Photos: Paige Kendall Photo
Kitchen remodel reflects the beauty of the North Shore.
On the day Emily Pueringer was born, her mother spent the morning in a construction zone that would become Pueringer’s childhood home.
Retelling a story she’s undoubtedly heard many times, Pueringer says that her mother noticed some discarded Mexican Saltillo tiles while speaking to the installer. “[The tiles are] handmade and hand formed, and they bake in the sun,” Pueringer says. “And a dog or a cat had kind of scampered across those tiles and left little paw prints.”
Those tiles would end up not in the trash, but prominently displayed in a kitchen Pueringer describes as “sheathed in bright red tile.” (The home in central Minnesota would later be featured in Architectural Digest.) “I just adored them,” Pueringer says of the tiles. “Little details like that, I always notice.”
Now, as owner of Emily Pueringer Design Studio, the Marine on St. Croix resident’s designs are often defined by statement-making tiles and stunning woodwork—tailored to the setting and each client’s taste. From her office on Stillwater’s Main Street, Pueringer pursues luxury interior design projects around the country.
“I really look at what I do as being an artist,” she says. “Essentially, you start with a blank canvas, and you have to create this whole new environment that sparks joy for your clients.”
Superior Shores
Two years ago, Pueringer started on a kitchen remodel on Duluth’s London Road in tandem with Duluth-based Northern Trends Building & Design. The home, tucked away from road noise along the busy thoroughfare, is situated right on Lake Superior.
The homeowners had initially passed on the home listing during their search in summer 2020, but their Realtor encouraged a showing. “We were blown away by the view. In person, it was easy to see past the differences from our style preferences and realize it was a great house in a spectacular location,” the homeowner says.
The family, who found Pueringer through a feature of her Chateau Margaux project on Houzz, aligned with Pueringer’s style and similarly outdoorsy and easygoing nature. “They’ve got to be one of my favorite clients to have ever worked with. They really let me explore my creative side, and they fully trusted me,” Pueringer says.
One of the defining features of the kitchen is the blue Zellige tile, which is handmade and hand glazed in Morocco. At nearly ¾-inch thick, with varying thicknesses and a wavy surface, the tiles are notoriously difficult to install—but the distinct result is well worth it.
During her initial visits, Pueringer was inspired by the way the home’s setting manifested in every corner, from the small things—like the family’s collection of sea glass and agates—to the all-encompassing view. “The power of Lake Superior just takes over. You feel it, that beautiful blue,” Pueringer says.
The first significant update was structural. “[The kitchen] was walled in on three sides with a lower soffit on the other,” the homeowner says. “I’d joked about it being the kitchen cave.”
With a wall removed, the kitchen became an oasis of light—the shore of Lake Superior now on full display. The finished remodel has all the hallmarks of a Pueringer design: handmade Zellige tile, custom cabinetry and built-ins, and a made-to-order Lacanche stove, all tied together in a masterful palette of rust, linen and blue.
![The cabinets and built-ins are made of white oak with a clear matte finish. The result by Cole Lake Custom Cabinetry is astounding, Emily Pueringer notes, due to recent issues with white oak. As mature forests disappear, the only white oak available is often no larger than 6 inches in diameter; this can create a striping effect in the grain. “It’s like a puzzle, a beautiful puzzle, putting together cabinetry like that to avoid striping,” she says. “[The craftsman] spent a lot of time putting the right veneers together to create this beautiful cabinetry.”](https://stcroixvalleymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/3D7A9209.jpg)
The cabinets and built-ins are made of white oak with a clear matte finish. The result by Cole Lake Custom Cabinetry is astounding, Emily Pueringer notes, due to recent issues with white oak. As mature forests disappear, the only white oak available is often no larger than 6 inches in diameter; this can create a striping effect in the grain. “It’s like a puzzle, a beautiful puzzle, putting together cabinetry like that to avoid striping,” she says. “[The craftsman] spent a lot of time putting the right veneers together to create this beautiful cabinetry.”
Though Emily Pueringer says the group hemmed and hawed over whether to use white marble for the countertops, the homeowners discovered a slab of Calacatta Borghini Macchia Vecchia marble on a trip to California that they couldn’t resist. The marble features thick terracotta and gray veins that tie the kitchen together.
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