A kitchen enlargement and floorplan reconfiguration in a home situated next to golf course have won a “Contractor of the Year” (COTY) for Michael Nash Design Build and Homes.

The makeover to an Auburn residence was named “Best Kitchen in the $60,000 to $100,000” range by the National Association of Remodeling Contractors (NARI) metro DC chapter. Among other strategies, the remodeler eliminated an obstructive interior bearing wall, merged the existing kitchen with an adjacent sun porch, established a dramatic sightline linkage to the golf course, and gained wall surface for cabinets by deleting a dysfunctional pantry.

The 800-square-foot kitchen now accommodates a professional caliber cooktop range, a customdesigned food prep island and dining counter that seats four, a formal breakfast zone, ceilingflush glass-facing cabinetry and other amenities within an eclectic interior scheme that presents traditional finishwork detailing within a panoramic view of the sprawling surrounding countryside.

Taken as a whole, the comprehensive remodeling plan transforms a 15-year-old builder-grade kitchen into a generous kitchen-centric great room that segues directly to a spacious barbecue deck and a family room with a stone clad hearth.

In accepting the “Best Kitchen” kudos, Michael Nash Founder and President Sonny Nazemian praised his company’s design team and their practiced, cost-sensitive approach to helping homeowners make effective home improvement decisions.

“Since most of our projects are executed by Michael Nash employees, we’re able to offer fixed-price contracts,” Nazemian discloses.

“Customers can select finishwork materials from our showroom atcost. These are among the components of our business model, which allow us to routinely outperform our client’s budget.”

In the case of the recent “Best Kitchen” winner, grappling with a floorplan ill-suited to the homeowner’s emerging needs was the principal challenge.

“The owners were looking for both functional and aesthetic improvements,” Nazemian recalls. “They had decided that the sunroom adjacent to the kitchen–which featured a stunning view of the golf course– didn’t need to be a separate room since they used it as a dining area for much of the year.”

There was even a “pass-thru” between the kitchen and the porch–the main problem is that it was within a bearing wall, encased with plumbing and other ducting that routed to the second floor.

What to do? “Since the home’s second floor rested on a mid-house bearing wall,” Nazemian explains, “we proposed alternative structural supports that would allow us to access more square footage inside the envelope of the existing home.”

In a nutshell, the Michael Nash engineers re-routed the HVAC, plumbing and electrical conduits, installed vertical supports attached to recessed horizontal steel I-beams, then shifted second-floor loads to the new infrastructure and removed the offending wall.

The plan converts the former sunroom into an extension of the kitchen, which now functions as a breakfast room.

With the bearing wall eliminated, new mahogany hardwood was installed to seamlessly connect the kitchen with the entire first level. Designers relocated the new dinette set into a spot still closer to the rolling view. Re-routing an air-return vent allowed the team to eliminate an obstructing knee wall and better unify the family room to the new kitchen great room.

The space plan called for: mid-kitchen food prep Island and dining counter; better locations for a new sink, two dishwashers, microwave, ice maker; developing wall surfaces appropriate to adding capacious cabinetry; and designing activity zones where family and friends would naturally gather, interacting easily with the cook.