Decorating & Design
November 13, 2020
French Bistro Style Is The Secret Recipe For This Two-Tone Kitchen
With travel plans grounded (for now), sipping a café au lait in the heart of Montmartre feels like a distant memory. Designer Emily Griffin brought a European sensibility to this Toronto kitchen with a touch of French bistro flair — no plane ticket required. Emily’s jumping off point? “The stunning Lacanche range and custom vent hood we designed to pair with it,” she says. “Lacanche has been making ranges in a small village in Burgundy since the late 18th century, and it inspired us to create a classic French bistro–style kitchen.” Scroll down to learn how Emily brought the charm of Paris to this chic home!
“The layered rugs and antique-looking patterned tile are meant to evoke the feeling of a lived-in European home,” says Emily. A pair of vintage milk glass pendants strike just the right bistro note in this space.
The kitchen cabinets were made by a boutique millworker and hand painted in two historical hues for extra interest. “Stick to tried and true colors and finishes, and deny, deny, deny trendy kitchen fads,” she advises.
Emily decided against upper cabinets on this wall so as not to distract from the dramatic matte black and brushed brass vent hood. “Most people think you pick one hardware style for an entire kitchen, but sometimes ‘one size fits all’ doesn’t work — especially in a two-tone kitchen,” she says.
Floating shelves mounted on a wall of subway tile offer pleasing display space.
In the kitchen’s adjacent sitting area, Emily removed the “pedestrian” fireplace mantel and replaced it with a custom design. A painting by Canadian artist Vicki Smith hangs above. “I felt very strongly about hiding the television in the island rather than mounting it above the fireplace,” says Emily. “It would have killed the whole vibe of the room.”
One of the storage units in the dining area houses a fully stocked bar, and the other serves as a pantry and coffee station.
Sian Richards
House & Home November 2019
Emily Griffin