Kitchen of the Year: Small and Beautiful
(Page 2 of 2)
September/October 2008
By Carol Venolia
THE CHALLENGE: For Kunasangeamporn and Lear, the combination of tight budget and space presented challenges. “My challenge was ‘How many small changes can I do to make this work?’” Kunasangeamporn says. “The budget only allowed two big moves. One was moving the door to make more counter space, and the other was moving the sink.”
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THE JOY: “We think it’s really beautiful,” Katey says. “I love looking at this kitchen every day. It’s very peaceful, and the lines are great. And having the sink in the same room as the stove is a joy!”
THE COMPROMISE: Kunasangeamporn and Lear would have loved to open up the kitchen to the adjacent, enclosed mud porch and backyard. “We imagined this really dynamic indoor/
outdoor thing,” Lear says, “but it would have been much more expensive.”
OUR FAVORITE FEATURE: Katey, Kunasangeamporn and Lear agree: The sliding panels are the best. “When you walk into the house, you’re standing in a 100-year-old living room. Then you look through what is clearly a cut-in opening, and you see this juxtaposition of a modern, resin-paneled, giant Madrona sliding door on a steel track enlivening the old pantry space.”
The Good Stuff
•Cabinets: New kitchen cabinets were made with reclaimed Madrona veneer on a Forest Stewardship Council-certified plywood core, fabricated by local green cabinet company Core Casework. Lower cabinets are stainless steel shelves, built by local fabricator Metal Masters Northwest. The butcher-block countertop is made of reclaimed Madrona. Some cabinet doors have 3form recycled resin panels, and cabinet pulls are made of reclaimed Madrona scraps.
•Cabinet and countertop finish: Low-impact OSMO oil
•Hardware: The spice shelf and the metal track and wheel for the sliding doors were made by Boiler Room, a local blacksmith and metal artist.
•Floor: The original fir floor was refinished and painted with Seattle-based low-VOC Best Paints, then sealed with AFM Polyureseal.
•Wall paint: Low-VOC Miller
•Tile: Fireclay recycled ceramic tile was used as a backsplash in both the kitchen and pantry.
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