Breathe Easy

Carefully chosen materials help a homeowner create a kitchen that is environmentally safe and easy on her allergies.

Sit in Martha Stark's stylish new blue, black, and chrome kitchen, and she hungrily hovers over you. "How do you like it?" she asks in the way that a chef would ask a diner how a meal is. Stark admittedly is no cook. But, she wants you to savor the dream kitchen she has laboriously created incorporating fancy appliances, unusual touches, and eating, working, and "hangout" areas that are connected but feel like separate spaces. Most important, she wants you to feel as good as she does in the room she has had designed to be environmentally safe and easy on her allergies.

Judith A. Gamble of Water & Fire, a kitchen and bath design showroom in Newton, took on the challenge of fitting a lot into this oddly shaped 13-by-20-foot space. And she helped Stark, who has severe allergies, find toxin-free products and design solutions that would cut down on air pollutants, control dust, and block unhealthy electromagnetic fields.

Gamble says most clients come to her with a list of five to 10 requirements. Stark's list had more than 30 -- in double columns on legal-sized paper. She wanted the television placed where she could see it from every corner of the room. She wanted her computer desk to have the same angles as her eating bar (it's shaped like a parallelogram) and the counter behind it. She wanted a see-through glass gas fireplace to add visual warmth. And, in a nod to the principles of feng shui, she wanted all corners to be rounded.

At Stark's request, the granite counters are 37 1/2 inches high rather than the standard 36 inches. She says that even though she is just 5 feet 4, the taller counters mean less bending when she's working at them, making kitchen chores easier on the back.

There is a Sub-Zero refrigerator and separate crisper drawers, a built-in grill and steamer on the Gaggenau cooktop, a Thermador wall oven, and Fisher & Paykel dishwasher drawers. Radiant heat beneath the floor, also granite, keeps her bare feet toasty.

Most manufactured cabinets are made of plywood or particleboard containing a formaldehyde-based binder and other volatile organic compounds that can aggravate the conditions of those who are highly sensitive to chemicals, says Gamble. In Stark's kitchen, however, the cabinetry is made of Medite II, a formaldehyde-free fiberboard of 100 percent recycled wood fiber bound together by a synthetic resin. Manufactured by Sierra Pine, the product was originally made for use in medical or dental facilities.

Stark's long must-have list reflected her high expectations for the renovation. "I wanted it to be where people would walk in, grab their hearts, and fall on the floor because they were blown away," she says. "This space really makes me happy. It's like going on vacation in your kitchen."

That's a far cry from the way the room where she now eats, works, and generally hangs out made her feel before the renovation. Although Stark, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, had no allergies as a child, in recent years she developed sinus problems and severe allergic reactions to dust, pollen, grasses, animal hair, and some foods. As she sought treatment, she was determined not to get allergy shots or take medicines that might make her drowsy. The alternative, she decided after intense research, was to make her living environment as pollutant-free as possible.

When Stark, who has written textbooks on psychoanalysis and edited books on making homes environmentally safe, moved into her Dutch Colonial, red brick two-story house 23 years ago, the kitchen screamed 1950, she says. There was one light fixture, cracked brown and gray linoleum, and dark-stained particleboard cabinets. "It was the kind of room that no matter how much you cleaned it, it looked dirty," says Gamble.

Before designer and client began working together 18 months ago, Stark had spent months dreaming of everything she wanted. "I decided I was going to do this to perfection," she says. "I had to make sure every single millimeter was right." To make the room more environmentally safe, she included a flat-screen TV that has lower electromagnetic emissions than other models; a subfloor beneath the granite that is made of solid pine instead of the usual plywood; a nontoxic sealant for the granite floor; radiant heat instead of standard baseboards that collect dust; cabinets that stop just inches short of the ceiling to minimize dust; a vent over the stove that seems powerful enough to suck a human being out of the house; and a point-of-origin water filtration system.

The comfy black-leather chair was purchased and left to air in the garage for a year so that emissions from the leather would be released before it was brought into the house. She also had her refrigerator and chiller drawers set in a framework of quarter-inch steel to keep the electromagnetic field emitted from the motors at a minimum. In addition, rather than electrical wiring encased in plastic, as is common, this room's wiring is encased in metal in order to mimimize the electromagnetic field. One thing you won't find in this ultra-modern kitchen is a microwave.

Gamble, who works on about 25 kitchen redesigns a year, says clients increasingly are asking for chemical-free materials. "Most of the kitchens we do now have clients who are sensitive to mold and dust or have children with asthma," she says. "People seem to be a lot more sensitive now."

In some ways, the long list of client requirements helped expedite the renovation, because Stark knew what she wanted. The challenge was trying to fit everything in her limited space. "Judy was so into my head," says Stark. "It was like it was going to be her kitchen."

The two women, who often finish each other's sentences, say good chemistry between a designer and client is a sure formula for a successful kitchen design. They also advise others considering a kitchen renovaton to think ahead. Know what you don't like about the kitchen you have. Ask friends what they would do differently in their kitchens. Look in books and magazines for appealing kitchen concepts and go to showrooms to see what products are available and what they cost. "Plan, plan, plan," says Stark. "Sit in that space and think about what matters to you."

Gamble adds that once homeowners have a plan in mind, they need to be able to convey that to the designer and then let the designer do the job. "The designer knows how to make things work," says Gamble. "Function sometimes needs to follow form."

"Most importantly," says Stark, "if it's not feeling right speak up. You need to be liking it every step of the way. Changing the kitchen has transformed the whole experience of this house."

Water & Fire is at 38 Crafts Street, Newton, 617-244-7006. The Web site is www.waterandfire.net.

Sandy Coleman is a member of the Globe staff. She can be reached at sbcoleman@globe.com.