A first floor transformation in Burlingame — open-concept kitchen, dining, and family room redesigned for real flow, better storage, and a direct connection to the outdoors, built for a family that wanted their home to actually work for them.
The owners of this Burlingame home liked where they lived — but the house wasn't working for them. They'd inherited a previous renovation that had missed the mark on both functionality and aesthetics, leaving a first floor that felt disconnected and awkward. The kitchen flow was off, the dining room was isolated from the rest of the level, and getting to the backyard meant going through the basement. They brought us in to fix all of it — and to build an open-concept first floor that a busy family could actually use.
The existing layout fought itself at every step. A peninsula blocked the path between the kitchen and the living areas. The dining room was anchored by a fireplace with no real sitting area around it, making the space feel purposeless. Access to the back patio required going through the basement — an afterthought that disconnected the family from their own yard. Storage was insufficient, circulation was poor, and the overall flow of the first floor needed to be rethought from scratch.
We took out the peninsula and replaced it with a walnut center island — warm, natural, seating for four, and plenty of storage that immediately changed how the family uses the kitchen. Greenfield Shaker cabinetry in Cameo lines the perimeter, with a hidden pantry and pull-out drawers keeping appliances out of sight and the counters clear. Calacatta Laza Quartz countertops and Dolomite marble tile in both mosaic and vertical brick patterns give the space a soft, neutral finish throughout. The doorway between the kitchen and family room was widened, and new doors and a deck off the family room gave the family a direct path to the backyard — finally. The family room got a full wall of built-ins with an Ortal gas fireplace and wall-mounted TV. The awkwardly placed dining room fireplace was sealed, and the space was properly centered and opened up to connect with both the kitchen and family room. Additional windows brought natural light into the remodeled spaces and tied everything back to the character of the original home.