Walking into Mary Beth and Bryan Cox's cozy, farmhouse kitchen, visitors will likely see their kids, 4 and 7, sitting at the window seat working on art projects at the large, wooden table or perhaps catch the heavenly scent of zucchini bread fresh-made that morning.
“We spend almost all of our time here in this room,” says Mary Beth. “We really don't need any of the other rooms in the house.”
Their Z. Boaz home was built in 1936, and the Cox family relocated here in 2010. Originally, the house had a galley kitchen, like many homes built during that time period in the neighborhood, but the prior owners renovated the kitchen in 2005, moving the kitchen from its original location to the back patio area. One of the more breathtaking aspects of the space is the cathedral-style, hand-hewn beam ceiling that opens up as you move from the kitchen into the family room.
“It's pretty cool because the original exterior brick is now the interior kitchen wall,” she explains. “So they were able to preserve some of the history of the outside of the house.”
The brick walls, hardwood floors and white cabinets give the kitchen the casual, rustic, “lived-in” look Mary Beth was looking for. The space has been updated with stainless appliances and dark granite countertops, as well as a six-burner range and double oven from Wolf. A built-in hutch includes an antique scale they use to weigh fruits and veggies from their farm share when making recipes.
“We love to cook. We cook at home almost every single meal,” she says. “The kids like to help, but more than that, they like to lick the spoon.”
Mary Beth loves some of the more utilitarian aspects of her kitchen, such as the ceramic, farmhouse-style sink she uses when cooking, but also the second utility sink that she uses for her flowers and cleaning mud off of the kids' shoes.
“I love that I can stand at the island and chop things and wash dishes and look out the window and see my kids playing in the yard,” she says.