Of Mice and Menus

Inspiration often springs from unlikely sources and sometimes takes a while to produce a result. Consider the case of Carol Gallagher, who stopped one day on her way home from work in Minnetonka to take a gander at the inventory at a home demolition sale. What caught her eye were a couple of banks of metal cabinets she reckoned would be perfect for keeping mice out of the groceries up north—just the thing for a cabin-owning friend and a bargain at $45.

It turned out that her friend didn’t want the cabinets, so Carol stashed them in her garage, where they remained for three years, until she and her husband, Otteau Christiansen, began to remodel their own cabin and figured they could use the fixtures themselves. They were adding a new bedroom, bathroom, and septic system to their getaway on Schmidt’s Island in Lake Vermilion and removing a pantry room and expanding their kitchen. The cabinets fit neatly into their plan.

Besides a nose for a deal, Carol has an eye for color. At Home Depot, she spotted and bought some base cabinets in moss green. Then she had the old metal cabinets painted light blue at a Twin Cities auto-body shop. The idea, she explains, was to bring the island colors of sky, water, and pine trees into their kitchen. Otteau, the labor-intensive dish washer, relinquished the task to a low-water-usage Asko. A new refrigerator and center island range made the kitchen ready for serious cooking.

Last Christmas, Carol and Otteau hosted a big family dinner at their refurbished cabin. They created a sumptuous repast that included oyster stew, standing rib roast, squash, and apple pie a la mode. And when it was over, they agreed that their colorfully expanded, varmint-proof kitchen had been the most inspired gift of the season.

A partner in Sala Architects in the Twin Cities, Dale Mulfinger teaches architecture at the University of Minnesota. His third book about cabins will be published by The Taunton Press in 2008.