This Delightful Holiday Kitchen Is the Heart of the Home

Text by Claire Pool

Flour-coated countertops, plates piled with gingerbread and sugar cookies, and the scent of sweet cinnamon floating throughout the home—that’s how you know it’s Christmastime. Having a kitchen that accommodates preparations for family feasts while allowing as many hands to help as possible was what Anna Margaret and Brad Miller hoped for when they redesigned their kitchen in the fall of 2022.

“One of our best traditions is we cook a big meal on Christmas Eve and invite both sides of our family over,” Anna Margaret says. “We do a beef tenderloin and Baltimore-style crab cakes.” With both Anna Margaret and Brad coming from families who love to cook, designing a functional yet beautiful kitchen was a top priority when they bought their Birmingham home in 2017. To update their space, they had a lot of work cut out for them, considering they bought the well-loved home from its first owners. The outdated kitchen was one of Anna Margaret’s initial concerns, but they knew the project would take a while.

After living with the small, cramped kitchen for five years, the Millers were finally able to begin designing and constructing their dream space. With help from Catori Design House and Brad’s expertise as a contractor, the new kitchen was ready for use just in time for the holidays four months later. “Brad has an amazing eye for design. He’s very stylish and knew we wanted a classic and timeless kitchen,” Anna Margaret says. Brad even designed the brass range hood, a stunning focal point in the room.

More space to prepare meals and host company has allowed the Miller family to enjoy the holidays in style. They were very keen on the British racing green color for the cabinets, and paired with the brass details, their holiday decorations fit perfectly with the kitchen design. At Christmas, Anna Margaret’s favorite shelves framing the sink turn into a display of bottle-brush trees, vintage postcards, and candlesticks. When the stove isn’t used for whipping up delicious meals, a pot full of simmering spices and citrus wafts an enticing scent all around.

Enjoying the season with scrumptious food and festive drinks alongside their family and friends has become a special memory in the Millers’ new kitchen. “We’re so lucky that both sides of our family live in town, and we don’t have to decide where we’re going to go for Christmas,” Anna Margaret says. “Instead, we just say, ‘Come over to our place,’ so we get to celebrate all together.”