CASCADE TOWNSHIP, MI – If the kitchen is the focal point of a home, this $1.6 million listing on Manchester Hills Drive SE does not apologize for it.

All doors lead to the sunlit kitchen and great room where a granite-countered island and comfy fireplace setting invite family members to hang out over a snack, visit while dinner is being prepared or watch TV when the pizza is being dished up.

“It was a great house for my children when they were being raised,” says empty-nester Deb Meijer, who put the 6-bedroom 6,230-square-foot house on the market last fall.

Meijer, the former wife of Meijer Inc. co-CEO Hank Meijer, says she decided to sell and move to New York to be closer to her children now that they are adults and have moved away. She’s also involved in ahalife.com, a New York-based website.

“At this point, I don’t need a six-bedroom house with a home theater,” says Meijer, who will stay with her parents in Grand Haven when she comes back to visit West Michigan friends.

High-end Homes

This is one in an occasional series of MLive.com articles featuring high-end homes in West Michigan. Here are similar stories we have published recently:

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Meijer is leaving behind a Thomas Krupansky-designed Old World-themed house built in 2007 by Colonial Builders.

The home is on a double lot in the Manchester Hills subdivision, which listing agent John Postma says he developed as an upscale alternative to the popular and older neighborhoods in East Grand Rapids.

“I love the neighborhood,” Meijer says. “It’s literally 10 minutes from downtown. We have deer, wild turkeys, foxes – my house is on a wildlife preserve.”

Before she lived here, Meijer says she was living in another Manchester Hills home that did not have room for an outdoor pool on the lot.

She looked at the plans shortly after construction on the 2008 Parade Of Homes entry began and decided to make it her own. Using her degree in interior design, Meijer says she worked with the builders and designers to reflect her love of French-style homes.

Although the home exudes a casual atmosphere, the appointments are elegant. From the walnut hearth over the stove to the handmade cabinetry in the master suite’s bathroom and cast iron stairways, the home’s design features are unique without going over the top.

From its centerpiece kitchen and great room, 8-foot doorways lead to an elegant dining room with Baker Furniture and French doors leading to a garden patio.

Another entrance leads to a formal living room in which one of the home’s three fireplaces is showcased. Adjacent to the sunny living room is a smaller sunroom in which the family grand piano takes center stage.

From the marbled foyer, a winding staircase offers one of two passages to the second floor, where the master suite occupies one end of the home with its soaking tub, marble shower, heated floors and large walk-in closets.

The second floor also features a laundry that allows everyone’s wardrobes to stay on the same floor as the bedrooms. Down the hallway are four bedrooms with adjoining “Jack and Jill” bathrooms.

On the lower level, there is a large entertainment area with a pool table, a comfy leather sofas, an exercise room and wine cellar.

But the star attraction is found behind the theater-style doors which open to a home theater that features a built-in sound system and overhead projector that shines on a 96-inch screen.

“It’s very hard to sell these houses without a wine cellar and home theater,” says Postma, whose RE/MAX Of Grand Rapids office specializes in high-end homes.

E-mail Jim Harger: jharger@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/JHHarger