Photography Spacecrafting/Rob Grosse
Sometimes, you search and search for a new house, only to find that the best place you could possibly be is the place you already call home. Such was the case for the owners of this Orono residence, who had been living in their 1956 farmhouse for over 15 years. After looking for a new dwelling, they decided that nothing was as idyllic as their own home
on more than two acres of wooded land.
The homeowners decided to call upon Monticello’s Frontier Custom Builders and Chaska’s North Arrow Architecture for the expansive 5,600-square-foot remodeling project, which included five additions, beginning in July 2022 and completed just shy of a year later. Since much was being done to the home, Nate Jurmu, builder at Frontier Custom Builders, said that initially, the client didn’t have a special focus on the kitchen—though over time, it became increasingly important.
“With some nudging, she agreed that the kitchen should be an integral part of the remodel—and the kitchen became one of the defining moments of the entire project,” he says. “The client went from someone who didn’t like to cook to having a kitchen that she now spends a lot of time using.”
Carl Olson, architect and owner of North Arrow Architecture, says these were some of the initial goals for the kitchen addition: abundant natural light, access to an outdoor grilling area, and social space. They also wanted to maximize the view of a wetland area teeming with wildlife, which, in the old house, wasn’t very visible. Now it’s the primary view from the kitchen.
From there, Jurmu says the kitchen addition required a lot of design and structural thought. The construction of the kitchen addition itself was especially challenging, since the garage underneath was expanded as well. This required temporary shoring to hold up the house while a new foundation was installed beneath it.
Additionally, an existing stone chimney on the exterior of the house posed another structural puzzle, but ended up as a defining element of the room. The chimney was incorporated into the kitchen design, with a pantry cleverly tucked into a nook behind it, and is now one of the homeowners’ favorite features in the entire home.
Jurmu looks back on this addition, and says that his favorite part of this project is how it all came together, to create a kitchen space that the clients didn’t think they needed—but ended up becoming a beloved new part of their dwelling.
Read this next: 10 Showstopping Kitchens to Inspire Your Next Remodel
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