East Out West With professional connections in Japan and family ties in the Montana timber industry, the owners of this new home outside Missoula span two very different worlds. So it is fitting that their kitchen represents something of a cultural crossroads. The Japanese influence is evident in the bamboo cabinets, the tatami-like ceiling panels, and the orderliness and simplicity of the layout. The timber-country sensibility asserts itself in a very Western sense of spaciousness and in those same ceiling panels, which were fabricated from thin slats of clear Douglas fir, cousin of some living trees visible out the window.
But while style clearly counts in this kitchen, function rules. The owners head a young family that gives the room a vigorous daily workout. The stained concrete floor—precast 2×4 slabs—will be virtually impervious to wear; bamboo is also extraordinarily tough. And there is enough elbow room around the table, island, and counters so that a crowd of kids and parents won’t feel crowded. A wine rack is situated for convenient access from the adjacent outdoor deck. And just below it is a small drink cooler, at just the right height for those who prefer juice boxes.
CH060401077L15.jpg Photographer: Lara Swimmer Builder: Sharkey Construction, Missoula, Mont.; Architect: Heliotrope Architects, Seattle; Project size: 400 square feet; Construction cost: $400 a square foot; Photographer: Lara Swimmer. With its bamboo cabinets and Japanese-style cues, this Montana kitchen combines an Eastern design sensibility with a very Western sense of spaciousness. Builder: Sharkey Construction, Missoula, Mont.; Architect: Heliotrope Architects, Seattle; Project size: 400 square feet; Construction cost: $400 a square foot; Photographer: Lara Swimmer. Builder: Sharkey Construction, Missoula, Mont.; Architect: Heliotrope Architects, Seattle; Project size: 400 square feet; Construction cost: $400 a square foot; Photographer: Lara Swimmer. Floor Plan Builder: Sharkey Construction, Missoula, Mont.; Architect: Heliotrope Architects, Seattle; Project size: 400 square feet; Construction cost: $400 a square foot. Project Credits: Builder: Sharkey Construction, Missoula, Mont.; Architect: Heliotrope Architects, Seattle; Project size: 400 square feet; Construction cost: $400 a square foot; Photographer: Lara Swimmer.
Resources: Dishwasher/range/trash compactor: Viking; Hardware: Baldwin; Kitchen cabinets: O.B. Williams; Kitchen plumbing fixtures: Chicago Faucets; Lighting controls: Home Technologies; Lighting fixtures: Bruck and Juno; Paint: Benjamin Moore; Refrigerator: Sub-Zero; Windows: Marvin.
Details If you have any sense at all, you don’t block a big-mountain view with wall cabinets. But where do you put them? Architect Mike Mora packed ample storage along an interior wall, where it blocks no view and has the additional advantage of proximity to the table. That made it a convenient point-of-use location also for a built-in microwave—at counter height, for safe use by children—and an espresso machine in its own tiled niche.
