Kitchen designer Jim Dove opens showroom on Antique Row

The kitchen isn’t just “the heart of the house,” says interior designer Jim Dove. This is also where homeowners make their most important investments.

The West Palm Beach design studio features the latest in styles, equipment, and materials for kitchens, bathrooms, and bars.

“The value of a house lies in the kitchen. Electrics, plumbing, flooring, lighting – everything is there. People are spending more and more time there, ”said Dove, a Palm Beach resident who recently opened a new kitchen and exhibition studio on Antique Row in West Palm.

60-year-old Dove is from New Jersey and is an avid stand-up paddle boarder. She has been designing “living kitchens” in the Palm Beach area for several years.

Wooden drawer organizers are featured in Jim Dove's design studio.

PHOTOS: Jim Dove opens design studio

The decision to open on Antique Row shows his confidence in the stretch of South Dixie Highway from Belvedere Road to Southern Boulevard, he said. The South Dixie Antique Row Association has approximately 40 shops and restaurants.

“This area is becoming a design center. It’s a great place to attract both the architect / interior designer and the client, ”said Dove, welcoming clients to the store with free food and drinks on January 19, the day after it opened.

The store’s open design shows how his ideas about kitchens evolved as American families and homes evolved, Dove said.

“Kitchen design is not just about decorating.  There has to be a function for everything, ”said designer Jim Dove.

While mothers stayed home and fathers worked when he was growing up, the kitchens were small and furnished with military precision – stove, refrigerator, sink, countertops.

As women and men began to share roles, kitchens became more social places. Living room, dining room and kitchen merged. The stoves became more varied than everyone cooked.

“I can make your new kitchen completely invisible,” said Dove, opening a cabinet door that reveals the insides of a large refrigerator.

Organizers for wooden drawers are useful in the kitchen.

The freezer, stove and kitchen cabinets are clad behind similar cabinet doors. Complicated handles on ovens and cupboards – Dove calls them “jewelry” – are exclamation marks.

“Especially during COVID, people are more at home. They live more in the kitchen. Why not make the kitchen look more like the dining room? “Said Taube.

In Jim Dove's design studio, glassware designed by Aerin Lauder and hand-painted wallpaper by de Gournay are on display.

Once popular granite surfaces are out. So are small sinks, traditional stoves, and small refrigerators.

Inside are quartz countertops. So bespoke sinks are 4 feet wide and larger. Pizza ovens that cook up to 1,000 degrees are popular.

De Gournay's hand-painted wallpaper ranges from $ 1,700 to $ 2,200 for a 36-inch panel.

Customers can select de Gournay hand-painted wallpaper, which costs between $ 1,700 and $ 2,200 for a 36-inch panel. A Mississippi river bank, wild animals in a savannah, and Roman buildings are some of the designs available.

“We’re installing special glass over the wallpaper to protect the kitchen,” said Dove.

The super clear, ¼ inch thick tempered glass, known as museum glass, blocks up to 99 percent of UV rays, brightens colors, cleans easily, and eliminates reflections.

Dove said his enthusiasm as a chef – his specialty is white chicken chili – helps design kitchens.

De Gournay's hand-painted wallpaper is on display in Jim Dove's design studio.

“I know what cooks need. It’s just as important that I know what they don’t need, ”he said.

Dove, who has a Masters degree in Architecture from the University of California at Los Angeles, sticks to the old saying of his craft: form follows function.

For example, when redesigning a kitchen and dining room, he often uses pocket doors to maintain openness.

“Kitchen design is not just about decorating. There has to be a function for everything, ”he said.

Not all of Dove’s architectural influences are that cerebral.

Glassware designed by Aerin Lauder and hand-painted wallpaper by de Gournay are displayed in Jim Dove's design studio, which shows the kitchen, bathrooms and bars in West Palm Beach.

Another comes from “The Brady Bunch” on TV when he grew up the youngest of five brothers in Brigantine, New Jersey.

“I loved this open house in Brady Bunch, California. The focus was on the kitchen. The kitchen and living room merged. And, said Dove, “Mike Brady (the father) was an architect.”

The store is located on 3414 S. Dixie Highway. For more information, call 561-268-2647.

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