Not your grandma’s quilt. The original wood floor is painted in a traditional quilt pattern protected by polyurethane topcoats. (Painter: Rich Jenkins. Photography: Kendall Reeves, Spectrum Studio)

When Carol and Roger Parks decided to redo their kitchen in 2006, they knew they wanted something unconventional. They’d lived for years with an assortment of cabinets, freestanding and built-in, arranged in a cramped, impractical layout. They hired Golden Hands Construction, Inc. as their general contractor and NR Hiller Design for the design and cabinetry.

Carol wanted to combine wooden and painted cabinets, and she pulled her paint color from the Vitrolite tile installed in the kitchen and back hallway when the house was originally built in the 1920s. I mixed green and white from The Old Fashioned Milk Paint Company and experimented with oil-based topcoats until I had just the right color and applied it thinly as a semi-opaque wash.

Doors are inset, hung on traditional butt hinges. Drawers, too, are inset.

The hinges, knobs, and pulls for the cherry base cabinets are unlacquered brass. The green crystal door knobs on the painted cabinet doors add an extra jolt of color; when Carol first suggested them, she said she firmly expected her friends to call her crazy but went with them anyway.

A cabinet patterned after a vintage armoire hides the microwave and provides plenty of storage for large items.

A glazed display cabinet with interior lighting marks the transition from kitchen to dining room.

Even the spice cabinet is painted in bright colors. at nearly 3′ wide by 7′ high, it’s capacious enough for the most serious cook.