Up Your Home Cocktail Game
TRIP PLANNER: TRI-CITIES PG. 80
Silence of the Clams Clam Chowder
A Remarkable Kitchen Refresh
World
e h t l Trave
…Without Leaving the Pacific Northwest
PLU
WASH S: INGTO N'S
BEST BIKE RIDES
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WASHINGTON
December | January
volume 23
Back in the Saddle photography by Grant Gunderson Around the Pacific Northwest and the rest of the country, the coronavirus brought us back to basics—and one of the basics we all remembered we loved was riding bikes. With sales of bicycles soaring, you may be wondering where to ride them. We’ve got a lot of Washington suggestions for you, from downhill mountain bike shredding to leisurely road rides to gravel grinders. (pg. 56)
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©Grant Gunderson Photography, Inc., All Rights Reserved
Biking the Cutthroat trail in Washington.
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home + design
Modern and Meaningful The new kitchens in these Mid-century Oregon homes spark owners’ joy written by Melissa Dalton
IN 2011, KRISTEN and Saul Becker bought their Burien home from its original owner, a Boeing engineer who had commissioned the house in 1954. The couple were relocating from Brooklyn to Saul’s home state of Washington, and Kristen was pregnant with their second child, so they didn’t touch the kitchen right away, instead living with its glossy green cabinets and floral wallpaper for five years. Turns out, “It had this very original charm, but it was not very functional,” Saul said. By 2016, the storage had proved insufficient, and Kristen was tired of standing on her tiptoes at the higher-than-average counters. The “floating ’50s hipster upper shelving that blocked all of the view” also needed to go, said Kristen, an architect who worked with Seattle’s Olson Kundig Architects. That year, the couple embarked on two new endeavors: opening their own design studio with architect Jim Friesz, called Mutuus Studio, and the next day, starting kitchen demo. Having previously worked in construction and as a shipwright—the couple met on a tall ship—Saul was comfortable tackling the labor. “I really wanted to touch every part of it,” Saul said. He did, from installing the electrical and plumbing, to building and staining the cabinets, and leveling and laying the rubber and cork composite floors. (The only task hired out was the concrete counters.) Since the family lived in the house throughout the remodel, they finished the kitchen in stints over three years, testing ideas as they went: “We really used it like a laboratory,” Saul said. With the shelves and a partial wall removed, the view was expanded, enabling sight from the kitchen sink into the backyard, to the front door and driveway, and into the living room. The smart cabinetry layout “maximizes every square inch that you possibly can, like a boat,” Kristen said. Custom details, like cabinets made from marine-grade plywood with a Meranti veneer, a material common in boatbuilding, and a hidden laundry chute for dirty dish towels, keep the plan high-functioning. The materials let the scheme read as furniture rather than skewing too utilitarian in the new open plan. The seating bar that separates the kitchen from the living room is now the preferred spot for the kids’ breakfast or homework, or to pause with an evening cocktail. “It becomes this really nice moment,” Kristen said. As a studio artist for twenty years before forming Mutuus, Saul brought an artistic eye to the kitchen’s accents, torching stainless steel to blacken it 30 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
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Mutuus Studio
Burien: A labor of love for a design duo
home + designexpanded the The homeowners view by eliminating a partial wall, and maximized cabinetry.
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HOW TO
TRAVEL ABROAD WITHOUT LEAVING THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
TWELVE PLACES IN THE PNW THAT TRANSPORT YOU TO OTHER CULTURES written by Kevin Max | illustrations by Allison Bye
FOR THOSE OF US with wanderlust, the pandemic greatly curtailed our travel plans, confining us exclusively to local destinations, and only those where it is safe to go. Thankfully, the Pacific Northwest brings with it many amazing proxies for foreign travel. In this piece, we explore the regions, towns and venues throughout the Northwest that share some stunning similarities with their European, Scandinavian and Asian counterparts. If you can’t hop on a plane right now, jump in your car and satisfy your wanderlust while contributing to the local economy. Here are twelve places that will transport you abroad.
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Washington
Leavenworth BAVARIA
Poulsbo NORWAY
The sons and daughters of Norway are alive and well in the tiny Norwegian town of Poulsbo on Washington’s Kitsap Peninsula. Known as Little Norway on the Fjord, Poulsbo was first settled in 1875 by Ole Stubb, a Norwegian immigrant born in Naustdal, Førdefjord, Norway in 1821. More Norwegians flocked to the area for land and fishing in Liberty Bay, then called Dog Fish Bay for its abundance of dogfish. The town was built to resemble
the small seafaring towns of Norway. Today, Poulsbo punches above its weight with craft breweries such as Valhöll Brewery and Slippery Pig, with its culture-conscious Norwegian Sunburn amber rye. Hit Marina Market for Norwegian foods or kick back at Poulsbohemian Coffeehouse with some of the best views on Liberty Bay. When festivals are back in swing, plan to visit during Viking Fest, Midsommer Fest or Julefest.
AT LEFT Poulsbo is known as Little Norway on the Fjord, for good reason. (photo: Brittany Kelle Photography) ◦ ABOVE, AT RIGHT Bavarian architecture in Leavenworth’s downtown core transports you to Europe. (photo: Icicle TV)
There are few places outside of Germany that evoke Bavaria in such a demonstrable way as Leavenworth. In the Cascades of Central Washington, Leavenworth is a Bavarian village of Alpinestyle architecture along its downtown core on Front Street. If not for the signs in English, you’d swear you were in a small Bavarian mountain town. Lined with bierhauses and biergartens serving steins of beer, and German restaurants such as München Haus and Bären Haus with bratwurst and schnitzel on the menu, chocolate shops and a nutcracker museum, this town will transport its visitors to the southern Bavarian town of GarmischPartenkirchen in the Alps. Each year, Leavenworth’s signature event, Oktoberfest, is a rollicking good time with accordions, oompah bands and outdoor biergartens.
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