January, 1 2007 - By Melinda McGarty Webb SPECIAL TO THE NEWS-TIMES



Kelly DaSilva, left, and her brother, Fabio Figueiredo, stand in the kitchen of her home on Autumn Ridge Road in Newtown, which will be featured on the Newtown kitchen tour Sunday. The granite in the countertop is from her family's mine in Brazil.
Kelly DaSilva was at one of her family's granite mines in Brazil a few years ago, watching workers hoist blocks of Gold River granite into the air for her inspection, when one in particular caught her eye.
She was immediately taken with how the shades of amber, cocoa and gold snaked their way through the creamy stone.
"I thought it was such an artistic piece," she said, placing one hand on her custom-built island. "I love the movement."
She hadn't planned her kitchen yet – in fact, she hadn't even found a house – but she decided that one day, that magnificent slab would grace her kitchen countertop.
And now it does.
The DaSilvas' home is one of eight that will be open to the public Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., as part of the Newtown Residential Preservation Society's fourth annual Kitchen Tour. Ticket holders may tour the houses in any order they wish.
No cameras or videos will be permitted, but if you're looking for ideas, come ready to take notes or commit what you like to memory.
"For anybody who is redoing their kitchen, I advise choosing one thing first – one thing you really love – and working around that," said DaSilva, co-owner of La Pietra Custom Marble and Granite Fabrication in Danbury and Monroe.
While the Gold River granite was the element that guided her design, it's by no means the only granite in her home.
There is stone of some variety virtually everywhere one looks – yet no two are alike.
The living room mantel is a slab of granite sculpted to resemble wood, while the fireplace itself and columns are white Italian marble. A nearby coffee table is made of Azul Macaubus, a baby blue stone with waves of lavender and sea green coursing through it; it comes with a price tag of $350 per square foot.
Even the round table in their breakfast area is constructed entirely of granite – the top, of Artemis Gold, a stone similar in color scheme to the countertops, and a massive pedestal base of Absolute Black.
The table on the back porch is granite, too. A giant rectangle of Santa Helena sits atop a base of Lapidus Gold, which resembles leopard skin.
Both the counter and backsplash of the butler's pantry showcase an opulent emerald green granite with black and white veins running through it, conferring a marble-like appearance. Called Verde Fantastico, the stone is exclusive to mines in Iran.
DaSilva chose the stone after her company installed it in the Ridgefield home of a member of the band U2.
Even the kitchen sink is granite, giving the stretch of counter a more seamless appearance.
"I call it European with a Tuscan influence," she said, describing the overall design of the kitchen and adjoining areas.
To enhance that look, faux finishes and trompe l'oeil abound. Thick moldings and walls have been antiqued, weathered and crackled; doors have been painted to resemble wood grain; and full-size paintings grace the walls themselves — no canvas required.
One interior wall of her two-story foyer is intended to resemble an old brick exterior wall, through which someone has busted a giant hole and revealed the Panamanian port just outside.
But the house is by no means just a showpiece. She and her husband, Sergio, have three active sons — Filepe, 15; Lucas, 11; and Michael, 8.
Consequently, the home is also very livable, and the kitchen is put to good use on a daily basis.
"I love to cook," DaSilva said. She does so on the family's four-burner Wolf cook top or in the double stainless steel GE Profile convection ovens.
She generally gravitates toward the authentic Brazilian and Italian dishes of her childhood. (Her grandfather moved from Italy to Brazil, where he met his wife and they together raised their 17 children.) Yes, you read that correctly…17.
Their grandfather had been in the business since DaSilva was little, and it seemed a natural progression for his children, and then grandchildren, to follow in his footsteps. La Pietra has been importing stone for 12 years, and opened a factory four years ago.
As luck would have it, the cabinets installed by the builder of her 2005 white colonial were maple with a ginger glaze – a perfect complement to her beloved stone. She added a cream colored maple island with a cocoa glaze for contrast.
"The island is the heart of the kitchen," she said. "I wanted to try to make it special."
Adorned with fluted columns and intricate corbels, it houses a 24-inch, stainless steel GE Monogram wine fridge at one end. Above it, hang two amber-colored Murano glass pendant lights.
Whereas the influence of both European and Latin design are evident in the DaSilva residence, the home of Lisabeth Comm and Frank Corbo on Concord Ridge Road speaks more of traditional New England, but with an international twist.
Comm and Corbo, married for 28 years and both department chairs at Staples High School in Westport – he, the math department; she, the English – have lived in their white colonial for 27 years.
"We bought this when it was a spec house still under construction," Comm explained. "The frame was here, and we thought it was unusual for a spec house."
They adore their home, but after more than 25 years, the original "country" kitchen was outdated and they chose to renovate in 2004.
"We took the kitchen down to the studs," Comm recalled. The process was far less painful than she had anticipated, though, and the workers were in and out within six weeks.
Light cherry cabinets surround the room, complete with bronze bird cage pulls and Italian granite with shades of browns and slate blue. Panels disguise both the dishwasher and refrigerator, and the couple chose stainless steel for their GE Monogram stove.
The floor, a muted beige ceramic tile, keeps the space light and airy, as does the Delft tile backsplash – truly, the centerpiece of the space.
"I had this collection of blue dishes," Comm said, gesturing toward three shelves built into the Brazilian cherry-topped island, all displaying blue and white dishware of various patterns.
So when she spotted a display of Delft tile in a warehouse, she knew she had found exactly what she wanted.
"I said, 'That's it! I'm building the whole kitchen around this,'" she recalled.
There are two types of Delft tile, (named for the city in the Netherlands in which it's hand-painted) — the blue and white that people often associate with the term, and a multi-colored variety called polychrome.
The backsplash is polychrome acanthus tile, featuring lush green leaves, and shades of ochre and rust. Graphic tiles depict Dutch-inspired scenes including a windmill and children at play.
The couple has traveled to the Netherlands, and specifically to Delft, but for Comm, those delicate little squares of blue and white signify a more personal connection.
"I had a favorite aunt who was a war bride from Holland," she began, grabbing an old framed black and white photo of a man in military garb from a nearby shelf.
"My uncle was a fighter pilot in World War II when he met this gorgeous blonde Dutch girl, and they fell in love and moved back here," she continued, tears welling in her eyes at the memory of the woman whom she describes as her favorite aunt. "I have always been really interested in Holland for that reason."
The room is filled with artifacts and mementos from their travels. One open-shelved cabinet contains reproduction snake goddesses from the island of Crete; (testament to Comm's interest in history,) pieces from trips to Italy, Mexico and Hawaii, family heirlooms from Japan, and even an antique coffee mill from Comm's native Ohio.
The home very much reflects the couple's personalities, as do many of the homes on the tour, according to Janis Opdahl, one of the event organizers.
The route includes an artistically-decorated 1826 colonial; a 4,100-square-foot log cabin; a cottage on the lake; an 1840s farm house, and more. One house, with its Mediterranean-style kitchen, is so large, Opdahl said, they are allowing visitors an extra half-hour to tour it.
"People are naturally curious about other people's homes," she said. "And every home this year is different. You can take a little tidbit from each to incorporate into your own home."
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Tickets, (in the form of a booklet containing descriptions of each home and a map,) are $20 in advance, and $25 at the door. They can be purchased at Addessi's of Ridgefield, Klaff's, La Pietra, Little Green Barn, Sheer Image, Kitchen Traditions, Magic Garden, UK Gourmet, UPS Store or Victoria Yarrow.
For more information, call (203) 426-0406 or (203) 270-9344.
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