The Kitchen

Planning a kitchen in a house is critical.

We're initially just putting in a kitchen island and will add additional shelves and counter space after we move in.

Japan has a huge amount of system kitchen manufacturers. We visited every major kitchen showroom in our area and even went to Kobe to look at the IKEA kitchens.

In the end it looks like we've decided to use a kitchen from Toyo. The quality of their kitchen island and the simple design really appeals to us. They have very solid stainless counters and great big sinks. The island will include a dishwasher, propane range and hood. We'll use their Bay line with the chaos cabinets.

We're not totally in love with the cabinet material but at least scratches won't be an issue.

We also visited a very cool custom kitchen company, kitobito. They're a local maker who use really nice wood and are very craft oriented. We're hoping to have them make our bathroom sink and cabinets.

This is the kitchen in their house, our architect also designed their home.