Kitchen or Cucina?

The centerpiece of our house is going to be the kitchen. Its footprint straddles between the old and new space and even though the existing house wall hasn’t been removed yet, you can start to get a sense of the new kitchen space- open to living and dining rooms with large windows facing south and west.

Anyone who knows our family, knows that Kevin is a fantastic cook. He is not afraid of trying new recipes (even on guests) and is bold enough to change recipes the first time he tries them. I, however, tend to trust the recipe and am therefore am more of a baker than a cook. When we entertain, we hang out in the kitchen because Kevin is the center of the performance- he is in his element. An island cooktop which would allow Kevin to be on stage while visiting with guests, was a major factor in the design of the kitchen.

We love the clean lines of this Valcucine kitchen.

We spent months determining who we would use for kitchen cabinetry. Because of our love for finely designed Italian objects, we seriously considered Valcucine http://www.valcucinena.com/, along with other Italian kitchens such as Berloni and Scavolini.The Valcucine showroom at International Market Square in Minneapolis has kitchens to lust over. They are meticulously detailed with clean, simple lines and tactile surfaces. Their Riciclantica line is based on dematerialization and recyclability. The doors are made with minimal materials and are built with non-toxic materials & finishes and are built for durability. All good things, but in the end, the strong euro/weak dollar made us look for a kitchen rather than a cucina.

Henrybuilt kitchen

Being a late evening internet researcher/shopper lead me to discover Henrybuilt cabinets. http://www.henrybuilt.com/ They have a clean, modern esthetic and I found their designers to be very helpful. I sent them my very rough first draft kitchen elevations and they responded with sketches and very thoughtful suggestions. At one point, I felt like they had spent more time thinking about our kitchen than I had. The only downside is that they are located in Seattle and New York- but not in the Midwest. Natural Built Home Eco-Cabinetry

We also seriously considered the cabinets from Natural Built Home http://www.naturalbuilthome.com/ They carry both Neil Kelly cabinetry and a locally produced line of environmentally-friendly cabinetry.

Eastvold Kitchen

Eastvold Custom Cabinetry http://www.eastvoldcustom.com/
was on our list because Kevin had met Matt Eastvold at the Living Green Expo last year. His cabinet shop is in Dennison MN and has an emphasis on custom, sustainable solutions. We like the idea of being able to create a custom design and work closely with the cabinet makers and designers. They understand modern kitchen design and are able to tailor the design to meet our needs and suggest alternative solutions to help us meet our budget. Our contractor, Michlitsch Brothers, has worked with Eastvold before, with glowing reviews. So, we have decided to go with the proven quantity and work with Eastvold. No worries, Italian will still be spoken in our kitchen in the form of Kevin’s homemade pasta.