Colonial Pine Hills Kitchen Remodeling
Houses up here were built to look out at the trees, and the kitchen usually got one of the best windows in the place. That window is where Bruce Miller starts. Keep the view, find a home for the dishes, make the counters get along with the stairs, and pick materials that look right beside all that wood.
Windows
Big Windows, Tall Pines, and Where Cabinets Can Go
Walk into most kitchens in Colonial Pine Hills and the first thing you notice is glass. A wide window over the sink, maybe a second one on the side wall, sometimes a patio door opening toward the forest. Whoever built the house put those openings there on purpose, and nobody living with that view wants a row of upper cabinets hanging across it.
That leaves a storage problem, because the wall where cabinets would normally hang is mostly window. Bruce starts by measuring what is solid wall and what is glass, then works out how much cabinetry the room can really carry. Uppers go where a stretch of drywall is wide enough to earn them. Where it isn’t, storage moves down into base cabinets with deep drawers, into a tall pantry on an end wall, or into an island when the floor has room for one.
Some people ask about open shelves between the windows. A short run can work. Under a heavy canopy the daylight is softer, though, and open shelves start looking cluttered faster than they would in a bright south-facing room. The other thing we watch is the window trim. Custom homes often have wide wood casing, and a new cabinet should stop cleanly beside it instead of crowding the trim or forcing someone to cut it back.
Kitchens Half a Flight From Everything Else
Split-level and multi-level houses on these slopes often put the kitchen a few steps up or down from the living room and the entry. It is a sensible way to follow the hill. It also means the kitchen has a landing, a railing, or a short wall sitting exactly where you would like the counter to keep going.
The layout has to respect how people move through that half-flight. Groceries come in from the lower level and climb to the counter. Somebody carries a hot pan down to the table. A dishwasher door dropped open at the top of a stair will catch a shin sooner or later. When Bruce draws one of these kitchens, a few things get settled first:
- A stretch of counter near the top step where bags can land
- Oven and dishwasher doors that never swing into the stair path
- A clear line from the steps to the refrigerator
- Railings and half walls planned at the same time as the cabinets
Sometimes the short wall between the kitchen and the stairs can drop to counter height and become a ledge. That opens the sightline to the room below while keeping a guard at the edge of the stair. Small moves like that help a split-level kitchen work with the stairs instead of against them.
Framing
Taking Out a Wall in a Custom-Built House
Houses in a big subdivision tend to repeat the same framing lot after lot, so an experienced carpenter can make a good guess about a wall before opening it. Custom homes on a hillside offer no such head start. The person who designed yours may have set a roof load, a floor above, or a deck connection on a wall that looks like an ordinary partition from inside the kitchen.
So Bruce doesn’t guess. He looks at the framing from below and above wherever he can reach it, follows the joists and rafters, and figures out what that wall is holding before anyone talks about removing it. If it carries weight, the load moves onto a beam and posts that take it down to something solid. In a multi-level house that path can pass through a lower floor, which is exactly why the check happens before the design is settled.
When a span runs long or the load is unusual, an engineer sizes the beam, and Bruce arranges that. Kitchen walls also hide ductwork, plumbing vents, and wiring that will need a new route, and in a house built into a slope those runs can travel farther than you would expect. We find them first and put the rerouting into your written price, so demolition day brings no surprises.
Storage for a Bigger Household on a Bigger Lot
Larger lots often come with larger households, a second freezer, and more gear, so the kitchen ends up holding more than a small kitchen in town would. It has to hold it in a way you can actually find on a weeknight.
A tall pantry cabinet with roll-out shelves keeps more usable food within reach than a deep closet where cans vanish in the back. Full-extension drawers in the base cabinets beat doors and fixed shelves almost every time. We also ask about the second refrigerator or chest freezer living in the garage or on the lower level, because that decides how much cold storage the kitchen itself needs to carry.
Then there is everything that comes in the door. Boots, jackets, dog leashes, and trail gear have a way of landing on the kitchen counter in a house this close to the national forest. If your kitchen sits next to an entry, a bank of lockers or a bench with hooks above it gives all of that a place to go before it reaches the counter where you cook.
An island is worth the floor space in these kitchens when it does two jobs. Drawers on the working side hold pots, lids, and baking sheets, and the far side takes a few stools so people can sit and talk to the cook while staying out of the walkway. It needs real clearance on every side to function, and Bruce measures that with you before anyone orders a cabinet, because an island squeezed into too little floor just becomes the thing everybody walks around.
Wood, Stone, and Counters That Sit Well Against the Trees
Many homes here already carry natural wood and stone through the main rooms. A kitchen that ignores those materials looks like it was dropped in from another house. Matching an old stain exactly rarely works anyway. What you want is a kitchen that agrees with the wood already there.
Bruce brings samples to the house and holds them up in your actual light. That step matters more here than in most places, because shade from the pines can turn a cool gray cabinet bluish and make a stark white counter glare against a dimmer room. Warmer whites, stained wood, earthy painted colors, and stone or quartz with some movement in the pattern usually sit comfortably next to a wood interior.
Floors come down to how the kitchen meets the rooms around it. If hardwood runs through the main level, carrying it into the kitchen keeps the house reading as one space, and a good finish plus a rug at the sink handles the wear. If the kitchen is right beside an entry where wet boots come in, tile or a waterproof plank with a wood look is the practical call.
More Work Bruce Does in Colonial Pine Hills
Colonial Pine Hills Full Home Remodels
Every level of a hillside house, planned in order and run by one contractor.
Colonial Pine Hills Bathroom Remodeling
Bathrooms rebuilt to fit the custom layouts these homes were built with.
Colonial Pine Hills Walk-In Showers
Tile or panel showers built to the footprint you have.
Bruce also does tub-to-shower conversions in Colonial Pine Hills, and his crew handles kitchen remodeling across Pennington County. Finished rooms are in the project gallery, and the free price request form takes a couple of minutes.
Questions
Kitchen Questions From Colonial Pine Hills Homeowners
Can I keep my big window and still have enough storage?
In almost every kitchen we see, yes. Storage moves into deep base drawers, a tall pantry cabinet on a solid end wall, and an island when the floor has room for one. Upper cabinets go only where there is enough wall to justify them, and the window stays open to the trees.
Is the wall between my kitchen and dining room load bearing?
Bruce answers that by looking at the framing, since custom homes do not follow a predictable pattern. If the wall carries weight, a beam and posts take that load down to solid support. An engineer sizes the beam whenever the span or the load calls for one.
How do you plan a kitchen that sits next to a half-flight of stairs?
We keep oven and dishwasher doors out of the stair path, leave counter space near the top step for groceries, and draw railings and short walls along with the cabinets. Sometimes a half wall turns into a counter ledge that opens the view to the room below.
What cabinet colors work in a shaded kitchen?
Shade from the pines cools everything down, so stark whites and cool grays can look flat or bluish. Warmer whites, wood stains, and earthy painted colors usually hold up better. Look at any sample at the time of day you use the kitchen most before you decide.
Will my kitchen remodel need a permit?
Moving walls, plumbing, or electrical needs one. Replacing cabinets and counters in the same spots usually does not. Bruce is a licensed general contractor, so he files the permit and books the inspections himself, and the permit shows up as its own line in your written price.
How do I get a free price on a kitchen remodel?
Call (605) 636-2284 or use the contact form. Bruce comes to your Colonial Pine Hills home, walks the kitchen with you, measures, checks what the walls are carrying, and writes an itemized price. The visit and the price are free, and you are under no obligation to go ahead.
Walk the Kitchen With Bruce
He will stand at your window, look at the stairs, open a cabinet or two, and tell you plainly what the room can become. Then he writes a line-itemed price covering materials, labor, the permit, and any framing or mechanical work. Reach him at (605) 636-2284 or send your details through the contact form.