When Bruce and his wife Vinita Sidhu moved into a 1920s Craftsman-style home, remodeling the kitchen was among the first jobs they wanted to tackle. The original kitchen was constructed in a galley style and has been much too small to do any serious cooking. By enclosing the back porch and removing an unusable chimney, Parker and Sidhu managed to double the kitchen area.
Reclaimed and salvaged wood and glass were an important facet of this home’s design. Parker, who is the founder of Microhouse at Seattle, did so not just for the interest of sustainability, but also to preserve the kind of the house. “Our aim was to think of a design that would bridge the gap between the requirements of contemporary living and our 1920s Craftsman home,” Parker says.
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All the cabinets in the kitchen have been custom designed by Parker and Sidhu. Although stylistically they have been motivated by renowned design company Greene and Greene, they also place a huge emphasis on reclaimed substances. “Using reclaimed woods saved on material costs, but added a great deal of time,” Parker says.
Reclaimed fir was utilized for its cabinetry, shelving and window frames. The flooring consists of salvaged oak topnail, which blends with the rest of the house. Where reclaimed materials weren’t utilized, the couple opted for hard-wearing materials like the honed black granite countertops and the backsplash in the Ann Sacks Element collection.
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Because the kitchen is a small area, Parker wanted to allow for as much natural lighting as possible. “It’s hard to describe the quality of sunlight in the Pacific Northwest, however it’s often muted and filtered by layers of cloud,” he says. “So the quantity and placement of windows has been crucial.”
Parker concentrated the chimney in the kitchen to the east and the north, which captures morning light in the patio and garden. “The small size of our home made the link to the outside that much more significant,” he says. For additional lighting, Parker installed pendants across the counter from Rejuvenation.
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The table is the heart of this kitchen. It’s made out of a ship’s hatch that Parker’s daddy found on the shore in the 1960s. “It was fun to have the ability to integrate this family relic into the design,” he says.
Since distance was such a problem, Parker and Sidhu decided to avoid having a great deal of above-counter cabinetry and rather place shelving on one of those interior walls.
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The design of the first kitchen was so small there wasn’t any room for a refrigerator. With the brand new, open area, Parker managed to produce a built-in space out of reclaimed fir.
“As with most jobs, a lot went into it until we have to do the fun stuff, such as working on cabinets,” Parker says. Updating the wiring was a huge challenge in this kitchen. Because Parker wanted to keep the plaster, then he needed to carefully pull the wiring out of the plaster to decrease the harm on the existing wall and ceiling.
Show us your kitchen! Have you got any handiwork you are particularly proud of? Any fun, eco-friendly updates? Publish a photo in the comment section!
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Design Greener: Using Reclaimed Wood