
DATE: Sunday, November 23, 1997             TAG: 9711220055

SECTION: HOME                    PAGE: G1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JACEY ECKHART, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:  169 lines

RECIPE FOR REMODELING GOURMET COOK MOVES INTO AN AWKWARD, OLD KITCHEN AND MAKES IT WORK

MADELEINE MOLDS and spring-form pans. Spiral shredders and stick blenders. Saucieres and braisieres. No matter what they try to tell you in Bon Appetit, the joy of being a gourmet cook doesn't come solely from eating marvelous food with your nearest and dearest.

Half the fun is in the equipment. All those Calphalon-Cuisinart-Williams' Sonoma-yummies make cooking more fun than a Barbie dream house with motorized elevator and fold-down tub. Except when you're thinking about moving all that equipment from a 3,600-square-foot Williamsburg dream house to an easy-maintenance ranch.

Enter gourmet cook and former cooking instructor, Betty Busciglio.

Ever since her husband retired (well, semi-retired) from the Family Channel in January, Betty and Rick have been thinking about downsizing other parts of their lives as well - starting with the house they lived in for the past eight years.

``We had been talking about it for awhile,'' Betty said. ``We really wanted a smaller, more practical house. A nice brick ranch in an old-fashioned neighborhood.'' Unfortunately, they found that builders have ignored nice brick ranches over the past several years, and the few older homes on the market had small, unworkable kitchens.

``We were about to buy a big house on Broad Bay Point Greens, when we had a last-minute reprieve.'' Located in the shady old Bay Colony area, the brick rancher had almost everything they were looking for.

Then they saw the kitchen.

Resplendent in ``monkey vomit yellow'' from Formica counter tops to faux marble linoleum, the kitchen was a relic from a long-departed (thankfully) era.

``When I looked at that kitchen - that was almost the end of it,'' Betty says. ``All the appliances were harvest gold and very tired. There was lots of wasted space in the middle of the room. The wall oven was located next to the dining room door so you couldn't walk through if the oven was open. The whole thing was very awkward for entertaining.''

Just as she was ready to leave, Betty caught sight of two huge pantry closets in the wide hallway off the kitchen. Five feet wide and 3 feet deep, the closets offered abundant storage - the kind of storage most gourmets only see in the hallowed halls of Crate & Barrel.

Despite the blinding glow of the Formica backsplash, Betty now had a clear vision of what this kitchen could be: warm cherry cabinets, cameo white Corian counter tops, built-in bookcases for her collection of cookbooks, maybe an island. And it would work because of those closets.

Even though the kitchen would have to be gutted, Betty was undaunted. ``After all, I never met a kitchen I couldn't improve.'' GETTING STARTED

The papers were signed with alacrity, and the Busciglios joined the ranks of the 4.1 million Americans who will renovate their kitchens this year. According to Rhonda Moritz of the National Kitchen and Bath Association, the average family will spend $22,000 on the design, materials and installation needed to renovate their kitchens.

``Kitchen remodels can go over $150K,'' Moritz says. ``Imported tiles, custom-built cabinetry, granite and marble counter tops all drive up the price. You can spend even more on appliances. Some high-end ranges cost 10, 12 or even 15 thousand.''

The Busciglios settled on a budget of about $25,000, not including the price of appliances.

Because Betty and Rick had remodeled four other kitchens during 39 years of marriage, they knew their first step was to find an experienced contractor with experienced employees - the kind that know a 2x4 from a Whopper with cheese before they come to work on your house.

Their real estate agent suggested Steve Dubanevich of Accent Kitchens. ``Real estate agents know everybody,'' Betty says. ``They recommended Steve even though he usually works with builders. Anybody that a builder will use long term is terrific.''

And terrific he was. Because he had been in the kitchen design business for more than 17 years, Dubanevich was able to listen carefully to their plan and suggest some ideas they had never considered. For example, the Busciglios loved the cameo white Corian counter tops they had in their last house. Betty had no interest in anything else. But one day Steve called her and asked her just to take a look at the Corian in green granite. The price was no different than in the white, but Dubanevich was convinced it would make the kitchen seem a little cozier.

Betty loved it. She also loved Dubanevich's suggestion to paint the dark woodwork in the adjacent den to blend with the kitchen. She loved the satin-finished pewter pulls that Steve recommended to set off the cherry cabinetry instead of the ubiquitous brass. And she loved Steve's proposal to hang the old kitchen cabinets in the garage for tool storage. Gratis.

When it came to choosing flooring, Rick and Betty really liked the look of a wood floor, but they were concerned that it would not wear well. The new luxury vinyl that comes in planks and looks like wood seemed like a good compromise. Dubanevich suggested laying the flooring on the diagonal instead of horizontally to maximize the impact of the investment, not insignificant at $8 a square foot.

Because Betty does so much cooking and baking, the Busciglios thought it was worthwhile to buy high-end appliances, like a stainless Jenn Aire convection oven and a quiet dishwasher. But that didn't mean they were ready to squander their money. Rick and Betty shopped all the chain stores in the area. Again, they found that their contractor was their best resource. Dubanevich was able to get the appliances for them through Accent Kitchens for less than they could find elsewhere. FINISHING TOUCHES

After the cabinets, counter tops, sinks and appliances had been ordered, Betty devoted herself to the ``minor'' task of finding just the right wall paper. For hours she paged through books of wallpaper samples trying to find one that was ``not cute, not dark and not overwhelming.'' Nothing seemed just right.

So Betty did just what the most stalwart renovator does when the going gets tough: she went on vacation. And it paid off. In New York, Betty found the wallpaper she had been searching for - hanging on the wall in a friend's kitchen. It was just a simple wide-spaced green grid on a white background, but it fit in perfectly with the concept of a classically cozy kitchen.

``As soon as we got back, I found it in a book right away, of course.''

Rick and Betty returned to a kitchen that was nearly complete, including the small, but proportional, island in the center of the room. Making use of an area that was formerly dead space, the island offers useful, uncluttered space to a busy cook. Task lighting is hung directly overhead so that recipes are easy to read. Cabinet doors on both sides of the island offer easy access even to items stored in the middle of the unit. And a few extra drawers in a kitchen never hurt anybody.

Betty especially likes the way the island makes the kitchen ``visitor friendly.'' ``Rick can stand right on the other side of the island and talk to me while I'm cooking, and he's never in the way,'' she says.

The hallway off the kitchen was incorporated into the overall design by installing more cherry cabinets and a second Jenn Air oven, creating an instant bake center. Now Betty has room to store every necessary baking item needed to make 25 kinds of Christmas cookies for her grandchildren this holiday season. And the pantry closets are already stocked and being put to good use.

Instead of using the luxury wood vinyl for this area, the Busciglios opted for indoor/outdoor carpet, because it is the transition space between the kitchen and the yard and pool. It also helps cut down on the amount of dirt that a certain Yorkshire terrier brings in.

One of the nicest features of the kitchen is a small table nestled snugly in front of the bay window that looks out over the back yard where Rick has planted rose pink camellias to bloom in winter. A narrow set of glass-fronted cabinets serves as a buffet to this table and as storage for a collection of ceramic ware.

Its the perfect place to have coffee in the morning. The Busciglios like the remodeling so much that they couldn't resist having friends over for ``a simple kitchen supper'' - even though most of their furniture is still in the other house. ``I am really, really pleased,'' Betty said.

Now that most of her equipment is in place, Betty has been preparing some fabulous foods. But even a gourmet has her limitations. Although seaweed salad is her newest passion, you won't find that or any other equipment for making Japanese food in this kitchen.

``There are some foods I don't cook,'' Betty says. ``It's the only way I can get taken out to dinner.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

LAWRENCE JACKSON/The Virginian-Pilot

Before

The old kitchen had...

BETH BERGMAN NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot

During

Emanual Kurtz, with Accent Kitchens...

MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot

After

Betty Busciglio loves her...

Photos

MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot