The Whitfields bought their Kent Island home in 2002 for the water view — and spent the next twenty years walking into a kitchen that faced a wall. The great room felt disconnected from the outdoors. The back of the house, which should have been the best part, was an afterthought. They came to us with a clear goal: make the inside of the house feel as good as the outside does. We removed the wall between the kitchen and the great room, reoriented the island toward the rear of the house, built a coffered ceiling above the great room with a gas fireplace centered on the interior wall, and installed three sets of french doors across the rear of the space. The Chester River is now visible from every seat at the table.
Kitchen & Interior Remodel
Kent Island Kitchen & Great Room
Annapolis, MD
Overview
Scope of Work
Full kitchen renovation with island reorientation, great room remodel with coffered ceiling and gas fireplace, load-bearing wall removal with structural beam, three sets of french doors, and MEP conflict resolution including drain stack reroute.
Why Pre-Construction Pays for Itself
Most remodeling surprises aren't really surprises — they're things nobody looked for before work started. A drain stack in the wrong place. A beam where the opening was supposed to go. An electrical panel that can't support the new load. Our pre-construction process exists to find these things before they become change orders. On the Kent Island project, we identified a major plumbing reroute six weeks before demo day. Resolved in planning: it was a line item. Discovered during demo: it would have been a delay, a cost escalation, and a conversation nobody wants to have. We do the work upfront so the build goes cleanly.
The Kitchen
The new kitchen is oriented toward the Chester River — the island runs perpendicular to the rear wall, creating a natural work triangle between the range, the sink, and the refrigerator while keeping the cook facing the water. Countertops are a leathered quartzite in a warm cream tone. Cabinetry is a soft sage green on the perimeter with a contrasting natural white oak island. The range hood is custom steel with a brushed finish. Under-cabinet lighting on a dimmer. A pot filler above the range the Whitfields debated for three months and say they use every day.
The French Doors
Three sets of outswing french doors across the rear of the great room was the feature the Whitfields were most nervous about — specifically, whether the glass would make the space feel cold in winter and whether the doors would seal properly against wind off the water. We specified thermally broken aluminum frames with triple-point locking hardware and low-e glass with a solar heat gain coefficient optimized for south-facing Maryland exposure. In winter, the space is warm. In summer, with all three sets open, the back of the house and the dock feel like one continuous room. That was the goal.
Case Study
Challenge
Relocating the kitchen required moving a 3-inch drain stack that ran through the exterior wall — rerouting it without opening the exterior meant threading new drain lines through the basement ceiling, a sequencing challenge that had to be fully resolved before demolition began. Discovering this mid-demo would have added two to three weeks and a significant change order to the project.
Solution
Our pre-construction process includes a full MEP (mechanical, electrical, plumbing) conflict review on every project that involves plumbing or electrical changes. We identified the drain stack conflict six weeks before the first wall came down, designed the reroute in coordination with our plumbing sub, priced it into the contract, and built the sequence into the construction schedule. The Whitfields never heard about it until we told them during the project recap — as an example of what pre-construction is worth.
Results
Demo to substantial completion ran nine weeks. The Whitfields hosted Thanksgiving in the finished space — 24 guests, three sets of french doors open to the dock, exactly what they had described to us in our first meeting. The coffered ceiling and gas fireplace became the focal points of a home they had been considering selling. They are not selling.
