East End Nest: New Kitchen Showroom in Sag Harbor
June is the month to dust off the patio and freshen up the kitchen, bracing for the busiest season of entertaining on the East End. This year my kitchen is starting to look a little tired, and after 12 years since its last renovation it may be time for some new cabinetry. Last Friday evening I stopped into the opening of a well-needed kitchen showroom in Sag Harbor. Just off the busy square of Main Street in town at 11 Bridge Street the new, expansive space caters to designers, builders and architects while offering landscape and garden design, outdoor furniture, accessories, custom kitchen cabinetry and high-end appliances.
The showroom is a partnership of two like-minded companies, landscape design and outdoor furniture and accessory company Dodds & Eder Landscape Design and Kitchen Designs by Ken Kelly. This partnership is like one-stop shopping for your Hamptons home. I enjoyed walking the showroom to see all the displays and products they have to offer set in a cheery, well-lit space. The evening was informative and the new showroom opened its doors to the community while offering delicious food and an interesting presentation by a spokesperson from the Central Park Conservancy in New York. Using Central Park as an example, we heard about the importance of conserving our historic gardens and outdoor spaces.
Kitchen Designs by Ken Kelly is run by husband and wife team Grace and Ken who have been in business in Williston Park, Long Island since 1982. They provide custom kitchens, baths and high-end appliances as well as outdoor kitchens. Ken explained to me that they have been working with clients on the East End for several years and it made sense to offer a showroom in Sag Harbor in order to continue to service the beautiful homes in the area. They have a reputation of providing clients with the best selection of quality products, and they relish the relationships they have formed during their creative design projects. They created several kitchens in the showroom, providing the rare opportunity to view up-close, complete kitchens that showcase the variety of possibilities with custom-designed kitchens.
I am happy to see that Kitchen Designs is representing one of my favorite kitchen cabinetry collections by Susan Serra called Bornholm Kitchens. This is not your average kitchen, but rather, the most beautifully crafted custom designed cabinetry. Bornholm offers various shades of neutral and soft coloring, with different wood species and oil finishes and sturdy, high-quality construction. When designing the line, Serra was heavily influenced by her Scandinavian background and embraced the attention to detail and the simplicity of her family’s home by the sea in Bornholm, a small island off the coast of Denmark. The architecture and interiors in Bornholm have a classic, simple style similar to many Hamptons homes. Serra utilized her extensive expertise as a kitchen designer to create Bornholm, which marries both modern and traditional sensibilities.
I like the wide array of outdoor furniture selections in the showroom as well. Since 1897, Dodds & Eder has been serving Long Island residents, originally supplying hay, grain, feed, tools and fertilizer to the estates of the North Shore’s Gold Coast. With a strong horticultural background, they have a vision of providing “outdoor elegance” and now also offer fine outdoor furnishings and garden accents.
We are proud of our gardens here in the Hamptons, and many of us are just as enthusiastic about our kitchens. As we embark upon a season of garden and pool parties, I have no doubt this new showroom will be quite busy preparing many homes for summer. I walked the store and picked out cabinetry I liked as well as pillows, candles and even a new
outdoor furniture set, and I soon realized this could get dangerous.