The Chinese kitchen's wall-length cooking area and ample counter space provide the family the space to prepare their favorite cuisine. // Photos by Lincoln Barbour

When Julie O’Toole and Steve Nemirow built their house that sits near the top of Bald Peak in Yamhill County, they wanted a space where they could cook nonya, a style of Chinese Indonesian cooking that mixes Chinese ingredients with Indonesian spices, creating a spicy, aromatic cuisine. “We wanted a great room, so people wouldn’t cram into the kitchen,” says O’Toole. “You can’t cook Chinese food, which we do about half the time, and have an open kitchen. The food is wonderful when it’s done, but it’s greasy and smelly when you’re making it.” Their solution was to design two kitchens — a traditional kitchen as part of the great room and a smaller, separate kitchen for Chinese cooking.

While in medical school in Germany in the 1970s, O’Toole also learned to cook Chinese food. “German medical school takes six years, and I lived in foreign student housing,” she says. “There were no other Americans, and most of the foreign students were Chinese Indonesian. For socializing, we cooked together. They taught me everything.” 

O’Toole, a pediatrician specializing in childhood onset eating disorders, founded the Kartini Clinic, an eating disorders clinic, after returning to Oregon. She and Nemirow, an attorney and artist, originally met when they were students at Reed College.

O’Toole and Nemirow, both 62, hired Portland architect Richard Brown, the principal at Richard Brown Architect, to design a 3,700-square-foot home that would incorporate not only the two kitchens but also a Chinese-style courtyard, a library, large garden, an art studio and spacious views. “I was intrigued by their plans,” says Brown. “I liked the setting and the Chinese influence in the design ideas.”