When chef Mike Lata moved to Charleston, S.C., in 1998, a comfortable home was the last thing on the bachelor’s priority list. Fifteen years later, with a newborn and soon-to-be wife in his life, not to mention two acclaimed restaurants and a James Beard award, he was ready to start his hunt for a true home.
Charleston’s historic homes in the downtown area have surged in popularity, but they didn’t appeal to Mr. Lata, who opened the downtown restaurants FIG in 2003 and the Ordinary in 2012. "Downtown is cramped and crowded, and you don’t get much for your dollar," he said. "I want to get the hell out of there as soon as I’m ready to."
One night after work, he was decompressing online and discovered a Dutch Colonial built in the early 1740s on James Island, a laid-back community located across the harbor from Charleston. Once a sprawl of farmland, the area was urbanized thanks to its 15 minute commute to downtown. Mr. Lata made an appointment.
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Located on about 2 acres—a rarity so close to town—the 2,800-square-foot, three-bedroom main house is one of the oldest homes on the island. It was built by the Heyward family, whose descendants include a signer of the Declaration of Independence and DuBose Heyward, author of "Porgy," the book that inspired the opera "Porgy & Bess." Recent additions to the property include a 20-by-40 foot pool and a 1,632-square-foot guesthouse—which is more than 700 square feet bigger than the bachelor pad Mr. Lata and his family of three were living in at the time.
Mr. Lata paid $882,000 for the home. He was excited until the former residents’ belongings were gone and he had his first walk-through.
The kitchen had 7-foot ceilings, no windows and no storage. Some of the rooms had a 7-inch dip in the floorboards.
"We’d bought a house with the worst possible kitchen that I could have purchased," Mr. Lata said. "I walked in and said to my wife, ‘What the hell was I thinking?’ "
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After confirming that the home was on solid footing—Mr. Lata’s top concern—he enlisted the help of David Thompson Architects and Renew Urban, the same firms that helped design his restaurants.
First on their demolition list? The kitchen. Its redesign was, at roughly $50,000, Mr. Lata’s biggest renovation expense.
An outdated family room, part of a 1960s addition, was painted white and the fireplace was converted from gas to wood-burning.
PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER SHANE FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNALTo open up the space, they raised the ceilings to 10 feet, installed a window above the sink and removed all upper cabinetry. "Our goal with the design was to keep everything down low, out of sight and easy to clean," Mr. Lata said.
Mr. Lata, 44 years old, is known for his simple, seasonally based cuisine that is meticulously executed. His approach to his kitchen’s redesign was no different. Instead of fancy gadgetry and excess appliances, ample counter space—the better for mise-en-place, or staging meals—was his No. 1 priority. He tripled the square footage of the original countertop, using Calacatta gold marble throughout.
"We did Thanksgiving for 30 people here, no problem, because of the counter space," he said. "If you’re going to roast a turkey, you don’t want that coming out of the fridge directly into the oven. You want it to rest and come up to room temp first. But you need room to scrub sweet potatoes and chop lettuces at the same time."
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He says his smartest purchase was a Thermador oven, a residential-grade range that was significantly cheaper than many high-end brands and whose biggest selling point, according to Mr. Lata, was how easy it is to clean and maintain. Mr. Lata uses a separate warming drawer to occasionally slow cook pork, coddle eggs, or simply to heat up plates for his family of three.
"We cook for 300 people on four ranges at the restaurant," he said. "Why do I need more than one stove here?"
Extra-deep custom cabinetry, painted in Benjamin Moore’s Hale Navy, was installed to accommodate everything from dinner plates to Dutch ovens. "Have you ever seen so much Le Creuset in one drawer?" he said. The pegboard that helps Mr. Lata keep his utensils organized was inspired by a photo of a similar system in Julia Child’s kitchen that he saw in a magazine.
The expansive family room, part of a 1960s addition to the home, was covered in flashy, outdated brass hardware with popcorn ceilings overhead. Mr. Lata had all of it removed and painted the entire room white, including the fireplace, which he had converted from gas to wood-burning.
"You can argue that a remote control is a lot easier than building a fire," he said. "But I’d rather have a few less, but better, fires."
The biggest change was turning the home’s original formal living room into an expansive master bathroom and dressing room for Mr. Lata and his wife, Emilee. Their tub, which sits in front of one of the home’s original brick fireplaces, was so heavy that they had to put new pilasters beneath the floorboards. A tiny window in the master bedroom was replaced with a set of French doors that open up to a new poolside pergola. Mr. Lata likes to take dips every morning, through November, which he says can be freezing but "righteous." Ultimately, they spent about $375,000 on the home’s renovation.
Pool parties were top on the couple’s list when they were designing the home, but Mr. Lata admits that running two restaurants and being a father have left little time for entertaining.
"I still work a lot, and it’s good to have a nice place to come home, read Henry a book and get some good sleep."