After 14 years of living with their 1960s kitchen, a Mill Valley, California, couple?she’s an archaeologist, he’s a fitness program manager, and they have two young daughters?turned to a team of collaborators to help them with their update.
The goal, in the archaeologist’s words: “a high-functioning, clean, timeless space that meshes with the look of my grandparents’ and mother-in-law’s midcentury furniture.” The solution: A newly opened-up space with custom solid-walnut cabinets (and retro circular cutouts) with a bean-shaped island/dinner table at the center. A new and improved version of the Brady Bunch eat-in kitchen" You tell us.
Photography by John Merkl.

Above: The just-under-200-square-foot kitchen began as an urge for a slightly bigger, brighter, more-up-to-date space that takes better advantage of the views of Mount Tamalpais right outside. As often happens, the project snowballed along the way: “Interiors stylist Rachel Cleaveland Riedy [of Cleaveland & Kennedy Design], a friend, helped us come up with the look and materials,” says the archaeologist. “We planned to just hire her cabinet guy John Donovan and fill him in on our ideas, but he recommended having architect Jeff Gustafson help with space planning and drawing. And then, when we decided to take down a wall in the old pantry, we called in our terrific contractor Michael Gordon, who saved us from having to move out during the remodel. Ou...