Favourite room: A galley kitchen with unexpected curves | Canada Voices

When entrepreneurs Carmen Douville and Derek Hopfner bought their home in 2020, they knew it had what they affectionately call a “Toronto special.” The term refers to a rear addition that was likely built as a screened-in porch before being converted into a poorly insulated den. “It was probably 100 years old,” Hopfner says. “It didn’t have a foundation and was breaking away from the side of the house.”

The couple also knew exactly whom to call to fix it. Their long-time friend, architect Deborah Wang, was familiar with the home and its potential, having been over many times for dinner. Aware of how much Douville and Hopfner enjoy entertaining, she proposed incorporating the draughty den into the adjacent kitchen. “It was really about making a big, airy, livable and welcoming kitchen from two previous spaces that were less so,” she says.

The old kitchen was a narrow, stubby galley with counters on both sides. For the renovated, elongated space, Wang proposed an S-shaped floor plan, with two peninsulas extending from opposing walls. The peninsulas would frame a central cooking area and provide counter space for food prep and places for guests to gather. Most of the storage would run along one wall, with additional pantry cupboards beside the entryway.

At first, the couple was surprised by the design. “It was really dramatic,” says Douville. “We were not expecting the S-shaped plan. It both shocked and excited us.”

They trusted Wang to execute her vision, in part because Douville and Wang share a long history in design. They first met more than a decade ago, when Douville was co-owner of Loyal Loot, an Edmonton-based furniture company.

Douville showed her work at the Toronto Design Offsite Festival, which Wang co-founded in 2010. She later helped Wang program the festival, now called DesignTO, which runs every January. “I’ve known Deborah longer than I’ve known Derek,” she says.

Favourite room: A dining room guided by the light

Although Douville no longer works in design – she now co-runs a prebiotic beverage company called Geez Louise– she collaborated on several aspects of the kitchen. “The industrial designer me was very obsessed with the materiality,” she says. “I spent many hours at showrooms. I went into a deep, deep hole of research.”

“It was an interesting deep dive that I don’t often do with clients,” Wang says. “Not to say that people aren’t very specific with their choices. But we were really dialling in on the minutiae.” That meant finding the exact shade of terracotta for the floor, the right wood grain for the white oak cabinets and the right stone for the counters (which has rose, bone and matcha tones).

Douville and Hopfner are both thrilled with the results. The palette is warm, rich and harmonious, particularly when washed in the sunshine pouring through the floor-to-ceiling windows. “We also love the layout,” Hopfner says. “There are moments of pause around the peninsulas. Unlike a big open-concept space, you sort of have to slow down, wend your way, look out the windows.”

The couple has had Wang and her husband, architect Will Elsworthy, over for dinner many times since the renovation (Rosewood Estates in Niagara is a favourite wine and Douville usually picks up fresh produce from the nearby Trinity Bellwoods Farmers Market). “That kind of serpentine circulation gives space to move around, space to gather, hang out, watch your friends cook,” Wang says. “I think it works.”

Favourite room: A bedroom filled with antique treasures

As part of the renovation, Wang also took the opportunity to tweak other aspects of the house, enlarging an opening between the living and dining rooms, refinishing all the hardwood floors and painting the staircase banister a very vibrant, very specific shade of pink: Mexican Tile by Benjamin Moore.

Despite such a bold choice, the homeowners still consider the kitchen the home’s standout feature. “When we used to entertain, we would cook in the kitchen and eat in the dining room,” Douville says. “Now, depending on what’s going on, we might stay in the kitchen all night.”

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