KRB Kitchen + Bath Design Center is featured in the May/June 2026 issue of New Hampshire Home Magazine. The project, “Pretty in Pink,” is a full editorial feature, and we’re honored to see it in print. If you haven’t picked up the issue yet, you can read it in full [here].
A Kitchen That Needed a Personality
The homeowners, Maggie and Scott Smith, had been talking about renovating the kitchen of their 1962 Exeter ranch for two years. The rest of the house had the warmth you’d expect from a mid-century home—built-in bookcases, original archways, character in every corner. The kitchen was a different story. Gray laminate floors and cold white cabinets gave it a builder-grade blankness that never quite fit. “The rest of the house had a warm tone to it, it felt like my grandmother’s house,” Maggie told NH Home. “But the kitchen looked cold. It lacked any personality.”
When they decided to move forward, the Smith’s trusted KRB with the project—and designer Sarena Preve got to work.
A Small Footprint, Solved
The kitchen measured just 9 by 13 feet inside a 1,200 square foot home. Space was the constraint that shaped every decision. Three windows were removed from the dining room, a new dining room wall was built to create a walk-through pantry, and that pantry was connected to the kitchen by a new archway — a detail that added character and function in equal measure. “The archway was another whimsical twist on the direction they wanted to go in the kitchen,” Sarena explained.
Inside the pantry, the design was deliberately quieter. White cabinets, marble countertops, and a botanical backsplash that added just enough personality without competing with the kitchen. “We kept it subdued, but then added a punch of color to the backsplash to keep that playfulness and retro feeling going.”
Storage solutions were built into every corner. A walnut knife holder was mounted to the wall. Cabinets were hung high. A smaller-than-standard refrigerator and microwave were installed at cabinet depth, gaining counter space without sacrificing a single inch. “It makes everything streamlined, so it feels bigger,” Maggie said.
A Kitchen Worth the Wait
Maggie Smith walks into that kitchen every day and still can’t believe it’s hers. “Every day I walk in there it is so exciting. It’s such a fun kitchen. People love it. It’s so cool.”
That reaction is what every project at KRB is working toward—a space that feels so right for the people in it that it’s hard to imagine it any other way.
If Pretty in Pink proves anything, it’s that committing to color is almost always the right call. The right shade, in the right space, has a way of making everything else fall into place. If you’ve been sitting on a bold idea, we’d love to help you find your version of it.
Thank you to photographer Morgan Karanasios for capturing every detail, and to the full KRB design and production team for seeing this one through from the first design meeting to print.
Read the full feature in the May/June issue of New Hampshire Home Magazine [here], and visit our portfolio to see the complete “Pretty in Pink” project [here].
