This was the first time she had heard any mention of Eileen Bartlett.
"She resides on the top two floors," he went on. "She has her own dining room up there, where she takes her meals, along with an efficiency kitchen."
So the Bartletts did live completely separate lives. That explained a lot.
"Okay," she said, "I want to look around and get a feeling for the space and start putting together some ideas." She was starting to focus on the job. The ceiling was lower than upstairs, but still the space had enormous possibilities. "Off the top, I'd probably suggest we open this out. Remove that dividing wall and make a great room. With the right kind of kitchen, this could be a marvelous contemporary space for semiformal dining and entertaining." Assuming, she thought, Winston Bartlett actually wanted a renovated space to entertain. She still had the nagging suspicion that he just wanted her. "I'd use materials that have a really warm tone."
Mix different materials for the different parts of the kitchen and the room, she thought. The cabinets could be mahogany, to echo the extensive use of that wood upstairs, and the walls around the stove area and the fireplaces could be an earth‑ colored slate. And that look could be accented with polished granite countertops in a slightly darker hue. There would need to be a high‑Btu stove, probably a big Viking, with a slate backsplash all around. A couple of stainless‑steel Sub‑ Zero refrigerators and a large Bosch dishwasher could be spaced along in the slate and granite. And if Bartlett wanted it, there could be a place for a temperature‑controlled wine cellar. High‑end design.
There also would need to be a large stone island—say a Brandy Craig—with a couple of sinks and—depending on what he wanted—maybe another high Btu stovetop there.
She turned to Ken. "If you have something else to do . . . I just need to walk around and live in this space a little. Then I want to make some notes on the plans. Possibly take a few photos."
"Take your time," he said. "I'll be upstairs."
He disappeared into the elevator, with his curious catlike gait, and was gone in an instant.
As she looked around she realized the thing that was missing was light.