Kelly's Kitchen Sync

Discovery spotlight: Justice Design Group wall sconces

For my new series spotlighting unique items I find in my design meanderings, I discovered this lighting collection the other day and held onto it in hopes of sharing it with you.

The Justice Design Group has come up with a series called the “Limoges Collection” – porcelain shades with various metal colors. My favorite of the group is a square shape called “Montana”, which can be installed up or down.

Banana Leaf with bronze

 I questioned the light through those shades but with a rating at 100-watts, that’s a lot of light. (Can you say dimmer switch, anyone? In California, we require a vacancy sensor for bathrooms, but we can pair a dimmer with it.)

 

Wave and polished Chrome

There are 9 shade styles -- Pleats, Waves, Waterfall, Sawtooth, Checkerboard, Ovals, Leaves, Bamboo, Banana Leaf – and a variety of 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-light fixtures. I’m focusing on the sconces because I can see them in applications other than the bathroom – as nice dining room/sideboard lighting, or in a living room. The size of the fixture is almost 9” high x 5” wide and protrude 6-1/2” deep (so I might take extra care with medicine cabinet/lighting placement.)

  Checkerboard and polished chrome

A note for those of you contemplating porcelain shades – just like vitreous china sinks, porcelain casts aren’t perfect. If you look closer at the edge of the shades, you’ll notice some waves or unevenness. This is considered normal.

Anyway, a lovely, versatile line for all sorts of interesting applications. View the rest of the collection (and others) at the Justice Design website by clicking on the photos above, or by clicking here.

Steampunk Sunday: Art Nouveau Exhibit

 

Antoní Gaudí
Wall clock from the Casa Milá, Barcelona, 1906-1910
gilded wood

As mentioned in earlier Steampunk Sunday posts, while some steampunk visions lean to linear and metal, my vision leans to the organic lines of Art Nouveau, and in my thoughts of home design, I look to the Edwardian period and this one for inspiration.

With that in mind, I came across this Art Nouveau online exhibit from the National Gallery of Art in Washington,D.C. for some steampunk inspiration. This website is based on an exhibit that the Gallery had back in 2001 and looks like it’s kept pretty current. There’s a timeline, curator discussions, how the exhibit was assembled, and an audio tour as well, which includes the Gaudi piece above. (And no, this isn’t where “gaudy” comes from; that word has earlier 16th-century origins.)

 

 Louis Majorelle
French (1859-1926)
Orchid desk
mahogany, gilded bronze, and glass

The website also takes you to various Art Nouveau cities around the world (but I note ignores Prague and Brussels, oh well. Prague is on my travel list.)

 Agostino Lauro
Italian (1861-1924)
Double parlor from a villa in Sordevolo, 1900-1901

So, how can you incorporate some of this into your steampunk home design?

• Lighting – brass was an important element of the design (and believe it or not, I’ve been hearing about brass making a comeback. Not sure I’m ready for the 1980s to come back just yet. 1880s, yes – add scrollwork to the brass and I’d be interested.)
• Woods – mahogany, oak, or cherry in furniture. Can also lean to some ebony or darker stains.
• Wallpaper – absolutely – especially if it’s a embossed paint-ready pattern or a pattern.

Next week, I’m planning to delve into wallpaper for steampunk inspiration. In the meanwhile, enjoy the website. It’s called, “Anatomy of an Exhibition.”

Bits and dribbles

Hopefully I should get back to a regular posting schedule soon. Part of the delay, of course, is being swamped at work. I know it’s getting busy out there as well – I had a woman calling in to the showroom last week practically begging us for the name of a painter. All the painters she'd planned to use were booked, and she was getting desperate. I couldn’t help her – our painter is so busy I’m hoping he’ll have time for us! (He will, but still…) 

***

So, do you want to know what we serious designers get up to?

Well, it’s like this. Somehow, somewhere, someone in our company found a little 8” high cut-out of CNN host Larry King. Have no idea why, but it ended up at my desk. Most people would have tossed it, but oh no--yours truly decided in a moment of afternoon silliness to wave Larry at our assembled group of designers and crew, and demand, “Well, what would Larry do?”

 Larry lecturing me about my design skills

The resulting hilarity (and rude answers which won't be repeated here) resulted in Larry maintaining a place of ...hmmm...pride seems a bit much. He’s a lousy design assistant, but he does break the tension when we’ve all been working too hard.

Talk show hosts are not good selectors of granite. Now you know.

No. We don't get out much. Why do you ask?

A Reader Asks: Alternative to tube fluorescent?

Hi Kelly,

Here’s a question for your blog, if you have time and/or inclination:
A couple of days ago, my 57 yr old, florescent, over-the-kitchen-sink fixture decided to let loose a bulb. It fell 9.5 ft to the kitchen floor and literally exploded, shooting glass shards in every direction. It took me two very long days to clean the glass out of the kitchen. My husband is under the impression that it would be acceptable to keep the fixture and hope that this doesn’t happen again. I’d really like to find a compelling reason to change it out--in addition to the one that seems very obvious to me!

Do you know of fixture that would appeal to his love of new technology, that wouldn’t get too hot, and would put out a ton of light for the work surface below it? The current one is about 56 inches long and is hidden behind a fascia (I think that’s what you call it,) that matches the cabinets. So looks aren’t an issue, but not exploding would be nice! Thanks for your advice!

Best regards, Zoe

 

Hi Zoe!

I always have the inclination; it’s the time that’s the tough part!

First of all, I’m sorry that happened to you. Over the years, I’ve heard stories of the acrylic panels and the fluorescent tubes falling – it always seem to be the longer ones that fall, not on a general basis, but enough to be very annoying. (Very unofficial and highly suspect research findings.)

With your husband’s love of new technology, LED (light-emitting diodes) might be in your future. Because, let’s face it, with a 9-1/2 foot ceiling, you need some serious lighting.

Option #1 -- Staying with the existing fixture

If he doesn’t want to replace the fixture (although I’d suggest it as your ballast might not be electronic), you might consider replacing the bulbs with LED tubes, like these EverLED-TR tubes:

(via LED Dynamics – 2 of the 5 color choices: daylight (on left) with warm spectrum (on right))

Ignore the fact that they look at bit odd because not only will they give great light, but the tubes have no glass (and no mercury). While not inexpensive, (somewhere around $100-150.00) for a 4-foot tube, they:

• last longer than fluorescent
• are designed to fit most general fluorescent ballasts (please check first.)
• will use much less energy
• will have better color and light levels
• don’t contain glass.

I’m hoping that your actual bulb is 48” which is a standard size, and not the 56” you mentioned, otherwise we’re heading straight to Option #2.

 

Translating the efficiency of LEDs

Fluorescents are 4 times as efficient as incandescent and LEDs are roughly 2 times as efficient as fluorescents. So to calculate the equivalent out for LEDs (they’re between 5-8 watts) from incandescent, multiply the watts by 8. (Sure, I could have gone straight to the 8 times, but where’s the fun in that? Also, some sites say 10 times, but I’m not convinced.)

So a 5-watt LED is equivalent to a 40-watt incandescent bulb. Each of the EverLED tubes above is 22 watts, or the equivalent of 170 watts. (Roughly. All LEDs vary slightly between date and time of manufacture. If you wanted to err on the side of caution, round down on the wattage instead of up.)

Their color is rated on the Kelvin scale, a method of measuring color that both LEDs and fluorescents use. The daylight color in the photo above is approx. 6500K or degrees Kelvin; the warm spectrum is 2900K. I tend to recommend around 2900 – 3500K for kitchen lighting – the 5000K that company above says they have in stock I find too blue and bright for most of our warm-toned kitchens. Personal preference – your mileage may vary.

 

Option #2 -- Tossing out the existing fixture for something new

If you do remove the ballast, and choose something more decorative, you could consider some LED pendants, like the ones here from Alfa Lighting (these are all low-voltage and would require a transformer to be located in an upper wall cabinet or somewhere close.)

           

Alfa Lighting’s 16-page brochure of LED pendants (and lovely shades) is here.

I don’t know your wall reflectance levels or if you have any windows or skylights, but as a very brief rule of thumb, it’d be nice to have between 10-15 watts of LED over your sink, which might mean 2 or 3 pendants, possibly on a track. And, unlike fluorescents, LEDs are dimmable. I wouldn’t suggest them as easily with an 8-foot ceiling, but with your higher ceilings, I'm suggesting they'll not only provide a touch of whimsy, but they’ll bring the light itself much closer to your sink.

 

 Another note about LEDs 

The light is directional – that is to say that it doesn’t flood the room or spread like fluorescent. That means the light is best under the fixture but don’t really add to the overall brightness of the room. That’s why I’m still hesitating using LEDs for an entire kitchen.

I attended an LED seminar about 5 years ago where the lighting company was earnestly explaining if they held a light level under the 5 watt island pendant light, the output was as great as fluorescent and incandescent. True, it was. They weren’t too pleased with me when I asked them to move the level 3 feet to the left or right and the levels dropped off significantly.

So in your case, Zoe, this is great task lighting right where you need it.

The phasing out of incandescent light bulbs

At this point in time, there’s no point in purchasing a high-wattage incandescent fixture – the U.S. is scheduled to phase out the 100-watt light bulb in January 2012 with all incandescent light bulbs exiting the way of the dinosaur by January 2014.

Which allows me to ask for a brief moment of silence for the real tragedy–

(via BoingBoing)

No 100-watt lightbulb, no Easy-Bake oven!!!  At least not the kind I had, which was the one above. I miss those cheap, fry-your-fingers pans. *sniff*

In any case, I’m sure other readers might like to chime in with some suggestions for you as well;  I just wanted to give you some hint of the future.

Hope this helps!

***

 (I “met” Zoe Voigt on Twitter.  She’s a freelance writer who specializes in architecture, design, and tile, and has a lovely blog called Tile Style (http://letstalktile.blogspot.com))

Links:

You do the math -- LED vs CFL vs Incandescent (Woodhugger Engineering Blog)

How do LED lightbulbs compare to CFL and incandescent? (Jason Morrison)

Steampunk Sunday: Steampunk Aesthetic and Design with Jake Von Slatt

For those of you who don’t know, Jake Von Slatt is the gentleman who came up with the steampunk computer which was all  over the web a few years back.

 (via The Steampunk Workshop)

I came across this video the other day and thought you might find it interesting for our Steampunk Sunday.  Enjoy and Happy Father’s Day!

Kitchen Design Rorschach test

“The Rorschach test … also known as the Rorschach inkblot test or simply the Inkblot test) is a psychological test in which subjects' perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analyzed using psychological interpretation, complex scientifically derived algorithms, or both…” via Wikipedia

As you can tell by the radio silence lately,  I’ve been a bit slammed and unable to keep up other than on Twitter; sorry about that. Too many projects going on.

I’ve been holding on to this for a while: Best hoods – part of the Broan-Nutone line -- chose 5 designs from their European collection to debut at our big industry show (KBIS) last April. One of them was this one:

So not my color (via Appliancist)

Guess what they called it? Go ahead, guess. If you said, “Gee, it looks like a tube of lipstick”, good going. It is indeed called Lipstick.

While I wonder about smoke capture rate when combined with a pro range or even the errant thought of lipstick should not be left anywhere near heat, neither is really the point of the post.

The point is, I showed my designer mother – my petite, cute, designer mother – this picture and asked her what she thought it was.

She narrowed her eyes, considering. “A shotgun shell?”

I think it’s safe to say she is not Best’s target market. Oops, can I say target?

Still laughing here….

The mural magic of John Pugh

So, uber-blogger Paul Anater of  Kitchen and Residential Design, was blogging the other day about a mural in a bathroom that was – to put it gently – not quite up to standards.  For fun, I sent him a link on who I consider an inspiring mural artist, John Pugh, although I should have known that Paul knew about him already. (Rats. One of these days I’m going to send Paul something he hasn’t seen yet.)

Then I started thinking – perhaps you’d like to see it, because it’s really quite remarkable. John Pugh is a trompe-l’oeil master. For those of you unfamiliar with trompe-l’oeil – that’s French for “fool the eye”—it is the ultimate in painting to make you think that the image is real.

It’s what should have been done in the bathroom in Paul’s post, and truly something to see in real life.

This is the first piece I actually have seen. It’s called Art Imitating Life Imitating Art Imitating Life at the Cafe Trompe L'oeil (now Cafe Espresso) in San Jose. This picture doesn’t do it justice. Everything inside brick arch opening is a painting. Everything.

The sculpture’s part of the painting.  The stand it’s resting on? Part of the painting. The painting? Part of…well, you get the, er, picture. (Huh. I can hear the groans from here.)  I note in John’s portfolio that the closeup of the girl at the table doesn’t show her coffee cup, but there are plenty of stories of people who’ve tried to pick it up. (And also tried to pick up the girl.)

Here’s another – the Great Bear Restaurant in Los Gatos, CA. Again, the photo doesn’t do it justice. You would swear that strawberry syrup is yours for the taking – that is, if the help would stop looking at you.

John travels all over the country from Alaska to Hawaii to Florida and recently to New Zealand. Here’s a picture of him working on a mural…no, I’m kidding. The man, the scaffold and the buzzard are all part of the painting in Twentynine Palms in California detailing the area's early history.

One more – a private residence in Los Altos – a “door” into the new worlds, which is fitting since it’s on a wall in a personal movie theatre.

Where a good mural can be fantastic is in a tiny kitchen with no windows – this is how we create a window with a French Riviera view or transform a common wall in a townhouse into a veranda by the seashore.

Now, can you imagine what John could have done with the bathroom in Paul’s post?

Clicking on any of the photos will take you to John Pugh’s website and his latest creations. If you'd rather head straight to the website and peruse from there, it’s here: The Monumental Mural Art of John Pugh.

A trip to the GE Monogram Experience Center

Last week I flew to Louisville, Kentucky (earlier post is here) to attend a 2-day seminar on GE Monogram’s product line along with a group of designers from all over the States who were specifically invited to attend. The evening we arrived, we were greeted by our hard-working hosts, and got a chance to get to know one another before the next day.

   

One of the perks: the get-together was in the penthouse suite of Hotel 21C with views of downtown Louisville. The penguins are part of the hotel’s contemporary art display – a bit far from home, poor dears, and sunburned to a crisp….

What I was looking forward to was the promise of cooking – not only on the induction, but also with the Advantium, and Monogram gas range – as well as some product knowledge on everything from refrigeration to microwaves. One of the things I’ve heard both in the industry and in consumer forums was the expectation that one could simply buy the latest appliances and sail forth in the new kitchen.

It’s not true.

 

Impressions of Louisville: plenty of positive downtown restoration, a baseball walk of fame, and my unexpected shower guest.

The new appliances are so much faster that they take a while to get used to. Certainly my own clients have reported burning food on their new inductions, and how their typical cooking times and menus were thrown off until they got used to the new speeds. I wanted to see it for myself.

One of the interesting bits of trivia that stuck with me is that the GE facilities are so large they have their own zip code, 40225. Certainly, the center isn’t tiny – it’s 9,000 square feet alone, with a culinary studio, a showcase gallery where we had most of our training, and a wine-tasting room where we ate our final meal we prepared ourselves.

 

Our first morning at the Center in the greeting area, and then to our work stations where we would spend a satisfying amount of time cooking. We divided into groups of 4 in as many stations. Our experienced chefs, Brian Logsdon and Chef Joe Castro, made it too easy for us.

First off, induction is fast. The GE induction has a touch-pad system. Turning an element up to 9, the highest, can have your oil smoking in less than 30 seconds. Fast, fast, fast. It wasn’t an issue at all when I was working on the induction alone. It was when we had a “friendly”  Iron Chef competition the next day (friendly, hah), that the scheduling went right out the window. I kept having to adjust the controls and removing the pan from the heat.

Yes, you heard right. We had to prepare our lunch the next day and the chefs awarded the winners. No pressure.

 

The lovely and talented interior designer, Andie Day and myself. Andie made a killer no-flour chocolate cake with a raspberry pure, but we still lost out to the winners, including one of our other Blogger19 family on the far right, the equally lovely and talented Sabrina Velandry.

I have to say I was most impressed with the new Advantium speedcook. It’s now speedcook, warming oven, true European convection and 950w microwave. The 120 volt cooks 4 times as fast as a regular oven and the 240 cooks 8 times as fast. To you, that means a 4 lb. chicken which would normally take about 1 hour 20 minutes takes about 25 minutes -- no pre-heating. And that's where it can throw your cooking times off when you’re preparing a meal (but your ravenous family will be happy...)

Andie tweets while our other team members talk to GE co-ordination guru, Nancy Pollock. The Advantium oven is behind her at the top.

And it worked great – there was no difference in taste at all. We had grilled ham and cheese sandwiches which were perfectly toasted, and our asparagus was just right. There’s an intuitive dial for selecting the times for what you need to cook, and enough room on the interior to rotate a 9x13 casserole pan.

I didn’t get to use the 48” gas range as much as I wanted, but one of the positive things I’ll note for those of you interested – it’s the only one of the pro-ranges that an 18x26 caterer’s tray will fit in. What I especially liked was that the grates were not only individual units for easy lifting and cleaning, but each one was designed with a reversible scooped design for woks. No extra attachment, no need for flat-bottom woks. So you could have 4 woks going at the same time, if needed -- and since all 4 burners pack a whopping 18,000 BTUs per burner, imagine all the stir frying going on. (If you need eaters, call me.)

I’d like to thank the hardworking staff at the GE Monogram Experience Center, as well as the team and product managers, who not only kept us informed but sat with us during their lunches to discover our likes and dislikes.

And I forgot to mention that the clients who have mastered the faster cooking times are very, very smug indeed. I bet with another week, I'd have figured it out too.