The Kitchens in the Vineyards tour presents Napa Valley homes which share one characteristic: the wow factor.

In this, its ninth year, the five homes on the tour include an energy-efficient home built with rice straw bales, a home with 22-foot Douglas fir ceilings and an 1800s restored cottage remodeled to include a 350-square-foot family kitchen.

An 1886 church

becomes a home

One of the homes on the tour doesn't look like a house -- because it started out as a church. In 1996, Jerri McNair showed her husband, Bob Frane, a photograph of an old church for sale in an issue of Historic Preservation magazine. The photo intrigued the couple despite the fact that the church, built in 1886, was in Pennsylvania and they had no property on which to place it.

"It needed a special setting," said Frane, who at the time lived in the East Bay. "We knew it couldn't be in a development or up against another house. We looked in Marin, Napa and in the Santa Cruz mountains. Finally in 1999, our Realtor found a 10-acre parcel here."

During the search for the perfect location, each church beam had been numbered, dismantled and put into storage. "There was a blueprint which showed each stud, each interconnecting piece," said Frane.

It took three years to completely reassemble the building and make it earthquake-safe. The couple added a second floor with two bedrooms and a bath and had gothic-shaped clear glass windows installed beside the original stained glass ones. The result is a roomy, 2,900 square foot, light-filled space with a soaring 41-foot ceiling in the living and dining area. Kitchen cabinets are cherry with dark green marble tiles and the '40s era Wedgwood stove belonged to McNair's mother.

The 10-acre setting on Thompson Avenue in Napa is visually stunning and includes a four-acre sauvignon blanc vineyard. "I love the outdoors here," said McNair. "When you're upstairs, you're so high that the birds fly by the window, egrets and blue herons. At night you hear the owls."

"The best thing about the house is that we love sharing it," said Frane. "It's unique and makes you feel good. We've had people come inside thinking it was still a church and wondering when the service started."

Most of the stained glass windows have spiritual medallions and family names memorialized on them. Frane had one painted in memory of his parents. "In 1981, the Lutheran congregation of the church went back and pulled out the family trees of those named on the windows so we have a booklet with the histories of the families. Half a dozen of them have memorial statements, such as the one in the kitchen dedicated to World War I veterans and the one in our bedroom to Teachers Aid. We plan to look up (living) family members mentioned in the booklet."

What do the neighbors think of the church-house amid the vineyards? "Our neighbors are great," said Frane. "They've been very helpful, especially during our construction. One evening I was standing outside, the chandeliers were turned on inside and the stained glass windows were glowing. I heard a voice from somewhere in the distance calling, 'Nice windows.' I shouted back, 'Thank you!'"

"One of the nice feelings we have about the house is that it was a building to be saved," said McNair. "It was a rescue project and that makes you feel good."

A Provence villa

in St. Helena

Another home on the tour looks as though it came from the Provence countryside. Set on Lodi Lane in St. Helena with a cabernet sauvignon vineyard, the 16-year-old home, guesthouse and landscaping were completely remodeled in 1997.

"It was 10 months of construction," said homeowner Michele Johnson, explaining some of the changes. "Originally, there was a standard size front door, which was too small in scale for the building's dimensions. There was a long, narrow hallway running almost the entire length of the house to the kitchen."

The homeowners replaced the front door with a 14-foot graceful arched door, rearranged the interior walls, built scale-appropriate limestone fireplaces and plastered the exterior in a warm gold. Integral plastering on the inside gives the walls more depth than faux painting.

"Our decorative painter was Michael Dute, and he's responsible for several of the wall hangings and other decorative painting. Most of the antique furniture pieces are from France. The long dining table was made from walnut that was cut down on the property, cured and milled. Most of the flooring is limestone; the kitchen floor is made up of small French pavers which have a great patina."

The kitchen features a center island crafted from an antique door and the pot rack is an antique cheese tray used for curing cheese. Modern conveniences such as a restaurant-grade six-burner Wolf stove are well integrated into the warm and rustic kitchen. French pavers, with a different finish than the ones on the floor, are used as a backsplash.

The kitchen opens on to a covered terrace.

"This area is filled in with climbing roses," said Johnson of the outdoor space, which includes a barbecue entertainment area. "There are over 250 rose bushes on the property, along with lavender, citrus, olive, cypress and espaliered fruit trees. We make fewer than 300 cases of wine from our grapes and call it 'Bisou,' which means kiss, in French."

Decomposed granite walkways lead to the pool and fountain and over to the guesthouse. The 7,000 square foot home has been featured in interior design magazines, including "Traditional Home."