Three Fabulous Kitchens
(Page 2 of 4)
September/October 2004
By Carol Venolia
GOING WITH THE GRAIN
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Michelle Ruber knew her Portland, Oregon, kitchen needed help. The cabinets and finishes from a previous owner’s quick-and-dirty remodeling job were falling apart. With only one small window, electric lighting was needed even in midday, and she had to go out two doors to reach the yard—frustrating to an avid gardener. Michelle wanted to proceed in an ecologically responsible manner, and her job at Environmental Building Supplies (EcoHaus.com) provided the knowledge and materials she needed.
The kitchen redesign evolved in response to two major factors: input from architect Diana Moosman, and whatever salvaged materials Michelle and her contractor, Gene Wixson, managed to find. The first step was to tear out a galley partition and open up the kitchen—with Michelle separating demolition products for reuse or recycling.
Michelle and Wixson frequented the ReBuilding Center, a community nonprofit where contractors and homeowners donate salvaged building materials. There they found a glass door to connect the kitchen with the garden. “I love to watch our food growing; now all I have to do is walk out the door to harvest it,” Michelle says. They also found several salvaged double-pane windows, which soon graced the kitchen walls. “I enjoy cooking in here now,” she adds. “There’s tons of natural light.”
If she could do it all again, Michelle would plan ahead more. “We stayed open to possibilities as they came along. There’s creative freedom in that, but it also takes time and adds to the frustration. In retrospect, I think we should have just made some decisions ahead of time and stuck with them.”
Overall, however, Michelle is delighted. “I’m proud of how my kitchen looks and feels. Our commitment to using low-toxic materials paid off; subcontractors enjoyed working with them, and they don’t have that synthetic smell. I love it when people walk in and say, ‘Oh my God, this is amazing; it’s lovely.’ You can tell we put a lot of heart into it. We took our time and did the creative things we wanted to explore.”
BEFORE
CABINETS AND TRIM: Wheatboard with salvaged cedar fronts and sealed with natural OS Hardwax Oil. Michelle and Wixson were at the ReBuilding Center when a truck full of cedar siding from an old administration building at Lewis and Clark College arrived. Under the dreary brown paint, they saw beautiful grain. “The cabinets were time-consuming,” Michelle admits, “but now we have something you just don’t see everywhere.”