Sustainable Madrona Bungalow

The kitchen of this 1925 bungalow in Madrona was renovated to maximize function and creating a healthy space for this family. Living a sustainable lifestyle is important to them so the kitchen was designed to enable the owner and her daughters to do the canning and cooking they enjoy with an ease of maintenance. The layout, materials, and color palette were selected to highlight the homes Spanish influences. The home additionally features daylighting and other energy efficient upgrades as well as rain water harvesting systems.

This 1925 bungalow boasts unique Spanish influences in its design.  The family has a strong sustainability sense and tackles each project with the question: how can I make this update beautiful and sustainable. The kitchen remodel started with some intense programming by Entero Design to learn how the client functions in the kitchen so the new layout would meet all the family’s needs while staying within the existing footprint.  Some of the activities that the new kitchen needed to accommodate were: canning, baking, hosting group dinners, using a laptop, and listening to music.

We knew from the start that we would open up the space to the adjoining rooms. The opening includes an arched detail to mimic existing styling in the home.

The kitchen layout, materials, and color palette were selected to meld with the unique styling of the home. The kitchen remodel features:

• Neil Kelly Cabinets. A Portland-based semi-custom cabinet company with a high level of quality and commitment to sustainability. Their standard finish is low-VOC and is constructed with high-end materials and components including a soy-based adhesive, which they helped develop, to adhere the veneers to the substrates.
• Novustone recycled glass countertops. It was important to support local companies and this product is as local as it gets. Produced in the Old Rainier Brewery in SODO, are made with recycled glass and aggregate from within King County and a low-carbon cement binder.
• Bedrock recycled glass tiles were utilized in a random mix of 2×2 tiles.
• Low-VOC paint and American Clay earthen plaster were used for wall and fireplace finishing.
• Vida cork flooring is easy to maintain, helps with ambient sound and gives good support when standing for a long period of time in the kitchen and transitions well to the original oak floors in the adjoining room.
• The kitchen is supported by substantial daylighting and low voltage lighting was used to give us the look and feel wanted in the kitchen while reducing the energy needs. Undercabinet lighting with was included for additional task lighting and to compliment the can lights while plug mould was installed under the upper cabinets to eliminate the need for multiple outlets in the backsplash.
• In addition to the kitchen remodel by Mighty House Construction, the homeowners took advantage of the amazing incentives and rebates offered by the Community Power Works program and the additional expertise of Mighty House Construction to increase their energy efficiency with a ducted heat pump to replace their cadet heaters, extra daylighting with skylights and the brand new Smart LED Solatube, increased attic insulation, and blown-in insulation in the bedroom walls are a few of the updates made.
• Last but most definitely not least is the home’s rainwater harvesting system. A product of Earth Systems Northwest, it is a must see!