Kitchen it up a notch A hospital auxiliary’s fundraiser tour of eight local homes focuses on the heart of the house

Daniel and Nancy McKay went through five shades of yellow paint before finding the right one for the kitchen in their 1896 Victorian home on Hammond Street. The walls of a kitchen, after all, should not compete with a colorful bowl of fruit or the night’s dinner. Nancy, in particular, wanted to make sure the hues complemented her large collection of blue willow China displayed in glass cabinets. So she went with pale yellow. She also chose Brazilian marble countertops because the stone’s cobalt flecks bring out the blue in the plates.

“I love the dishes,” said Nancy, a teacher in Bangor. “I inherited them from my grandmother’s camp. When I was a little girl, I used to look at the scenes in them. I grew up in an old house in Aroostook County, and I was very attached to it. All of my childhood memories are from that house. And I’m pretty sentimental. So I wanted my kitchen to be modern but to look like it belonged in an older house.”

The McKays’ kitchen will be one of eight stops on the Eastern Maine Medical Center Auxiliary Kitchen Tour, Saturday, Oct. 15. The event, which is open to the public, is a benefit for the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Tickets cost $20 and are on sale at the hospital and local stores. Area caterers will provide light snacks at each stop.

While the tour spotlights historic homes near West Broadway and newer ones near Hillbrook Estates, a development off outer Essex Street, the houses on the tour include a variety of kitchens designed to accommodate family life, cooking classes, dinner parties and busy lifestyles. Among their special elements are exotic tiles, vaulted ceilings, customized cabinets, farm sinks, wine racks, recessed lighting, artwork, computer stations and pastoral views.

Each one is someone’s dream kitchen.

“This is absolutely my dream house,” said Bernard Kubetz, an attorney who, with his wife, Cynthia, designed a sprawling kitchen in a contemporary home in Hillbrook. The stucco house has a grand room with 19-foot-high ceilings, a master bedroom wing and a formal dining room. The kitchen is the only room on the tour. It is also the most important room in the Kubetz household.

In the family’s last house, the kitchen was 10-foot square, said Cynthia. They wanted to spread out in their new kitchen, which has a cathedral ceiling, a breakfast dining area, an island with stools, a family room, wet bar and Cynthia’s desk – and that’s not counting the cooking area. For years, Cynthia clipped photos from magazines so that when the time came for her to design her own kitchen, she was ready. She chose rose granite in one room, black marble in the main kitchen area, as well as cherry wood cabinets.

The feature the Kubetzes enjoy the most, however, is the ceiling-high Palladian window with views of a rock wall, hayfield and mountains in the distance. Twice a year, the couple and their 16-year-old son climb tall ladders to wash the soaring wall of glass.

“We live here,” said Bernard Kubetz, waving his hand in the direction of the kitchen and adjoining areas.

“We were right in what we thought about using the space,” added Cynthia. “With meals, the kitchen, the computer: Rather than fight to put each one in a room, we use them best this way.”

Both the Kubetzes and the McKays are pleased to be supporting the Auxiliary, a charitable community-based organization that raises more than $100,000 a year for various projects at the hospital, according to Sandra Blake Leonard, a member and past president of the Auxiliary board of directors. In addition to ongoing fundraising efforts, the group has typically produced an annual theatrical and musical event called “Follies,” tapping into the considerable, if nutty, performing talents of local residents.

“It has been incredibly difficult to get volunteers to do a big project like the ‘Follies,'” said Leonard. “We may do that again another year. The kitchen tour is not as difficult. And there’s so much interest in kitchens right now.”

Which is why homeowners such as the McKays and Kubetzes are willing to spend four months – or longer – as their new kitchens emerge from old and new foundations. In the McKays’ case, they wanted to open an existing smaller space, add windows, appliances, counter space and storage area. They ended up expanding into what was once a bathroom and shed. (The bathroom became a pantry and bar area, and the shed became a bathroom, laundry room and mudroom off the kitchen.)

The McKays preserved much of the house’s original wainscoting and a vintage Hoosier cabinet that came with the house when they purchased it 15 years ago. For the renovated kitchen, they installed a mahogany framed island with two levels, a stovetop (two ovens flank another wall) and an eating counter for four. Nancy likes to entertain while she prepares a meal, but, as with most cooks, she doesn’t prefer to share her cooking space. So the island is both practical and protective, while still being a friendly conversation area for visitors and family.

Both couples said that the kitchen is the heart of their houses and the center for their family life. Good food, good conversations and good times all take place there. Organizers say they hope that’s true for next week’s tour, too. And perhaps more than one “tourist” will find an idea for a dream kitchen of his or her own.

Alicia Anstead can be reached at 990-8266 and aanstead@bangordailynews.net.

The Eastern Maine Medical Center Auxiliary Tour will take place 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15. Local caterers will offer light snacks at each kitchen. Participants are responsible for transportation. Maps and guidelines are provided with tickets, which cost $20 per person and may be purchased at the Grasshopper Shop, Rebecca’s, EMMC Gift Shop, Affiliated Pharmacy at EMMC Campus on Union Street, Airline Pharmacy in Brewer and Patrick’s Hallmark. Advance ticket purchases are strongly recommended. For more information and photos of the houses on the tour, visit www.emmcauxiliary.org.