with Unique Kitchens & Baths, is painted a warm gray-pink (Farrow & Ball's Elephant's Breath), which became the anchor of the entire room. Its impact shows up in the "quiet details" like the Lily line's modern take on classic Shaker cupboards (the frames are slightly thinner than usual) and the understated hardware (more on that later). I'm honestly in love.

Funny enough, for a project that was ALL about cabinets, every single one of them had to go. The team instead went with a combo of open shelving, drawers galore, and two full-height cupboards flanking the longest wall. The 10.5-foot ceilings presented a real challenge for Tanya Smith-Shiflett, the founder of Unique Kitchens & Baths. "Anytime you get over 8 feet, there's a tendency for the doors to warp," she explains. "The design of the cupboard fronts was something we had to totally reconfigure and reengineer." The answer? Reinforce the towering panels from the inside so they wouldn't need to split them into more doors. Genius.

As for going all in on pull-outs, Feldman says it just makes sense. And honestly? Anyone who's experienced the frustration of fishing for a Dutch oven in the dark depths of a 24-inch cabinet would totally agree. "That's how things get lost," she notes. These drawers, on the other hand, are decked out with peg systems, sliding racks, and adjustable dividers to keep everything from lids to table linens to bowls perfectly in line. "This is more accessible and easier to organize," she adds. Sign me up.

While visiting California, the wife fell hard for the Jade Porcelain tile from Heath Ceramics. Feldman found the perfect spot for it back in D.C. in their walk-in nook, a space that serves as an appliance garage and coffee bar. (They already knew the color pairing would work thanks to those vintage pantry doors.) Feldman calls it "the perfect little jewel-box moment." And honestly? She's not wrong.

For the finishing touch, the designer says the "enormous doors and teeny-tiny knobs" were 100 percent intentional. The cabinets are the star of the show, so the hardware needed to play a supporting role. Feldman puts it as any good artist would: "Some things are a canvas for another thing, right?" I mean, she's not wrong.

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