Site visit

Went out to Michigan on Wednesday and met the builder, designer, and augercast-pile guy at the site. It was great to be back, as we haven't been in 3 months. There were sandhill cranes, deer, turkeys, and the marvelous trees. A chickadee landed on the empty feeder and called, as if to say "how come you're not filling this up right now?"
Anyway, we looked at the lay of the land, the position of the septic and well, the condition of the driveway (sketchy), and discussed what was needed to minimize damage as the building comes down and the pile foundations are laid. We also labeled all the things that we want to re-use or to remove and donate to Habitat for Humanity (they take building materials and sell them in their "ReStores.")
On Thursday we visited a couple of cabinet makers in Grand Rapids. Some cabinet lines are using FSC wood and low volatile glues, non-formaldehyde plywood and take other measures to make them greener, like using locally-sourced materials. Van Beek's can incorporate pieces of sunflower board (made of sunflower shells, they have an interesting pattern as well as being a use for what would otherwise be waste). They seemed to be very environmentally conscious. We also visited William's Kitchen and Bath, a larger operation with a wider range of products. Here you have to ask carefully to find the greener things, but they do have a line that is more environmentally friendly. All of the cabinets are solidly constructed and should have a long lifespan.
It is worth it to track down the green cabinet makers in your area!

(And today I called to have the septic tanks pumped, so there should not be a nasty surprise when they take the old one out ...).

Kitchen options

I had posts on the kitchen back in Jan. and Feb. And I'm still thinking about it.
I'm soliciting feedback from friends on facebook. Most are agreeing that it is essential that the sink have a nice view. In this case that means a short peninsula so that standing at the sink you can see across the Dining room and out the sliding door to the lake. Click on any images to see a larger view.


So now the question is whether to have a wall between the kitchen and foyer. This adds some counter space and storage, but in a corner which is always awkward (see this U-shaped layout above). Taking out the wall will bring in more light (from the west window) and make the kitchen seem larger. To the left is the L-shaped option without the wall between the foyer and the kitchen.

Another thought:
This swaps the bathroom and foyer locations. (Tiles look funny in these because I just cut & pasted to move things around).



The 3-D image below shows where I would put stuff, in the U-shaped version. (It doesn't show the open shelves above the sink). (Done with Ikea kitchen planner)

DEQ & a cabinet quote

We had a message from the DEQ inspector ... saying they want more information. I sent the construction set and contact info for the engineer and designer. Talked briefly on the phone, but did not really get an indication of whether the permit is likely to be issued or not. Probably will have more contact later today.

Meanwhile, a quote on kitchen cabinets has come in from Van Beek's. Now my turn to ask for more information as I wasn't sure which of several layouts it was based upon. There is quite of range of prices out there. Ikea cabinets are cheapest, on the order of about $4000 less for our small kitchen, but they are not particularly green. Typically not as solid as many custom cabinets either.
We had a quote about six months ago from GreenMaker Supply in Chicago that was about $1500 less, but left out some items (i.e. there was space for a dishwasher that we are not going to have. More quotes may come in.

Kitchens & 3-D tools

Sent some kitchen ideas to the designer so we could get more bids on cabinets. There are a couple of fun tools for doing 3-D drawings of these.
Google Sketchup (free download at http://sketchup.google.com/) allows you to build just about anything in 3D. It takes a little learning to get the hang of but you are only limited by imagination and talent.
Ikea's kitchen planner is easier to use, but has some limitations -- there are some things you can't do. You can pick the finishes of the cabinets, yellow countertops, whatever, and it will show cabinet interiors if you want. Then you can view it from different angles. It compiles a price list too. You can save a copy on the web and go over it with one of their kitchen consultants in the store.

This is a mockup of the kitchen using the Ikea kitchen planner. One thing I can't do is put in open shelves above the sink, or the post to the left of the sink ... it's hard to add bits of wall in the middle of the room, and their open shelves are not long enough.