A Designer Couple in Washington Overhaul Their Midcentury Kitchen for $35K
Saul Becker, Kristen Becker, and Jim Friesz of Mutuus Studio build a jewel-like kitchen that now acts as a calling card for their firm.
Saul Becker, Kristen Becker, and Jim Friesz of Mutuus Studio build a jewel-like kitchen that now acts as a calling card for their firm.
Saul and Kristen Becker’s new kitchen should win the trifecta of remodeling. It accommodates the couple’s two children with an independent space for snacks and homework. Its U-shaped design avoids close encounters within the triangle of sink, stove, and refrigerator. And it offers parents a commanding view out to the driveway and front yard, then back to the terraces and play space.
The midcentury kitchen remodel by Mutuus Studio offers views to the front, the driveway, and the back.
Photo courtesy of Mutuus Studio
"My background is in thinking about the influence of the body on architecture—and where people connect with it," says Kristen, who’s also a dancer.
Photo: Jones Studio
It’s part of a 2,000-square-foot home designed in 1954 by architect Kenneth Kohler, 15 minutes south of downtown Seattle. For 50 years, its owner was a Boeing engineer who’d left behind a full set of blueprints.
The Beckers bought it in 2011, then co-founded Mutuus Studio there with architect Jim Friesz in 2016. "When we first started the firm, we didn’t have an office," says Friesz. "I was in their house when they weren’t even home."
The couple’s son was born as the home’s remodeling started. "I’d put him down for a nap, and quietly do some demo," Saul says.
Mutuus Studio cofounders Saul and Kristen Becker remodeled the kitchen of their 1954 dwelling over a three year period, finishing it this year.
Photo courtesy of Mutuus Studio
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