Dream Kitchen

As families grow, one of the rooms that tend to shrink is the kitchen, but does adding extra space mean giving up cozy comfort? Not according Celia McGarity in Birmingham, Ala.

The new island looks like an original part of the house with its distressed painted finish and aged maple top.

To keep everyday clutter out of view, McGarity has positioned an old lap desk on the counter next to the sink.

To keep with a country look McGarity painted the cabinets and beadboard walls a creamy white and painted the wood floor with black squares for a casual effect. The reproduction farmhouse sink is paired with a faucet sporting an oil-rubbed bronze finish, which matches the bin pulls. McGarity's favorite piece is the hanging cabinet, which she says used to be the top to an old piece of furniture. Hung on the wall, it's a space-saving display cabinet for her ironstone collection.