Kelly's Kitchen Sync

What does a designer do on a day off?

• heads to San Francisco to view turn-of-the-century architecture

• thinks about future blog posts
• tries (and fails) to catch up on all the reader email
• tries (and fails) to catch up on all the press releases
• meets friends for sushi

• heads out into the sunshine to drink coffee and write book
• thinks about next book
• mentally fusses over design details of current projects
• berates self for fussing over design details of current projects
• stares into space a lot
• wonders how did the cobwebs got there when she just dusted 

And how was your weekend?

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

The “Four Freedoms” gallery at Norman Rockwell Museum.Photo courtesy of Berkshire Visitors Bureau. All rights reserved.

 

If you're going to be a kitchen designer worth your salt in the U.S., here's what you need to know: Kitchen design revolves around Thanksgiving. No, really. Bigger than Christmas or any holiday you can think of. You know what that means to you?

“The oven has to be big enough for the turkey.”

Yep. It's all about The Bird -- the number one phrase in all kitchen discussions. It doesn't matter if a person doesn’t even cook the rest of the year. You, the designer, need to make room for an oven big enough for a 10-30 pound bird. (4.5 – 13.6 kilos) Or more.

Oh, I fought it at first. I’m not from here. Thanksgiving is a nice holiday where I come from, but it isn’t looked on with as much anticipation as it is in the U.S.

Some distant memory of an NKBA study once said that the average family of 4 opened the refrigerator approx. 120 times a day, but an oven only 3 times a week. My very logical brain (okay, sometimes it’s logical) hated the thought of compromising a design for a single occasion.

(No, those of you who use your ovens all the time, I’m not referring to you. I had clients who barely knew how to turn on the oven. They weren’t even sure they’d be cooking for Thanksgiving. The only thing they knew was the oven had to be big enough for…well, you know.)

In the rest of the world, a 24” wide oven (or ovens) are perfectly acceptable. And with the speed ovens today, family lifestyles, the sheer power of the new appliances compared to 50 years ago is like comparing the telegraph with the IPhone.

Forget about it. As a designer, you won’t win. Accept. Sit back. Enjoy turkey. Think of other designerly suggestions:

 

And have a happy Thanksgiving.

Give your existing cabinets a lift with new knobs

 

“Cabinet knobs and pulls are the jewelry of the cabinets.”

Yes, it’s a trite saying (especially if you find yourself repeating it often over the years), but I suppose if it wasn’t true, designers wouldn’t keep using it. There’s nothing that can give your cabinets a facelift than by updating the knobs and pulls.

Here are a couple of tips for selecting new knobs:

1) Keep the most used handles and knobs as functional as possible.

Under the sink, at the recycle center, where the pots and pans are…these are areas you don’t need something that pinches your fingers, or has something with sharp edges. These have to be as smooth and ergonomic as possible.

Think of smoothness, like the knobs above, instead of this:

 

No, really, it’s a knob – Emenee’s Sea Life Branch Coral Knob via MyKnobs.com)  

 

2) If you like a touch of whimsy, add a couple of decorative handles in a focal point

I really like glass. It has depth and catches the light. If your family is  at the “let’s play football in the kitchen” stage, I might save these for later.

 

Cal Crystal’s Artx Oak Leaf (via MyKnobs.com)  

  Cirrus Sietto handmade glass knobs (via MyKnobs.com)  

What do you think?

Steampunk Sunday: Wild West Plumbing

In searching for some inspiration, I ran across Bearfort Lodge - Log Cabin Life and the Art of Log Home Maintenance. Many of you wouldn’t know, but I grew up in some pretty rustic areas with log cabins and homes. My grandparents were cattle ranchers and the family homestead was a log house.

So, my mind immediately veered off to visions of Wild West steampunk log homes, especially when the blog owner, blogged about making his own bathroom sink and faucet.

Credit: Bearfort Lodge Blog. (Click on photo to go to site.)

I might have suggested a cross-handles with porcelain tabs and “hot” and “cold” written on them for that steampunk look, but that’s me.

The plumbing he discusses in his post that he's emulating is an American company named Sonoma Forge. Located in Petaluma, California and created by blacksmiths, the lines are mainly being used as a textural/industrial finish in contemporary homes, but would work very well for our steampunk home.

Hands Faucets E-On Style in rustic copper. Credit: Sonoma Forge.

Waterbridge shower head in rustic nickel. Credit: Sonoma Forge.

 

CIXX Premium Lavatory Faucets in hand-forged brass. Credit: Sonoma Forge.

What do you think? Is all we need is a rinky-tink off-key piano or would you use these for your brick-and-beam?

But I'm already spending money for an architect...

A email comment by a reader has inspired this post for the day:

 

“…We are spending a pretty penny on architect fees and it feels wrong to spend more money on (kitchen) design and layout…”

Understandable. Yet, here you (and others ) are, emailing me with questions because something about your kitchen design isn’t working for you.

Yes, there are wonderful architects who have a fair amount of training in kitchen design, but, boy, this field is highly specialized, especially in mid- to higher-end homes, and only growing more specialized all the time. I don't know how architects can keep up with all the products for an entire home -- I can barely keep up with all the new kitchen products arriving on a daily basis, never mind yearly.

Here's the sticking point: every kitchen product isn't always compatible with others. Every product has its own quirks. The BTUs of the high-powered gas ranges are getting so high I joke we’re all going to need welding masks to fire one up. I’m not even going to get into all the wireless options coming into the market. My book that I’m endlessly muttering about and will never be finishedwoeWOE writing is already 250 pages filled with nothing but those details and I’m struggling to keep it from growing into 300 pages and beyond. (Spring 2011, o patient ones.)

If your architect isn’t achieving your ideal result (and you’ve discussed it with him or her first to resolve it), then you have to tell me which is more preferable – saving money by not hiring a kitchen designer and living with the results, or spending some extra insurance money? Because the worst thing in the world is saying after a project is, “I wish we had…”

More simply put (because my brain supplied me with this gem. Be afraid.)

Think of an architect as your head-to-toe personal stylist. He (or she) is the ultimate arbitrator of your overall presentation. But if he isn’t a specialist in hair coloring, why would you let him dye your hair instead of hiring a hairdresser?

Hey, at least hair grows out.

Edited to add: My designer mother -- traitor! -- gave me the Glare: "Not all kitchen designers have the in-depth degree of expertise you're talking about either. You have to tell them that there are varying degrees of kitchen designers, just as there are varying degrees of architects." And hairdressers. Okay,  point to her....

Steampunk Sunday: Lighting

So I’ve got a good one today, courtesy of editor Alice Liao of KBB Collective, the column I contribute to. I bet she was laughing as she posted, knowing that I'd be all over these for you steampunk fans.

The Nautilus, Jefferson Mack Metal via KBB Collective.

Jeffersom Mack Metal, the makers of these lights and more,  is located in San Francisco, but I’ll direct you to Alice’s column, Lighting, Jules Verne Style,  for more photos and links. There’s also a great link about Jules Verne at the end of the column, if you’re curious.

Enjoy! Maybe I can convinced the nice folks at Mack Metal for  a future tour. In the meantime, drop a comment at either KBB Collective, or here, and let us know what you think.

California and Vermont: Are you breaking the law selecting the wrong faucets?

You do know that not all plumbing fixtures can be used in California, don't you? You don't? Oh, dear. Let's go over it, shall we?

In January 2010, California and Vermont adopted some of the highest restrictions on the amount of lead content in plumbing fixtures in the country.

For California, it’s the AB 1953 (California’s Lead Plumbing Law): "No person shall introduce into commerce, for use in California, any pipe, pipe or plumbing fitting, or fixture intended to convey or dispense water for human consumption through drinking water or cooking that is not lead free. This includes kitchen faucets, bathroom faucets, and any other end-use devices intended to convey or dispense water for human consumption through drinking or cooking."

For Vermont, it’s the S.152: "...no person shall sell or offer for sale in or into the state of Vermont, or use in the state of Vermont, solder or flux for plumbing containing more than 0.2 percent lead, or plumbing fixtures whose wetted surfaces contain more than a weighted average of 0.25 percent lead.Beginning January 1, 2010, no person shall sell or offer for sale in or into the state of Vermont plumbing fixtures containing lead. 

As of January 2010, it became illegal to sell products that do not meet these requirements in both states.

If you didn't know that yet, you need to know, especially those of you who buy online, from out-of-state, or from a less-than-reputable plumbing store. Many plumbing manufacturers have adapted to these state laws -- some with a partial lineup of compliant fixtures, and others with full lines. It’s not good enough to say they are compliant as the fixtures need to be tested by an independent third-party testing facility and will have the paperwork to back it up. These are the ones you need when selecting your plumbing fixtures for your kitchen and bath.

Search for “AB 1953 compliant” or “S152 compliant” on the fixtures of your choice.

(Previous faucets and fixtures sold and installed before this date do not fall under either bill.)

 

Links:

SafePlumbing.org: Lead Plumbing  - Offers some more explanations and a list of compliant companies.

If you’re a manufacturer and have AB 1953 and S152 compliant fixtures, I invite you to post them here.

On the outside looking in...contractors and designers

Amazing what you find behind the tile: leaks, mold, no waterproofing, no pressure-balanced valves and wood. Wood?!?

You know, in our field, there’s so many misunderstandings and assumptions that could be solved by some good old-fashioned communication. Not finger-pointing, just simple communication – by trades, by designers, and yes, by clients.

My current focus this week:  I’ve been reading stories of good contractors wondering why they’ll work with some designers again. The crux is that the good guys -- the ones who have to stand behind their work and take pride in their talents -- are getting frustrated dealing with said designers because they come in with such unrealistic budgets for their projects. The budgets aren't always stated upfront – no, it's after the contractor has spend some hours coming up with a thoughtful bid. 

I hate to say it, but many designers have no real idea of the very legitimate reasons contractors have for their numbers. They simply don’t know construction, and they should. These designers get a bunch of quotes, discover they’re much higher than they told their clients, and get scared because they don't know what they're getting (other than higher numbers), so they go with the lowest bidder – to the detriment of the client, and themselves.

There is so much more than simply walking into a room, like a bathroom, costing the materials, and pronouncing, “Oh, it’s only going to cost you $ 18,000.00 or (fill in the blank.)” Especially if the bathroom is old. Any designer who doesn't at least talk to you about the possible structural and non-structural elements should be a heads-up sign. 

In a wet room where water can shorten the life of any product, one has to think not only about the surfaces, but what's going on with the sub-surfaces.

I honestly don’t know how a designer can walk into a 1960s bathroom, look around, add costs for all fixtures, tiles, and lighting and call it quits. Unless they’ve got x-ray vision, they can’t possibly know what is going on behind the walls, ceiling, and floor. Hint: There's always something hidden and happening behind the walls. Here are some of the things I’ve seen:

• The crack in the shower pan that was so bad I could practically see the floor joists beneath.
• No one else had told my client that if they were replacing a tiny tub with a two-person jetted tub they should change out the 1/2” water supply line to a larger one...and replace their undersized hot water tank for a larger one at the same time. (That is, unless they liked waiting 2 hours for their tub to fill, and by the end of the fill, the water would be pretty cool.) But the other bids were certainly much less.
• A shower tile that had been installed to drywall. Yes, drywall in a shower. It also wasn’t very dry, but it sure knew how to cave in. And no, we weren't going to replace it with new drywall like some others (Drywall is not for use in wet locations. Neither is greenboard, a sort of wax-covered drywall that many inexperienced contractors think is okay. It's not.)
• Mold and wetness can destroy a bathroom in very short order. Or is that odor?
• Someone decided not to add an extra sheet of non-flexible backer board between the sub-floor and floor tile and simply glued the tile to the sub-floor. Yes, glued. (Hardi-board is a non-flexible backing board.) Without it, when the house settled and the plywood subfloor flexed, the tile and grout cracked. Repeatedly. The homeowner understood exactly why his original tilesetter was      $ 2000.00 less than the others, but it didn't really help as the entire floor had to be done again.
• The lack of a ceiling fan in a bath where the teenage sons took up to 3 long, hot showers a day. Sorry, cracking the window open in this case isn't going to work. 

Designers, if all your bids are coming in higher, the first thing I might suggest is sitting down with your contractors and finding out why. Going with someone who fits your idea of budget when all the rest are higher is a clear warning sign. What is being eliminated in order to get to your price?

By the same token, contractors, if you could take the time to convey some of the reason (which you might think is very basic, “I added about $ 300.00 of insulation in the floors, walls and ceilings – your current insulation is non-existent which is why it always felt drafty. My last client reported their heating bill went down when we…”) to the designer and client, everyone would benefit. 

You folks out there reading this: If your budgets are much lower than what reputable contractors are telling you, don’t be so hasty in beating it out of there to find someone to fit to your budget – especially in a kitchen and bath, and especially if you’re going to stay in your home for a long time. I’ve been called in to fix remodeled bathrooms in as little as 3 years.

Give your trades a chance to educate you. Listen to them. You might agree, you might not. At the very least, if you’re going to get bids, ask what’s not included instead of what is. You might be surprised.

Steampunk Sunday: hexagonal floor tiles

Okay,if you came to me today and said, “Kelly, help me design my steampunk home”, one of the choices I’d ask you to strongly consider would be at least one or two areas of hexagonal tile floor.

Original hexagonal tiles from a 1908(ish) apartment entryway in San Francisco

With this material, we're pulling our inspiration from the periods between 1890-1920, although luckily for us, installation methods have improved and it's much easier to install the tile today. Many of the original tiles were set piece-by-piece in cement. This made the surface completely flat, but it was labor intensive and somewhat of a nightmare to replace popped tiles.

There is a slight difference, though, for you purists out there. Many of today’s manufactured mosaics have a slight pillowed effect rather than the true flat, plus they’re laid usually in 12x12 squares on mesh backing with space for grouting.

If you're trying to match your existing home tile design, make sure you look to a tile restoration place  or get some help before proceeding because there really is a side-by-side noticeable difference (which is my long-winded way of saying, "It'll look horrible.")

In many of the older homes, or at the stoop of a shop, these tiles were bordered with a pattern. One of the strongest designs was either a Greek key pattern or some variation. Note that most of the border patterns will usually be a square mosaic.

 

  Geometric borders, like this Greek key pattern from Ann Sacks, are still extremely popular today. (Photo: Ann Sacks)

You homeowners with turn-of-the-century homes, I’m not filling you in on anything new – your homes most likely will have some variation of these designs in a bathroom or kitchen.(It's also a case of history repeating itself -- we’re following the generations before us who followed Roman mosaic design.) But it's a perfect element to add in the midst of harder steampunk elements.

 

Here's what the combination of octagonal tile in the center and a modified square tile geometric border looks like. (Photo: American Restoration Tile)

Where might we place this design? A front entry, a downstairs hallway, a bathroom. If you had wood floors in your kitchen family room, I might suggest a “mat” at the door of a border and inset.

In the meantime, here are some lovely links that not only show the hexagonal, penny, basketweave and all numbers of equally suited tiles for our Steampunk foyers, but also the encaustic tile that I've discussed in a previous blog post here.

Who has a photo they'd like to share of their own home?

Links:

American Restoration Tile  is a custom ceramic tile manufacturing company who specialize in reproducing the historic tiles.

Old House Online has some lovely tile patterns for old house bathrooms.

Tile Source specialize in Victorian tiles and geometric floor tiles. Even before you start searching through the site, I recommend sitting through the slide presentation of the front page.

A Reader Asks: Need to replace old Modern Maid -- help!

Hi Kelly

I have an apartment in NYC with a very old kitchen unit.  It's from the 1970s called a Modern Maid "Cook and Clean" and consists of an eye level oven mounted on top of a gas cooktop with a dishwasher underneath the cooktop.  The dishwasher is actually a separate piece from the cooktop/oven.  All 3 units need to be replaced now and there's only room in the small kitchen to replace within this space. 

I'd really like to keep a dishwasher.  The space is 30 inches wide.  I have looked high and low to find a cooktop that can be placed over dishwasher and still come to about 37 inches in height total.  There doesn't seem to be anything that exists.  Have you seen a set up like this before in today's modern kitchens?
thanks!  

Alexis

 

 

     

 

Hi Alexis,

Sorry to take a while to get back to you – I had to do some digging. I see this unit every so often here too, but without the dishwasher. We call it an "over-under oven". And yes – it’s no longer made and hasn’t been in some time.

This wasn’t a cobbled together unit either– it was designed by Modern Maid so the dishwasher (purchased separately) could be installed and/or replaced underneath the cooktop. Any dishwasher would do; however, since all 3 units are in trouble, you’ll definitely need some other options.

 

“One just can’t install a gas cooktop over

a dishwasher and call it quits.”

I find myself wondering that if there are kitchens where someone actually thought to install an oven over a cooktop, or a gas cooktop over a dishwasher. It shouldn't be done as it might void the manufacturers’ warranties, since they aren't designed for this application. Me, I start thinking of d/w insulation posing fire risk from the cooktop and wondering if the combination of standard appliances might violate a code or two.

The Modern Maid units were specifically manufactured to fit together like they did, much the same way today's compact kitchens do.  

 Avanti Compact Kitchen 30" (with my thanks to Rory Swann from Remodel Crazy for the idea). Unfortunately, none come with a dishwasher below them.

 If you were my client (and since you said all the units have to be reinstalled into the same location, I might recommend the following:

• a single dishwashing dish drawer
• a cooktop
• speed cook oven that is rated for above-the-range use and can be vented.

With that in mind, here’s Fisher-Paykel new single DishDrawer. At 35-1/4” wide, it might work if you have the extra space. If not, then select a 24” wide single dishdrawer. You could add a door panel on it like below, if you wanted the drawer to disappear, but the basic reason for installing a single drawer is to we can position it as high or as low as needed for the cooktop depth (keeping in mind that we need to  watch where gas supply line is.)

Fisher-Paykel Dishdrawer (via Appliancist)

Fisher-Paykel Integrated single DishDrawer, 24” wide

Where the old oven is I might suggest a speed oven. Not a microwave, a speed-oven. And not just any speedoven, but one that can withstand the heat of the gas cooktop below it.

 

“A gas cooktop or range

should be vented.”

 

You also have a second challenge –a gas cooktop should be vented  (if I remember correctly, the vent in the Modern Maid is hidden behind that top compartment above the oven – lift it up and the fan starts. Or there’s a switch behind the panel - something like that.) Does yours vent now?

If so, we might look at the GE Cafe Advantium Speedcook oven, which would provide everything from speed cooking to convection to microwave. Yes, it is smaller, but you'd be amazed at what you can cook in it.

 GE Cafe Advantium 120v Above-the-range oven, 30” wide

If your ventilation’s iffy (gas does, well, off-gas, and in a small area, I always wonder about long-term health if you’re an avid cook) or even worse, you don't have any ventilation, I might suggest an induction cooktop instead of gas.

(New York apartments electrical systems being what they are, I'd check if the induction would have enough electricity -- most of them require 40 to 50amps. Combined with a 220v speedcook, it could spell death to your electrical panel. Please check first before you buy your appliances.)

Miele’s Induction cooktop, 30” wide

Miele’s cooktop is only 3” high, and the specs recommend a minimum of 4-1/2” air clearance inside the cabinet from counter to the next surface inside the cabinet, which in your case is the dishwasher. That means no top drawer between the induction cooktop and the dishwasher, plus the cooktop needs at least 2” of clearance next to a wall. (Always read the specs!)

Unfortunately, none of choices are inexpensive and all of them rely on you changing out at least one or two cabinets in that section. Everything is custom except for the cooktop (even the new cabinet for the cooktop and dishdrawer will need to be custom), but at least it’s a start.

If anyone else has some ideas, please chime in. We can always use the help! Good luck with your remodel, Alexis!