Periscope Down The seven months the Carmeans lived in a room at the Comfort Inn during the insurance adjustment process seemed interminable, but it gave them time to talk about design features with Bruce and Lori and to figure out and find helpful gadgets and appliances to incorporate into the home, especially the kitchen.
Lori Bentley went through every room, asking her clients what annoyed them, thinking ahead, because they plan to live out their lives there. She measured John’s wheelchair and the length of his arms.
The 19-by-11-foot galley kitchen was troublesome, with its tight layout and 36-inch-high countertop. John couldn’t use the counter, sink, or microwave.
By knocking out walls and opening the floor plan, the Bentleys had room to design an angled island, giving John clearance to roll between stovetop, sink, and refrigerator.
The remodelers dropped a plumb bob from where the stove’s chimney hood would exit through roof joists and Lori Bentley designed the island around that space. Lori needed 5 feet of clearance around the island for John to easily move.
Cubs in Any Room The beauty of the kitchen isn’t as skin deep as its quarter sawn white oak cabinetry. What’s nice about the changes is you can’t tell they’re universal or accessible. Everything is so well designed, the features are nearly always hidden.
The microwave is at a height easily operated from a wheelchair, and the cooktop also has space underneath so John can cook. The stove hood fan switch is under the countertop.
Elsewhere in the house, switches, outlets, and thermostat heights were placed where John can easily reach and see — no periscope required.
Daughter Kerry, a Hollywood sound editor, provided the Bentleys with a system they installed throughout the house so John, a Cubs fan, can turn on a game and listen in any room.
A New Fan Replacing the plumbing allowed installation of a Vanguard system, which has a home run from each valve to each fixture. This means if John finds a leak, he can go into the manifold closet and turn off the water with an easy clip of a line.
One feature that isn’t Craftsman-inspired is the 12-inch-square Mexican paver tile throughout the house, easier for John to navigate, versus fighting carpet pile. The pavers posed one of the job’s challenges. Because of removed walls and the reconfigured floor plan, additional tile was needed. The Bentleys took a few existing tiles 187 miles north to the original manufacturer in Lodi, Calif., and picked through about 600 pieces to find 150 tiles that were a close match. “The Bentleys are total perfectionists,” John says. “That is something else. Nobody would do that.”
Life has changed for the Carmeans. “John now can cook, he can access the microwave,” Lori Bentley says, “He’s always offering you something — ‘Can I get you a glass of water, heat it up for tea?’”
The results fit nicely with her goal of remodeling for clients for life — “not just looking at the tip of your nose but the whole picture,” Lori says. “So when we do another project, we’re not tearing out work we’ve done. We really do remodel for life.”
A nice footnote to the story is that the Carmeans just became grandparents, with their daughter, Kerry, giving birth to a baby girl, Sophie, on Oct. 26. “And just like the fire, I was one of the first people they told,” Lori Bentley says. “It makes me feel good.”
And especially because now, John can go into the kitchen to warm up a bottle for his granddaughter — an experience he didn’t have much chance to savor years ago, with his own daughter, in his nearly impassable kitchen. —Joseph F. Schuler Jr. is a freelance writer in Gaithersburg, Md.