Kitchen area designer Jim Dove opens showroom on Antique Row

The kitchen is not just “the heart of the dwelling,” claims interior designer Jim Dove it is also the place owners make their most important investments.

“A home’s benefit is in the kitchen. Electric, plumbing, flooring, lights — it is all there. That is in which individuals are paying out far more and extra time,” said Dove, a Palm Beach front resident who just lately opened a new kitchen area and showroom studio on Antique Row in West Palm.

A New Jersey native and avid stand-up paddle boarder, the 60-12 months-old Dove has been planning “living kitchens” in the Palm Beach space for several yrs.

Pictures: Jim Dove opens style studio

Opting to open up on Antique Row is testimony to his self-confidence in the area of South Dixie Freeway from Belvedere Road to Southern Boulevard, he claimed. The South Dixie Antique Row Association has about 40 shops and places to eat.

“This region is turning out to be a structure middle. It’s a excellent place to attract the architect/interior designer as effectively as the shopper,” reported Dove, welcoming consumers to the store with free food items and beverages on Jan. 19, the working day right after his grand opening.

The store’s open style and design shows how his thoughts on kitchens have progressed as American families and houses have evolved, Dove claimed.

Even though mothers stayed home and dads worked when he was rising up, kitchens were being little and established up with armed service precision — stove, refrigerator, sink, counter tops.

As gals and gentlemen started sharing roles, kitchens grew to become far more social destinations. Dwelling rooms, dining rooms and kitchens merged. Stoves turned extra flexible as every person cooked.

”I can make your new kitchen fully invisible,” claimed Dove, opening what seems like a closet doorway that reveals the innards of a huge refrigerator.

The freezer, stove and kitchen cabinets are disguised behind very similar closet doorways. Intricate handles on ovens and cupboards — Dove calls them “jewelry” — are exclamation factors.

“Especially throughout COVID, individuals are home more. They are dwelling additional in the kitchen area. Why not make the kitchen glance more like the eating area?” mentioned Dove.

Out are once well-liked granite counter tops. So are small sinks, classic ovens and modest fridges.

In are quartz counter tops. So are custom-produced sinks 4 ft large and more substantial. Pizza ovens that prepare dinner up to 1,000 degrees are preferred. 

Customers can decide on de Gournay hand-painted wallpaper that fees concerning $1,700 and $2,200 for a 36-inch-large panel. A Mississippi riverfront, wild animals on a savannah and Roman buildings are some of the offered layouts.

“We put in specific glass over the wallpaper for protection in the kitchen area,” said Dove.

Called Museum Glass, the tremendous-very clear, ¼-inch-thick tempered glass blocks up to 99 p.c of UV rays, brightens hues, cleans simple and eradicates reflections.

Dove mentioned his enthusiasm as a cook dinner – his specialty is white chicken chili – assists in creating kitchens.

“I know what cooks need. Just as essential, I know what they really do not want,” he said.

Dove, who has a master’s diploma in architecture from College of California, Los Angeles, adheres to his craft’s outdated adage: Variety follows purpose.

For example, when redesigning a kitchen area and dining place, he will frequently use pocket doors to retain openness.

“Kitchen design is not just decorating. There has to be a function for almost everything,” he said.

Not all of Dove’s architectural influences are so cerebral.

One more arrives from seeing “The Brady Bunch” on tv when he was growing up in Brigantine, New Jersey as the youngest of five brothers.

“I cherished that open, California, Brady Bunch residence. The kitchen area was the focal place. The kitchen and living room flowed collectively. And, reported Dove, “Mike Brady (the father) was an architect.”

The keep is at 3414 S. Dixie Freeway. For more details, get in touch with 561-268-2647.