If you’re building a custom home, your ideas for crazy customizations are limited only by your builder’s time and patience. (And the size of your budget.) In the case of this residence at The Madison Club, it was the intuitive builder himself who conjured a kitchen-island-as-party-bar on the homeowner’s behalf.
“Our client is a vodka guy and it worked out beautifully,” says architectural/interior designer Gordon Stein, referencing the lighted beverage-drop in the center of the island. Stein designed the home, built by Nate Rucker and Dave Muth of Rucker Muth Luxury Homebuilders. “Nate had this great idea and we all said, ‘Hey, let’s do this.’ ”
Beer, vodka, and other bottled beverages have never looked so good. A strip of LED lights inside the island illuminate the ice and bottles. A drain in the bottom ensures mess-free convenience for melting ice. And on days you don’t actually need an ice well? The piece of Cambria quartz in Wellington that was precision-cut from the slab drops back in to cover the trough, polished edges and all.
“It was a very spontaneous thing,” Rucker recalls. “Gordon and I were sitting there going over the layout of the island and I thought, ‘We could put a really cool ice well in this thing.’ We sketched it out right on the wood subtop. If you took the stone off the top of the island, you’d see the ice-well design still hidden underneath.”
These finer details make the home a standout. On the cooktop side of the kitchen, the same white Calacatta Classtone by Neolith that Stein chose for the backsplash and countertops runs down the face of the cabinetry for a seamless waterfall look.
But who’s thinking about that when there’s Absolut on ice? “The well has two ways to be used,” says homeowner Fares Rustom of the novel touch built into his island. “The first, and my favorite, is when it’s full of crushed ice and we can sit sushi platters on it. The second is that it’s perfect for chilling champagne, vodka, white wine, and beer while entertaining.” It even glows in the dark.
Bar swivel club chairs by Holly Hunt sidle up to the kitchen island and the lighted beverage drop that runs through its center. A Wolf range calls to serious cooks along the back wall.