Remember that old saw about the shoemaker’s children having no shoes?
“I am teased by everyone in Oak Park,” Pamela Polvere readily admits. “I live in an American four-square that is not really stark but clean-lined.”
Polvere is an interior decorator-founder and namesake of Pamela Polvere Designs. “I am visually bombarded every day at work, which I love,” she says. “But when I come home, I don’t want a lot of detail.” Polvere, who is most-associated with her kitchen designs, calls her own “minimal-I have inset cabinets but that’s about it.”
She says she wants to feel content when she returns home from her job-“which I love. I have the best job in the world.”
Polvere, a River Forest resident, has been working in the home design field in Oak Park and River Forest for 20 years. She has been featured on HGTV as well as many industry publications and is on several design boards. Locally, her work is a “regular” on many kitchen and housewalks.
“I began my career as a space planner for a firm in Elk Grove Village designing commercial spaces,” she explains. “You know, cubicles and spaces with removeable walls and compartments.” When her neighbor, who was a kitchen designer, moved, she suggested to Polvere that she think about replacing her.
“After 20 years of design, the kitchen is still my forte,” Polvere says. “I guess because it is the focal point of the home; it is where the family gathers, where people come during entertaining.”
Polvere considers the kitchen a very personal space. “I am part of a large family and an Italian family,” she says. “Traditional Italian families have two kitchens-one in the house and one in the basement.”
Her family background and personal orientation guide her in customizing each kitchen to the owner. “I have a client who collects tea cups, and we accented that by finding materials with a tea cup pattern,” she notes. “Another client is of Greek descent, and we incorporated a Greek key design in tile backsplash.”
While the kitchen can feature luxurious elements, her Oak Park and River Forest clients do not treat their kitchens with kid gloves. “My clients really use their kitchens and give them a workout,” she says. “I design the kitchens with hard-wearing, long-lasting, quality appliances and materials.” Polvere cautions that cabinetry from home centers “look pretty and have a cheap price but are not made to last.”
Within a few years they may begin to pull away from the wall or the hinges and closures alter. “That’s true of appliances as well, even the higher-end ones,” she notes. “I read in an industry publication that because of remodeling trends, appliances are built to last 10 years.”
Polvere says that unlike many designers, she does not have a “signature style.”
“I really don’t think you could walk into a kitchen in Oak Park or River Forest and say, “Oh, I can tell Pam Polvere designed this kitchen,” she says.
“There are certain elements that I love and incorporate, like a corner sink or a farm-style sink, but I like to do things differently-instead of stainless steel, I like hammered copper.” What she does pride herself on is getting to really understand what her clients want, need and to “connect” with them.
“I will interview them and the family and then ask them to go through home and garden magazines-you know, the kind at the Jewel checkout, and start a file with things ripped from the magazines that they like or that leave an impression with them.” She then goes through the file and asks the client why they like certain things. “I listen to what they say and sometimes I present my own ideas of what I think will apply and that they might like.”
Polvere says it is important to listen to clients but also to make sure you’re on the same page. “What is ‘country’ to one person may be something entirely different to another,” she says. “The same with the term ‘modern.’ That’s why it is just as important to see their file of ripped designs as it is to talk with them.”
The challenge of an older home
“Older Oak Park houses just weren’t designed with big kitchens,” says Polvere. And many Oak Parkers, she says, don’t want to lose their yard or deck space by expanding the kitchen with an addition. “I love the challenge of remodeling or renovating a kitchen without adding an addition.”
She notes the many challenges faced by area homeowners include “many openings in one room-doorways, stairs, windows. It is amazing to people what simply moving a doorway or relocating a stairway can do for improving or changing a kitchen.” Another is ceiling height. “In one house where we created a kitchen in the basement, we actually lowered the original foundation to give additional ceiling height so you wouldn’t have that squatty, lower basement feel.” Natural lighting, she says, is a must for many clients and can be a challenge in Victorian homes. “We can move or add windows and there are many, many lighting options available now to brighten homes without adding an artifical feel.”
She points out that the changing nature of family dynamics also has affected the design of area kitchens. “Many children now are enthusiastic about cooking, especially baking,” she says. “I have lowered the levels of counters or built-in stepping stools to accommodate children who love to bake cookies or cook.” One family she worked with is famous for their Christmas cookies and wanted their new kitchen to be more “cookie friendly.” She created special counters so the children and younger family members can roll out dough and manipulate equipment. Polvere has also remodeled kitchens for empty-nesters who say goodbye to their adult children but welcome their aged parents home. “One client had her mother come live with them and we made accommodations in the kitchen and bathroom for her.”
Many Oak Park and River Forest husbands are increasingly involved in the kitchen design, and not just because they are helping to foot the bill. “Many men spend just as much time or more making meals in the kitchen,” she says. “They view the kitchen as a reflection of them, too, not just their wives or their children.”
What people eat also has made its contribution to changes. “Many clients prioritize wine captains with dual temperatures for red and white wines as well as wood-burning pizza ovens,” she says. “With the popularity of Starbucks, people want their own professional coffee machines built in their kitchens so they can have their lattes or cappuccinos at home in their own kitchen.” The trend of professional or industrial cookware is also popular here. “A client with a smaller kitchen or a kitchen in a house that is stylistically Victorian, for example, may ask for a 72-foot Viking industrial range. Rather than say they are insane, I ask them why and we work through it.” She says a solution is always reached that can accommodate the home design flow as well as the clients’ dreams. Often, she finds out, they really want two under-the-counter ovens or a multi-faceted cooktop.
Polvere says she no longer is asked to include trash compactors but a built-in trash receptacle with separate areas of recyclables and non-recyclables, reflecting the Oak Park/River Forest “green” mentality. “One client chose recycled glass chips to make a table top,” she said. “The client chose ‘curbside,’ which was recycled beer and old pop bottles.”
A smaller kitchen size also makes it more challenging to adopt styles that are now industry staples, such as the center island or a private workspace or dropped lighting. “An attached peninsula provides the convenient work space, storage and sometimes seating room of an island but is doable for many Oak Park kitchens,” she notes.
Cabinetry is “the biggest ticket item,” she says, and has the biggest impact on the look of a kitchen. “The longer-style cabinets provide additional storage in older kitchens-people now have more dishes, more cooking utensils, more spices and ingredients than ever before, and they want them close at hand.” Finding ways to add storage space to small kitchens is the challenge. “Many families just decide to create another kitchen in the basement,” she says matter-of-factly. “There is space there and sometimes that’s where the family likes to hang out the most.” The independence of teenagers and their busy schedules has also been a reason to add a second kitchen. “The kids can make their own snacks or food without affecting the rest of the household.”
