The owner of this retreat in Washington State’s San Juan Islands is a “major cook,” according to architect Geoff Prentiss. Since the homeowner is also his cousin, Prentiss knows his client’s cooking habits well and designed his side-by-side indoor/outdoor kitchens accordingly. “He does [the cooking] all himself but wants to be engaged with other people while cooking,” Prentiss explains.
The architect knew two connections were key to a successful design: The kitchen needed direct interaction with interior living spaces and also a strong relationship with its outdoor counterpart. The retreat is really a little compound, with main house, sleeping cabin, and guesthouse planted (sod roof and all) far enough from one another to be out of sight. Although the buildings are small, with only 2,824 square feet among them, this arrangement allowed for the indoor kitchen to share space liberally with adjacent living areas inside and out. An extra-wide aisle between island and indoor cooking station offers ample room for minglers. Stopping those same cabinets 4 feet shy of the wall of folding glass doors creates easy flow to the exterior. “Because there’s open space on both sides of the doors,” says Prentiss, “it really blurs the indoor/outdoor distinction.” The indoor kitchen spills out to a stone terrace, where more built-ins provide seating for enjoying the results from either meal-prep space.
Builder: Ravenhill Construction, Friday Harbor, Wash.; Architect/Landscape architect: Prentiss Architects, Seattle; Photographer: Jeff Mason.
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Dishwasher: Miele; Fittings/fixtures: Dornbracht; Oven: Wolf; Patiodoors: Quantum Windows & Doors; Refrigerator: Sub-Zero.
