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Karen Williams, a high-end designer for St. Charles of New York was recently featured in Decorati online design blog for several projects featuring stonework by NES.
A transcript of the article now follows.
“As a native New Yorker, Karen Williams doesn’t believe in wasting time. Enter a kitchen of her design, and your instincts will tell you which drawer to open for the silverware. Her baths are equally well choreographed to savor every precious minute. Glamour? Naturally. Part engineer and pure decorati, she’s known for the soft, lovely spin she puts on modern ergonomics. Deft lines and material splendor aside, her rooms just make sense and for the most beautiful of reasons—she wants all who enter to feel immediately at home.
“The design is the invitation. ‘Today we plan for one or more cooks, as well as their friends and family. After all, who doesn’t want an extra hand in the kitchen? Insisting on a room that’s warm and open in feeling, where items are placed where they logically should be, makes it natural for all to join in.’ Personal styles vary and should, she explains but, as a home’s de-facto gathering space, any successful kitchen shares ‘a subtler, more universal draw.’ No wonder her designs channel classic couture and century-old, cozy corner bistros. Her goals are timeless. Equally comfortable in modern or traditional idioms, working with or without a project architect or lead designer, she looks beyond style toward a shared sense of place.
“Trained in interior design at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, Williams has specialized in kitchens for three decades. The youngest designer ever hired by St. Charles of New York, she now co-owns the firm and its expansive eighth floor A&D Building showroom, where sculpture is retrofitted into lighting, a butler’s pantry surprises with back-lit onyx, and a kitchen with rare blue gemstone countertops brings design professionals and foodies together for some serious culinary and appliance seminars. Jacques Pepin has cooked there. Chef Michael Romano of Union Square opted for a room of his own, choosing Williams to design his Hamptons kitchen.
“Chefs warm quickly to Williams for several reasons. As a professional, she understands the highly technical, exacting and fast-changing world of fixtures and appliances. An accomplished cook herself, she’s learned the secret of a perfect marshmallow from Jean Georges’ pastry chef and grilled with Charlie Trotter in Chicago. As a person, she’s generous with her passion for cooking and entertaining. (Inviting ten to twenty to dinner is ‘good fun’ for Williams). And as a designer she mines all these experiences for insight into what works—and feels—best. The more culinary or wine seminars she attends, the more friends she cooks for, the richer her work. Efficiency is important to Williams but, ultimately, her focus is more intimate.
“She’s learned how to create a relaxed, inviting space to heighten the experience of preparing and sharing meals. Pro-grade stainless steel is a favorite material of hers but, polished and paired with the tactility of rich mahogany or crystallized glass, its allure is jewel-like. If appliances take center stage, she’ll frame them in an exquisitely clad and trimmed niche, or ground them with a luxurious floor mosaic.
“For all her design savvy, Williams insists that kitchens should be ‘intuitive.’ Reaching for something should be a reflex. Forget common rules of practice like the kitchen triangle (‘a holdover from the days when one cook slaved away, cornered in between the sink and two appliances,’ she says). Instead imagine a welcoming space for multiple cooks with strategically placed sinks and surfaces, and perhaps even multiple cooking islands.
“Lots of counter space is not the goal. ‘An invitation for clutter,’ she says. ‘What’s more important are different stations.’ Examples include a cleanup counter or a breakfast/snack zone where kids can easily help themselves. A signature piece of Williams is a butcher-block ‘hub,’ which she often sites at the end of an island or peninsula. In one of her kitchens for previous Kips Bay Showhouses (she’s done three), the butcher-block counter is the first that guests encounter: its importance enhanced by the artful inclusion of a wall mosaic above and wine refrigeration below.
“In a Connecticut kitchen, below, the chopping block is a freestanding mahogany furniture piece that faces out to living spaces. This station, says Williams, is ‘a beacon. It lets anyone, even first-time visitors, know where to go to slice a bagel or prepare a sandwich.’ Maybe they’d even offer to lend a hand chopping vegetables. Sited in proximity to gathering spaces, the same surface can double as serving space for a small buffet, or cocktails and an appetizer.
“Should a client care more about style than soufflés, Williams has no problem recommending a sophisticated looking yet easy-to-use appliance for everyday. ‘Some things are just too complex,’ she says. ‘Even if one family member is up to the challenge, it depends on who else will be using the equipment.’ In these cases, not only cabinets can be custom. Williams likes to look at what a client desires in bigger, pro-grade appliances and then integrate their more specific wants—a cooktop, grill, steamer, sink and pot-filler, for instance— into a personalized cooking center.
“Whereas Williams breaks kitchens, surfaces, and even appliances down into zones of activity, her baths offer points of rest and refuge. If it’s a vacation home, a soaking tub takes the place of a central island. For everyday spaces, the shower serves as primary lure. Technology, however, grows discreet. Towel warmers are tucked away into custom drawers, outlets hidden behind drop-down panels, and spa tubs elegantly encased.”
Posted on May 11, 2010 by Karin Edwards. By Karin H. Edwards, Decorati Contributing Kitchen & Bath Editor and author of Beautiful Bone Design. © 2010, Decorati Inc.
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