Kitchen Un-Confidential — from closed-off and not so cool to go-with-the-flow groovy

Bill and Cheryl Hepburn were looking for a Midcentury Modern house. They weren't sure what kind, exactly — until they walked through one designed by Paul Hayden Kirk in Maple Leaf and had one of those Oprah "ah-ha!" moments.

They wanted a Kirk house.

"It wasn't in the area we were interested in, but this was on the market," Cheryl says. "There were multiple offers. We were one of six."

The lucky one of six.

Bill is assistant chief of the Seattle Fire Department and Cheryl is an educator at Martha Lake Elementary School. The modest modern allows them to split the commute distance north and south.

And to live in a home whose glass back wall connects them directly to their private, parklike backyard. "You don't know how many hours are spent in that chair or in the kitchen staring out the window," Cheryl says.

In the 1950s Seattle architect Kirk designed single-family residences with characteristics of the International Style: flat roofs, bands of windows and simple, cubic shapes.

The Hepburns' home, built in 1952, features a tongue-and-groove cedar cathedral ceiling, flagstone entrance and fireplace with terrazzo hearth all in pristine shape. Downstairs is a bedroom, bath and family room, perfect quarters for their teenage daughter, Lauren. They liked just about everything in the house, including the original and charming pink-tiled bathroom. Why, practically the entire house had survived unscathed by "improvement" over the decades.

Except the kitchen. It appeared to have been issued the 1980s remodeling version of a mullet: white laminate cabinets with oak rim pulls, low ceiling. You know the kind. Plus, the flow of the home stopped dead at the swinging kitchen door, which offered the only glimpse into the room.

The Hepburns needed help and a time machine.

"We were very cautious because we didn't want to trash a Paul Kirk house," Bill says. "So we e-mailed the dean of architecture at the University of Washington, and Rick, it just happens, teaches at the UW."

That is how they found Rick Mohler of Adams Mohler Ghillino Architects and how he came to update and open up their kitchen, introducing it to the rest of the house.

"We wanted a modern kitchen that fit in the style of the rest of the house," Bill says.

"I felt like it was his job to push the envelope. We didn't want your generic kitchen," Cheryl says.

Mohler made the kitchen's introductions by taking down a wall and door and carrying the cathedral ceiling into the room. The wall between kitchen and dining rooms became open-space cabinetry that serves as a visual screen. The continuous honed-granite countertop along the windows was designed to serve as kitchen and breakfast counter/work space. Mohler moved the oven into the long interior space that includes cabinets, microwave and refrigerator. On the other side, the hallway is a bonus of storage with a long wall of cabinetry, a hidden pantry.

Glass tile, behind the range, in many shades of green, a cork tile floor, lights by Resolute Lighting and a cheerful, multicolored George Nelson clock marry Midcentury and new century.

Work began August 2007 and was finished Nov. 21 of that year, the night before Thanksgiving.

"The day before Thanksgiving we had four guys in the kitchen when we went to work that morning," Cheryl says.

"When we came home, it was done." Ready for company.

Rebecca Teagarden is assistant editor of Pacific Northwest magazine. Mike Siegel is a Seattle Times staff photographer.