Kitchen of the Week: ‘Rustic Modernism’ in the Berkshires From the Team Behind Tourists Welcome

Five years ago, we wrote about the arrival of TOURISTS Welcome: The Hip Berkshires Escape Everyone’s Talking About. This summer, the TOURISTS team added to its growing compound, with two newly remodeled vacation home rentals (just a 10-minute walk “through the woods and across the river” from the lodge in North Adams, MA). Both homes have been gutted and remade in the TOURISTS mold—that is, “a hybrid of contemporary and vernacular styles, with an interior environment that is formally simple and uncluttered, that also feels woodsy and playful,” says architect Hank Scollard, who collaborated with owner Ben Svenson and interior designer Julie Pearson on the redesign of the rentals. (A third home will be renovated this winter and available to rent by next spring.)

Today, we’re visiting the kitchen of their 1388 Mass Ave rental, previously a two-family residence that has now been converted into a single-family five-bedroom home. After removing structural walls in the middle portion of the building in order to create an open floor plan that would include the kitchen, dining room, and sunken living room, the team went to work reimagining the kitchen.

“The kitchen was inspired by the design of TOURISTS itself, which can best be characterized as a form of ‘rustic modernism,’ ” says Scollard. Below, the design team walks us through the details.

Photography by Chris Mottalini, courtesy of TOURISTS.

Above: The Douglas fir kitchen cabinets and counters are all new, but the darker wood panels that line the walls are all original to the home. “It’s an example of plank-framed construction, in which the walls of the house consist of two layers of thick wood vertical planks, pinned to beams above and the floor below. This was a common practice in New England residential construction until the early part of the 20th century. A decision was made to expose the planks as the wall finish,” says Scollard. Above: All of the windows are new, and are from the Marvin Ultimate Series. The oven is a Bosch induction range with a Fisher & Paykel concealed hood. The refrigerator is a 36” Liebherr freestanding unit with French doors and a bottom freezer. The donabe is made by Nagatani-en. Above: In addition to donabes, “objects on the shelves include a vintage wood Swedish candelabra, vintage French cloche and serving board, Danish teapot, Portuguese bowl, and vintage starburst pitcher and canteen,” says Pearson. Above: “The dining table is a 10-foot round Douglas Fir custom table designed by our team and built by our carpenters in North Adams,” says Pearson. The pine dining chairs are vintage, as is the pendant light.

See also:

• The Inn at Kenmore Hall: A Stately New Bed & Breakfast in the Berkshires
• Carved in Wood: The Bespoke Home of a Self-Taught Carpenter and an Interior Designer
• Steal This Look: A One-Room Cabin in the Catskills

N.B.: This story originally ran on August 1, 2024 and has been updated.