At Home with...Angelo Surmelis

Kitchen When Surmelis signed the papers on his first home, he inherited a very ugly kitchen. From the beginning, he knew one thing: This kitchen was not going to Easy living kitchen. Photo by Angelo Surmelis. remain looking ugly for long, even if it turned out to be a major league remodel. I wanted a clean, fresh, simple kitchen that didn't feel fussy," says Surmelis. "My dad cooked for a living so I grew up in the restaurant business. I'm incredibly comfortable in the kitchen," he says. But his kitchen was anything but. The kitchen had everything going against it, including several layers of vinyl tile floor, dark plywood cabinets, drawer-less lower cabinets, laminated countertops, dated wood paneling, a broken stove and traffic flow that didn't work. Reimagined kitchen. Photo by Angelo Surmelis. To bring in more light, Surmelis added two kitchen windows He moved doors to improve traffic flow that alleviated congestion in the kitchen, painted the walls grey and added white subway tiles as a backsplash. He then installed cork floor planks in long, wide strips. "My cork flooring is the most comfortable thing under my feet," Surmelis admits. "It has a bit of a bounce and its been a real friend to my less-than-stellar back." Surmelis added simple white Ikea cabinetry with glass door upper cabinets and white countertops with gray veining to add character and interest. "Carrera marble isn't really practical for kitchens since it has a tendency to scratch and stain,” he says, “but I think it looks better with age. It's perfect for baking and rolling dough out on the surface." Carrera marble countertops accent a dark wood hutch in the kitchen. Photo by Angelo Surmelis. Surmelis added a dark wood antique hutch to add history to the all-white cabinetry. The finishing touch was a marvelous new deep-red, industrial-strength Bertazzoni stove. "My stove looks like something you can drive and works like a dream," he says. To balance the splash of red, Surmelis added two red leather topped bar stools. Living/ Dining Room "I wanted to create rooms that felt comfortable," he says. "I love to have people over to hang out. These rooms aren't fussy, but they are rooms where you are discovering things. I went with restful textures that let you linger but also have visual interest. "

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