Kitchen culture

A sneak peek inside a Kitchens in the Vineyards home with "wow" written all over it.

If it looks like a fantasy of an elegant villa in Provence, that's no coincidence. But it's Provence with an Italian accent and an unmistakeable wine country style. Interior designer Morgan Morton and her husband, Allen, an investment banker, built their wine country home in 2003, and it's filled with natural light, an inviting layout and plenty of European antiques, art and folk art. Morton says this home reflects their lifestyle: love of family, lots of travel and antique shopping. "When we traveled through Europe, I was inspired by the colors of Rome and Southern Provence," she says. "We find most of our antiques on our travels. Antiques are truly an addiction."

    The proportions of the Mortons’ St. Helena villa are pretty close to perfect. A broad range of Mediterranean colors ties the house together—the peachy-pink stucco exterior with sky blue trim, the sunny yellow plaster walls throughout the interior, the buttery yellow kitchen cabinets and the cerulean blue cabinetry that anchors the kitchen island. And they all get along so well.

The Harlequin-style ceramic tiles in the backsplash

Morton is not shy about color. “Color is very uplifting,” she says. “I love to play with color—I was a studio art major in college. I do color for people who are not as brave as I am.”
    The Mortons searched a long time for a Napa Valley lot with mountains on both sides. “We were lucky to find this piece of property,” she says. “Before we built on it, it was just vineyards. We had to bring in all the landscaping plants and the Canary Islands date palms.” Sonoma architect Kenneth O’Connor designed the house, and landscape architect Ed Tischbern of Larkspur created the outdoor spaces.
   

Adjacent to the kitchen, the seating area continues with the same vibrant colors, textures and patterns.

Morton relied on energy-efficient restaurant appliances, architectural salvage and European antiques to green up her kitchen. “I love to cook and I love kitchens,” she says. For the kitchen and breakfast room floors, she used antique Parfeuilles pavers—originally roof tiles more than 100 years old that are reclaimed from buildings in France, usually Provence. They’re often larger and thinner than terra cotta pavers and have a light blond patina. “The antique beams throughout the house were salvaged from a Southern California building. Many interior designers believe that salvaged materials and antiques are the ultimate in recycling.” As to whether or not they’re “green,” she replies, “Yes, in some ways they are.”
    The open floor plan brings everyone into the kitchen. Opening to both the breakfast room and the family/media room, it’s part of the circular flow of the house. “Believe it or not, this kitchen is similar to my other kitchens,” Morton says. “I have three grown daughters and four grandchildren, with a fifth on the way. I wanted a big kitchen island and a big breakfast table where they could eat.” Last year, she and her youngest daughter attended Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, France together. “You went to school every day. They take cooking very seriously, but it was a lot of fun. I’m a typical California cook—I go for really fresh produce and light food. I’m more about cooking Alice Waters style.”
    Morton chose polished granite counter tops and put plenty of counter space where she needed it most—beside the stove for food prep, next to the sink for dish stacking and adjacent to the Sub-Zero refrigerator for grocery dumping. In addition to the oven in the six-burner Wolf range with a grill, she has a warming oven/microwave, a warming drawer and an electric convection oven for baking, all by Thermador. She concealed the Sub-Zero refrigerator behind yellow cabinetry. The Sub-Zero wine refrigerator and two Bosch dishwashers are installed in the cabinets below the kitchen island.

The 2,500-bottle wine cellar opens from the kitchen for easy access.

Morton added the farmhouse sink of Vermont soapstone because she likes the look of the natural stone. “I also wanted a deep sink for cleaning large platters and a place to condition flowers and pot plants,” she says.
    The backsplash throughout the kitchen is a harlequin pattern of handmade ceramic tiles from Walker Zanger. “I chose these colors because I liked the way they work together,” Morton says. “They also remind me of Italian frescoes.” Colorful Italian ceramics, including a trio of roosters, plus crayon-colored, carved-wood folk art animals adorn the kitchen countertops and walls.

The Mortons' elegantly casual breakfast room, flowing off the kitchen.

    Just off the kitchen, a glass door opens into the wine cellar, today’s must-have amenity for high-end homes. While the average cellar holds about 1,000 bottles, the Mortons’ holds 2,500. “We’ve always had a wine cellar in the basement of our homes, but the high water table here doesn’t allow for basements,” she says. “We wanted the wine cellar to be close to the prep area so when we’re cooking, we can ponder what wine to serve. We tend to fill it up quickly, mostly with California wines and a lot of French wines, too.”
    An antique French farm table and 10 chairs dominate the breakfast room, with an antique French buffet at one end of the room. “The chairs were U.S.-made,” Morton says. “I wanted chairs that were sturdy and that I could replace if I had to.”
    Multiple French doors throughout the first floor invite the outside in. And the outside is pretty grand. Walkways wind around a pool and palm trees, formal gardens including an herb garden, and two outdoor fireplaces. There’s also an outdoor pizza oven. “We love to eat outside so we use the outdoor fireplaces a lot,” Morton says.
    Morton launched her interior design business 30 years ago after graduating from Smith College and the New York School of Interior Design. Her current design projects include a Mediterranean-style villa in Palm Beach, Fla.; a complete gutting and remodel of an old Nantucket house off the coast of Massachusetts; a new beach house in Weekapaug near Watch Hill, R.I.; and another house near Newport, R.I. “I like to let the environment set the mood while I focus on the client’s lifestyle,” she says. “Do they cook and entertain? Do they live casually? Do they have children and grandchildren? I believe comfort comes first, and every project should reflect the people who live there, not my personal taste.”

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