After working in fashion event production for 12 years, Kelly Sean Karcher, who splits his time between Brooklyn and the Leelanau Peninsula in northern Michigan, got the idea of reinventing the traditional kit house while undertaking two massive and complicated old house rehabs.
With the seventh Hygge Supply install already under way (not including separate kitchen cabinet kits shipping to existing houses), Karcher has become a master of high-functioning modular interior systems that are clever, refined, and impressively furniture-like.
Exteriors are a custom series of metal panels painted with calm, deep colors and floor-to-ceiling windows with matching trim.
Usually, structurally insulated panels (SIP) are metal on both sides with a layer of oriented strand board (OSB), but Karcher partnered with a manufacturing company to create panels that are metal on only one side without OSB.
Because Hygge Supply layouts deliver an open-plan kitchen/living area, and require uncomplicated installation, Karcher treats kitchen systems like pieces of furniture that fit into a pocket in the wall, or exist as a freestanding unit.
Dimmable LED flush-mount lights are installed through the house (even in cabinet units) and paired with pendant lights and sconces for visual interest.
A Bosch 24-inch refrigerator is hidden in a system of cabinets with a custom panel front. Clients can choose to integrate the refrigerator into a tall freestanding piece of furniture or nest it within cabinets as shown.
A hidden Braun downdraft vent is tucked behind the Bosch 800-series stovetop in walnut butcher block, one of three butcher block woods (marble and stainless steel are also options).
To keep the island clean and visually consistent “so the island truly looks like a piece of furniture,” the Fisher & Paykel dishwasher is hidden in a drawer with a custom front to match the kitchen cabinets.
“I put dishwashers in the top drawer, so you don’t have to bend all the way to the floor to put dishes inside.”
A look inside the kitchen’s dishwasher drawer, the Fisher & Paykel appliance has a powder blue interior that compliments the kitchen’s olive green cabinet fronts.
In this configuration, a warming drawer is located directly below the 30-inch Bosch 500-series oven with matching hardware and cabinet panel for a seamless look.
Long elegant hallways are a Hygge Supply hallmark. Clad in custom-tinted plywood, the hallway seen here belongs to the original Hygge Supply house where Karcher currently lives.
A bedroom featuring polished concrete floors with radiant heating. The windows are a standard Hygge Supply offering by Sierra Pacific, installed floor-to-ceiling to bring the outside in.
Using the same matte powder-coated fronts seen in the kitchen, Karcher hides the washer and dryer in custom-configured organization systems that can be applied for various purposes: entryway, pantry, bar, utility closet, and broom storage.
A bathroom with a spacious wet room with exposed and heated aggregate cement floors (“a nod to the rocks of Lake Michigan,” says Karcher). Shower knobs are hidden on the side of the glass entry rather than beneath the showerhead.