2006 Kitchen of the Year: Funky & Functional

Image Gallery John Durant

2006 Kitchen of the Year: Funky & Functional

A sculptor brings her artistic touch to a solar-powered California kitchen.

Photography by John Durant

When you live off the grid, finding energy-efficient appliances isn’t just smart—it’s imperative. That challenge led to great satisfaction and turned out to be a lot of fun for Nina Karavasiles, the artist who designed Natural Home’s 2006 Kitchen of the Year in her solar-powered Warner Springs, California, home.

Nina found a sleek, energy-miser ConServ refrigerator with 10.5 cubic feet of space—just right for a household of two—and bought a propane stove for cooking. During winter she cooks on the wood stove, her sole source of heat.

She had just as much fun finding funky décor for her kitchen. Nina uses baskets, a collection of cookbooks and everyday items (such as her Turkish coffee maker) to add color to the space. She also displays foods and spices in glass canisters. Her wooden kitchen table is made from recycled pallets, and the chairs are reclaimed and restored.

Remodeling a kitchen without breaking the bank is another advantage of improvising and creating her own environment. “To me, low cost equals a better lifestyle,” Nina says.

The Challenges: “Finding green remodeling information that was really useful in making decisions was probably the biggest first hurdle,” Nina says. “Some of the companies were very new and sort of dreamy, so when you finally found someone selling the product you wanted, they were barely able to deliver it.”

The Joys: “I feel really proud that I’ve managed to make it through the whole construction project doing the best I possibly could environmentally instead of just settling,” Nina says.