Not surprisingly, there was a lot of interest in the kitchen space when we recently took part in Green Energy Doors Open. The hub of any home, the kitchen is a space that inspires and drives enthusiasm in any home building project.

We had a lot of fun planning the kitchen, which sits at one end of the ground floor of the Trillium floor plan that we  used for the house. As seen in the picture below, the one change we made to the original plan was to remove two of the walls to the home office, incorporating it into the main, open plan space. A short knee wall provides a practical work space defining feature that also helps to hide any clutter from the main living space and the home’s entrance.

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The kitchen is based on a tight work triangle, making it very efficient to work in, and has a breakfast bar/island that is open to the living/dining area. There is a window out to the front of the house, and a clear sightline through the large glass doors off the dining area to the back garden.

Very high ceilings allowed us to introduce 9′ tall upper cabinets – these are not practical for every day items, but make for great storage of holiday and seasonal items which aren’t needed regularly. A deep pantry under the stairs at the kitchen entrance is another great practical feature.

Counters: Canadian soapstone

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Soapstone is the only naturally nonporous and unmanufactured stone available in the countertop world.  It is simply cut from the quarry and installed to fit.

Our counters are from Canadian Soapstone.

Soapstone is known for:

Longevity and durability
Nonporous nature
Being locally sourced

Cabinets: UniBoard product

All cabinets in the kitchen are made from UniBoard particle board. All UniBoard wood fibre content is from recycled, recovered or post consumer sources, making it a very sustainable choicel.

It is also a healthy material having fulfilled the requirements of:

• eco-certified composites (ECC)
• sustainability standard and California air resources Board (CARB)
• airborne toxic control measure (ATCM)

Still to come:

Above the stove we will be installing a non-vented fan instead of a conventional fan, which is typically connected to the outside. This prevents massive air leakage which affects the energy performance of the home. Unvented fans are state of the art these days and do a great job with the use of carbon filters.

On the stove wall we also plan to install some open concept shelves and racks to lend a restaurant vibe to the space.

Watch for final styling shots of the kitchen and the home later in 2016 and early in 2017.