Rustic Kitchen Renovation

Interior designer Margaret Kirkland established a "warm and soulful" ambience in her family's newly renovated kitchen with the help of rough-hewn wood beams and patinated wood doors, a feature partly inspired by her former boss, iconic Atlanta designer Dan Carithers.

"We purchased antique Egyptian doors at Scott Antique Market to create dual pantries to bookend a mahogany breakfront," said Margaret. Glossy white subway tiles, creamy honed granite countertops and streamlined ivory cabinetry help counter this tactility, creating a clean slate for more intricate accents like Indian iron lanterns and a vent hood constructed partly from fireplace remnants.

Most ingeniously, a French antique trestle table and old-world dining chairs sidle up to the island (which boats a handsome set of gray rattan bar stools), and extend the dining space.