Jennifer Gilmer

When Jennifer Gilmer was 12 years old, she begged her parents for a singular Christmas gift - her own subscription to Architectural Digest. She’d grown up in a home filled with antiques, and spent her childhood studying their design, details, and craftsmanship. She was besotted by the beauty that functional objects could hold, and the feelings they could evoke.

In addition to studying it, Jennifer also loved creating beauty with her own hands. Throughout her education, she delved into tactile mediums like art, quilting, and drafting. And every single thing she touched, she had learned - as the youngest of eight children - to do right by it.

In 1992, Jennifer became a Certified Kitchen Designer. Five years later, she opened her primary design showroom, Jennifer Gilmer Kitchen & Bath, in Chevy Chase, Maryland, where it still stands in its original space. Jennifer has since collected countless industry awards and accolades, and remains a leading voice in the field nationwide.

As a master artisan, Jennifer drafts all her designs by hand, with pencil and paper. She sits across from a client, drawing their home plans in exquisite detail. Then she flips the paper around to face them, and continues drawing. Jennifer draws just as flawlessly upside down as she does right side up. In fact, the change of perspective often opens up new solutions.

When asked to identify the signature look of a Jennifer Gilmer kitchen or bath, she explains that there simply isn't one. Many designers are attached to particular styles, eras or elements, which they repeat in their creations. Or they follow trends, something Jennifer has never done, either professionally or personally. Rather than a signature look, what a Jennifer Gilmer room has is a signature feeling: it’s a calm, seamless living space.

Jennifer intuitively understands composition, proportion, and how elements come together. When she first walks into a client’s existing kitchen or bath, she absorbs its general sense of style. Then her eye zeroes in on what’s wrong. Aesthetically and functionally, what’s not working right -  what’s clunky or disjointed, even when it appears to follow standard guidelines for layout. Next Jennifer begins to visualize what the space could be. This starts as a mental exercise, but fairly quickly, she can physically feel it in her body.

Jennifer maintains the deepest respect for axis, balance, and composition - a philosophy she likens to Western Feng Shui. She places items in relationship to one another. An element might feel right in one area because it connects with another across the room, or mirrors an opposite wall. Colors and patterns are evenly distributed. Each wall, in its own way, becomes a focal wall.

Yet, Jennifer can also be a bit of a scofflaw when a situation calls for it. She isn’t afraid to break traditional rules of symmetry and placement. She’s willing to consider angles others might not, or, as in one design she recalls, placing a range hood in front of a window.

For Jennifer, purposeful design is important. But what’s equally important is personal design - fitting each space around the people who will inhabit it. Even if clients claim to not be naturally visual people, Jennifer spends all the time it takes to help them identify what they enjoy, and what their eyes feel good resting upon. She’s most gratified when clients later share that her design has brought new life into their home; that the energy in their home feels uplifted.

Jennifer’s designs have a tangible impact on a client’s holistic experience of their home, and also on their resale value. Realtors highlight the presence of a Jennifer Gilmer design in their property descriptions. Clients report that her kitchens cause bidding wars on their home’s first day on the market.

In addition to working with clients individually, Jennifer shares decades of her design wisdom and experience in her visually stunning book, The Kitchen Bible: Designing the Perfect Culinary Space. Her work and words are featured in publications like Better Homes & Gardens, This Old House, and Southern Living. Jennifer’s own home - which holds some of her most beloved antiques from childhood - has been featured in The Washington Post and Washingtonian, as well as on TLC.