Kelly's Kitchen Sync

Steampunk Sunday: To all things Luna

Victorian 3-D: 1863 stereograph of the moon via Anthony Brooks (National Museum of Natural History)

La Lune, la Luna, der Mond – whatever you want to call it, the moon played a large role in well-to-do Victorian society. Jules Vern wrote his satirical novel “From Earth to the Moon” a full century before travel was possible, songs from vaudeville and popular music extolled the virtues of strolling under a full moon, and jewelry celebrated the crescent moon in all shapes.

With that in mind, I think it’d be interesting to add a piece or two in a steampunk-flavored home. Whether it’s cabinet handles or lighting, there are some fun ways to wink at the you-know-what:

                     

Half Moon Knob by Anne At Home             Paint the Moon knob by Notting Hill

                  

Fairy Moon nightlight by David Delamare  Accent Table Lamp by Medya Tiffany

Eye Thru Light glass piece by artist  Eva Moon

There’s a two-fold purpose for celebrating all things moon today – there’s another Luna I’d like to introduce to you. She’s 2, and just gave the fight of her life after heart surgery yesterday.

  

Luna’s parents are Sabrina and Paul Velandry. Sabrina blogs, speaks & writes on design and advocacy for architects, designers & photographers. Sabrina and I are both members of Blogger19 on Facebook, and got the chance to re-connect last week at the GE Monogram Center in Kentucky.

Sabrina was as upbeat and positive above and beyond what I might have been in similar circumstances. (You would have never known she had a grueling trip to the hospital the very next day after our exhaustive 2-day seminar!) Sabrina writes about the trials and tribulations of Luna and the family in her blog, Luna & We.

The family also has a Facebook page where you may find updates (and a donate button, if you’re so inclined. As you can imagine, hospital costs are prohibitive.) If you’re not on Facebook, perhaps there might be another way to help. Luna’s a fighter, as you’ll see by clicking any of the above links, and all my good thoughts and wishes go out to the entire family.

Buffalo gals, won't you come out tonight?

Come out tonight, Come out tonight?

Buffalo gals, won't you come out tonight,

And dance by the light of the moon.

- John Hodges, 1844

A Reader Asks: Raised bar and hood fan?

Hello, I came across your website by accident, and I’m glad I did. I need major help on our kitchen renovation that my husband is working on (his 1st time) but I trust him!  So we already have a peninsula with a 36" cooktop. I gave my husband the idea of adding a second tier (higher than the cooktop) to the peninsula to add more seating to the kitchen (only about 210 sq.ft kitchen), he did and looks great.

Well, we are also adding the hood hanging from the ceiling over the cooktop and now I think it will look enclosed being the tier has also been added to the peninsula! I was wondering if making the tier the same level as the cooktop instead of raising it, would make a HUGE difference??

My husband is upset that I’m changing my mind after he did all the work to build the raised tier…please help. If you need more details let me know.. or even pictures!! Thanks so so much, I need a response as soon as possible as he is getting ready to do more work and if I can stop him ahead of time, I will…just not sure if its worth it or will make a big difference.--Gina

***

Hi Gina --

When my father used to meet clients who were having kitchen disagreements and wanted him to intercede, he’d pretend to twist his collar around, and announce, “Unfortunately, my collar isn’t the right way around for me to offer marriage counseling, but I can give you some options and let you make up your mind.”

Although, since I’m not wearing a collar, I have some sympathy for your husband. :)

Since you did ask this question in the blog post, Pendant Lighting and an Island Hood – what do you think of the photo with the raised bar and the hood?

I say your final choice depends on a number of factors – the hood size, the ceiling height, the layout, the colors of the room, etc., etc.

Here’s another:

It’s very difficult for me to suggest anything without knowing your layout, and unfortunately, I simply don’t have time to look at your project right now, even if you wanted to pay for further consulting. This is one that you’re going to have to go with your gut– as an example,  if the hood feels too heavy already, then lowering the raised section won’t change much.

Many of the designers in my blogroll offer consulting services. If that isn’t in your thoughts, then another suggestion might be to do some online research for images of “kitchen peninsulas with hoods” or “kitchens with island hoods”.

Other readers might chime in with stories of their own kitchens, but I don’t know if they’ll be able to answer on your limited timeline.

Good luck!

The GE Monogram Experience Center, Louisville, Kentucky

This is where I am right this moment, by kind invite of GE Monogram.*

I’m cheating a bit because I wrote this on Sunday before I left. I imagine my design compatriot, Andie Day, will be tweeting throughout, so if you’re interested you might want to follow her: @AndieDay or, if I get a moment or two: @Kitchen_Sync.

The Monogram Experience Center, where I’m at, is a 9,000 square foot complex and culinary center in Louisville. There’s there is a chef in there somewhere, making sure we don’t flambe something we’re not supposed to, and a wine-tasting room. (Hmmm, I’m not sure how much coherent reporting you may get by the time I get back.)

I’m here for 3 days of cooking, observing, and learning. As you read this, I’ll probably already have studied all their induction cooktops and learned some tips about the Advantium oven. Speaking of which, meet Chef Joe Castro over at the GE Advantium community. For my clients who already have their Advantiums, this might be the place for you.

 

*My trip and expenses are paid for by GE. Writings and observations remain my own.

A Reader Asks: cabinet placement of switches and outlets

Hi Kelly,

Your blog has been invaluable during our design process. Now we are about to start. We chose a light cream field tile for the kitchen backsplash and some decorative inset tiles. When we did that we forgot about switches and outlets. The designer and contractor suggested fewer decorative tiles to accommodate the switches and outlets. Our tile company suggested under cabinet placement of the switches and outlets which is interesting. We don't know anything about this idea - whether it places risks to the cabinet structure or has other pros and cons. What do you think? – Anne

***

Hi Anne -

Glad the blog’s been helpful. Here are a couple of thoughts:

I’ve installed plug strips under a cabinet but not an actual outlet. Ditto for the switch under a cabinet. Not that it can’t be done, but it’s not usually done, and unless your tile company can offer some concrete advice or a website which points out exactly how to accomplish it, I might forgo their advice in favor of further discussions with your designer and contractor.

I’ve usually positioned a outlet bar along the back perimeter, or, if budget is tight, specified the fluorescent under-cabinet light with an outlet. (Check with your local building department for approval—not all places may allow this.) There are also some other backsplash and outlet options I discussed in an earlier blog post, “Yet another design element to think of…”

One of the challenges with outlets under a cabinet, of course, is it’s not easy to feel under the cabinet to look for the outlet—one has to bend down to see the positioning and plug in the appliances. Not so much of a hardship if you have, say, a coffeepot that remains plugged in or even baking during the holidays, but some people find it a bit time-consuming if they use small appliances every day. Others think it’s a small price to pay to have the backsplash art of their dreams, so I’ll leave that choice for your consideration.

For switches, the wiring isn’t attractive. I might hesitate if there was a table or lowered seating area nearby where one might see it from a seated position.  Also, if you’re 5’4” or under, you’re effectively raising the first shelf anywhere from 2”-4” higher than usual to accommodate the outlet which can make a big difference reaching that first shelf.

I think the only way I might try it is with the Lutron Maestro Wireless switches – they’re not the least expensive out there, but they’re going to last the longest. Then again, if you had a few of these, you could position the switches wherever you want.

Perhaps others who have done this might chime in with some ideas.

--Kelly

Steampunk Sunday: Curio cabinets, or "Cabinets of Curiosity"

Do you collect interesting pieces? Perhaps souvenirs from around the world? The type of collecting I’m thinking of doesn’t involve dolls or Pez dispensers or political button, but in this context, antique curiosities, which would be a perfect fit in a steampunk (or turn-of-the-century inspired) home.

For this type of styling, we need curio cabinets – specific pieces of furniture used to display collections.

If curio cabinets had been created today, they might have been labeled “display cabinets”, but surprisingly, curio cabinets, or “cabinets of curiosity” go back to the Renaissance period, when scientists and artists looked for a place to display objects of, yes, curiosity and enlightenment. Curio cabinets referred to the room – it wasn’t until later museums started using display cabinets which transferred the name to its current meaning today.

Curio cabinets can be wall-mounted or on feet; in corners or as side tables. They’re mostly glass-fronted these days, but some early models had dozens of tiny, intricately designed drawers.

17th century cabinet of curiosities via the Rijksmuseum

The newer ones come with lighting, but with the feeling of a steampunk home, we look for Victorian or Edwardian styling. Most early Victorian homes had a version in wood and glass.

Victorian-Aesthetic Movement Case via www.collect.com (warning: popups)

An Egyptology-inspired curio cabinet via Viking Manufacturing Company

Reproductions are everywhere, but if you can find an unusual antique, such as the one below, it becomes as much a focal point as the objects within.

Antique Glass and Mahogany Curio via Worthopedia

What’s in mine?  I have old calling cards, antique fans, enameled cases, and a pair of mother-of-pearl opera glasses. (No, I don’t have a clue why I have the opera glasses, but there was some amusement in buying them so I could say I had a pair.) My mother’s collection includes daguerreotypes, cabinet cards, and a rather impressive set of early cameras from the 1900s - 1920s. If you wanted to stick with the turn-of-the-century fascination with botany, nature, and Egyptology, you could collect everything from butterflies to reproduction scrollwork or jewelry.

Links:

Inside the Curio Cabinets of Victorian England

Bioephemera – Cabinet of Curiosities – Edition #6

Sumner Design Studio – 2009 San Francisco Decorator Showcase

Need something different for cabinet hardware?

Have a quick peek at one of my favorite lines, Berenson Hardware. The knobs and pulls not only have a good, solid weight to them, but more importantly, they have a good grip space on the handles and long shanks on the knobs for all sizes of hands and fingers (and fingernails!)  Not every line does.

Some of these are so new, I haven’t even had a chance to specify them, but can’t wait.

  While you could use these in an Arts and Crafts style, I could also see them in a contemporary kitchen with floating 18” high linear wall cabinets, or as a center styling for a bank of drawers. Love that back part of the D as a visual element.

 There’s a slight mid-century feel to the handles yet the knobs are all contemporary organic. A simple door styling with a hint of detail (say, a modified Shaker with an inner bead) would pair nicely with these. The knobs could go hard-edge contemporary without any worry, except they might get lost on big drawer fronts.

  New? Old? In-between? Yes. These would fit nicely with almost everything except glossy slab doors, and I’m not even firm on that because I could see the large black on a polyurethane pillow-edged plum door.

A quick tip for selecting handles and knobs – buy a pair (or just one if you’re going to have one or the other.) Place them on the counter, and then get every member of the family to grab them.

• If someone can’t get their fingers between the handle and counter without pulling the handle off the counter, it’s not going to work when it’s on the door.
• If someone grabs the knob, and their fingers won’t fit between the underside of the knob and the counter (the base of the knob is called a shank) unless their fingers scrape along the counter and lift the knob off the counter to squeeze in, there won’t be the luxury of the knob lifting when they’re on the doors. Cabinet finishes are good, but they don’t stand up to gouges from fingernails. And these gouges don’t happen unless the shanks are too short.

Now you know.

What designers are discussing

So, thanks to Twitter yesterday and my friend, designer Andie Day, who, in turn, linked to designer Vicente Wolf’s blog post, I discovered a design discussion you might find interesting.

In all the thirty dot dot dot years that I’ve been in business I’ve never let a client take over a job – I’m too controlling. But that recently changed. A client that I’ve been working with for many years was redoing an apartment in New York that I originally did 9 years ago. (I’ve worked with them on many other projects over the years.) We estimated the job, presented it and then the client said “Oh I know a contractor, I can get it cheaper, I’ll hire my people”…(More from the Vicente Wolf post, “When A Client Takes Over…”)

Before you hop over to the link, I want to state that research is merely one part of the design and construction process. The second is having a supply chain which is both competent and professional in delivering said product. Part of my education was that a product is a product. Who looks after and orders the product makes all the difference. (And I learned the hard way.) And, let’s be perfectly frank here, it’s also part of the way we make our living. Having a system in place makes everything run smoothly. Disrupt the chain and it creates challenges which disrupt the process.

And with the new generation of DIY-ers and internet consumers, it’s creating some friction through misunderstandings and expectations on both sides. You expect us to understand you want the best for your hard-earned money; we expect you to understand the quirks of our business which potentially make everything implode and cost more without actually, you know, explaining it to you. Gee, that’s working well for both of us, isn’t it?

So it helps to hear both sides. The comments are interesting. Halfway through, designer Laurel Bern, of Laurel Bern Interiors, left what I thought was a great explanation on the subject of internet shopping, which I’m reposting with her kind permission:

“Shopping on the internet is fine if one has not hired a professional to help them. Let’s say that I have specified a piece of furniture from source A and I have added my 30% markup to the net price of that item and the required shipping charges to bring the piece into their home and put it in its rightful place. In the meantime my client googles Source A and finds that there’s a company who will sells products from Source A and finds the exact same item (with “free” shipping which means that a huge 16 wheeler will dump their bookcase at the bottom of their driveway in a BIG box!) and the price is $100 lower and so the client just goes ahead and ORDERS that piece of furniture that I have spent 6 hours researching and subsequently specified and THEN tells me that they absolutely love what I have found for them and thank you so much, but they found it for less on the INTERNET and so they ordered it from that INTERNET company which is probably a defunct furniture store that is operating out of their home and working on a volume basis.”

Yes, it is considered very bad form to work around the people one hires, yet how would a person know if he or she wasn’t educated on the subject?

It’s like my post on shipping—as long as I’ve been in the industry, there have been shipping damages. No worries at our end, because it’s an expected part of the business; that’s why we have competent trades at our end to rebuild, or remake, or otherwise fix the damages. Now there’s a whole generation of DIY-ers yelling on the internet that products should come perfect. No.You bounce over potholes in a semi-trailer halfway across the country and see how you make out.

Managing expectations has to come from both sides, as well as a good dose of common sense. Remember, that this discussion is only one aspect of design, and, in most cases, the higher end. If it’s making you mad but you didn’t do any of the things designers are commenting on, well, it’s probably not about you. If you can take away something, great.

See what you think. 

Steampunk Sunday: Victor Horta

You might not know the name of one of Belgium’s leading architects of the Art Nouveau movement, but perhaps a picture  of Victor Horta’s more well-known works might help:

 Main Stair Hall on the Ground Floor
Emile Tassel House in Brussels, Belgium

Victor designed structures around Brussels which are UNESCO World Heritage sites today: Hotel Tassel (above), Hotel Hallet, Hotel Solvey, and his own home, which was built in the 1890’s (now a museum). Depending on the readings you find, he is the leading founders of the Art Nouveau movement, and, with Hotel Tassel, considered the first to interpret Art Nouveau as a decorative art into architecture.

 View across Main Stairs at Upper Landing
Victor Horta House in Brussels, Belgium

When Art Nouveau was beginning to fall out of favor, many of his buildings were sadly destroyed. Thankfully, places like the homes above, and the Waucquez Warehouse which is now the Belgian Comic Strip Center, are still around.

 Belgian Comic Strip Central
Formerly the Waucquez Warehouse, 1906

For those of you who’d like to incorporate steampunk nouveau into your homes, poking around the web for this architect’s works might provide some inspiration. Some of his key works revolved around his fascination with ironworks, and most of his columns, and stairwells reflected it. I also have a sneaking suspicion that many game designers are big fans of Victor Horta’s designs.

Iron Column Detail
The Waucquez Warehouse, 1906

 

  

Entry at Lower Landing
Victor Horta House in Brussels, Belgium

You can find more about Victor Horta here, and tour through a panoramic view of the exterior and interior of his home here. More photos can be found here.

Steampunk Sunday: Carlo Bugatti Furniture

When steampunk first came out, it was a simple excuse for me to indulge in my own version of what an alternate world without electricity might have been. And in this world, I like to imagine that Art Nouveau is a bigger part than Victorian.

Steampunk writers, if you want to immerse yourself in fantastical design in the art and furniture world, you could certainly draw some inspiration by studying the furniture of Carlo Bugatti.

Desk, 1902. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

If the name sounds familiar, yes, it’s that Bugatti.  At the time Carlo was making the desk above, his underage son, Ettore, was working on making the family name forever linked with zoomy little sports cars. Pity he never stuck to the proper family business. (Yes, I’m joking.)

Carlo Bugatti was an Italian furniture designer who was heavily influenced by Asian and North African design. Although he worked in silver and other design mediums, he is best known for his furniture. Many of his pieces vary from modern to very exotic, and wouldn't be out-of-place in any futuristic setting -- even though they were created over a century ago.

Throne, 1900. National Gallery of Victoria, Australia

Many of his pieces are in museums; the rest — if they are authentic, and were made in his studio in Milan--go for high 5-to-7 figures. He liked to work with vellum, copper, brass, and wood. He also liked mother-of-pearl and frequently used inlays.

Cobra Chair, 1902. Part of the 1902 Turin Exposizione Internazionale

 While many of his pieces had curves particular to Art Nouveau period, some of his other pieces have a slight Eastlake feel to me.

Walnut Writing Desk With Chair, 1900.

The Bugatti family history is here.  I also found Chair Blog, with a collection of Bugatti chairs which sold a few years back at auction. Clicking on the desk and chair above will take you to them. The photos are very clear, and give some nice close-ups of the detailing. I might suggest not drinking anything while you read the prices…you've been warned.

Enjoy.

Poll: Where do you buy your design books?

So, I know many of you buy design books in anticipation of your kitchen and bath projects -- I often see my own clients stagger in with an armful when they visit in the showroom. *grin*

Since I'm working on my own book, I'm now curious to find out where you prefer to buy them. Would you mind taking this quick poll? Thank you!