Kelly's Kitchen Sync

Why you should read (& re-read) your appliance specs

Allow me to point out an interesting feature on the Electrolux’s dual fuel built-in range. By interesting, I mean pay close attention or you'll be crying by installation.

In this case, I’m referring to Electrolux’s EW30GS65G.

First of all, note the lovely flare at the top of the unit. Lovely flare. Translation: “What in the heck is that wider section going to do to the design and installation of the cabinets and counters?”

One of the already existing challenges of slide-in or built-in ranges is that the range door is sometimes slightly wider than the actual oven width itself. For frame cabinets, this isn’t a big issue – most frame cabinets doors are slightly smaller than their cases, which gives us some breathing room.

However, if you’re planning on frameless cabinets, they don’t have a frame - the door is almost the same width (+/- 1/8").

So, if the oven door is wider, the cabinet drawers and doors on either side won’t open - the sides of oven door will overlap the cabinets and stop them from ever opening. (If you don’t know the difference between frame and frameless cabinets, it's here in an earlier blog post.)

With the Electrolux, we have more challenges. In the teeny-tiny printing on their specification sheet, it is written, Locate cabinet doors 1” minimum from the cutout opening. (The wording is in the middle of the illustration below.)

 

That’s the widest spacing I’ve seen so far on slide-in and built-in ranges. For your cabinet design, it now means that it doesn’t even matter whether the style will be frame or frameless, as neither one will work without modifcations here. We’ll need either fillers or spacers between the oven and frameless cabinets (which I use anyway) or extended stiles (the filler is built as part of the frame) on the framed cabinets. Either one will position the doors and drawers away from the oven door so they can open properly.

This is one of the reasons for me constantly parroting, “Read your specifications!” as well as “Kelly wants a martini!” (which aren’t entirely separate issues).

It’s also why your cabinet and counter prices also vary slightly after you select your appliances. I didn’t even point out the specification for the countertop:

31-1/2" rim. So that tells me how wide that flare is. It also tells me that the 3" high counter that the client and I planned will now no longer work as the specification again clearly states, "1-1/2" maximum counter thickness".

And that's why I constantly talk about the domino effect in kitchen (and bath) design and how every item you select affects every other item in the room.

Have a lovely day!

Edited to add: The appliance rep. let us know that as long as we build a platform, the 3" counter height should work. If my appliance gurus out there have run into the Electrolux details, let me know. I'll probably ping the manufacturer on Twitter.

What you should know about handmade tile

Our office manager/design assistant is ordering a batch of cream handmade tiles from a company she hadn’t used before, and our wonderful and very experienced tile installer offered her an excellent tip I’d forgotten, but thought you’d like to know.

With handmade tiles, the tile edges and thicknesses vary. That’s what you like it– that the tiles don’t look precise or machine flat, right?

However, all the pieces aren’t made at the same time, nor are they made by the same people. Perhaps the trim pieces --  the bullnose trims, the pencil liners, the deco tiles – are made on one day in a large batch, and the field tile (that’s the main tile on the wall, say your 3x6 subway tile), is made the next couple of days. Now add to this that the person who adds the color to the tile the one day applies it slightly differently than the person who works the following day.

That accounts for slight color and sometimes even sheen differences. This can even out (or at least be less noticeable) over the installation, but...if you’re missing a foot or so of extra field tile and you order a new batch, the color of this tile could be no where close to the rest. This is the worst case scenario and unfortunately, it doesn’t matter how many more batches you order because it’s never going to look right (unless you’re very, very lucky).

So, don’t stint on getting extra pieces, even if it adds up to an extra box or a couple dozen trim pieces left over. For the money you pay for them, you’ll think it’s very good insurance when some break or damage in freight or you need more than you thought you did.

Steampunk Sunday: Turn of the century kitchens

Kitchen illustration, 1900-1920 via 1912 Bungalow

If you’re looking for inspiration for your steampunk kitchen, check out an old post from 1912 Bungalow. If you click on the link or illustration, you’ll find a whole section of illustrations that Heather and David have compiled from old magazines that show what the kitchen of the 1900s-1920s actually looked like.

I’m smiling because this was clearly a city or town picture – out in the remote areas the kitchens were somewhat darker, with more wood:

Picture taken between 1900 and 1910, from Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection (via kountrylife.com)

But if you pour through the pictures from the 1912Bungalow link, you’ll see common themes for you to explore for your own steampunk flavors. The common threads are:

• Wood or coal burning ranges – the range was really the heart of the kitchen, especially when there wasn’t central heating
• Moldings around the room – this could be chair rails, or tile. Tile was only installed half-way up the walls
• Wood floors (country) or Linoleum(city) or small honeycomb tile
• Wall sconces or a single light over the sink – The wall sconces were a later invention. In the country, there might have been a kerosene lamp hung on a peg (depending on which part of the continent you were in.) Pay attention to the styling of the lamps – it’s becoming easier all the time to find reproductions of the lights you see in 1912Bungalow’s kitchen illustrations.
• Glass doors – Here it wasn’t to make the room feel larger, it was for the cook to find the small bottles of baking soda easily.
• Casement and single-hung windows – note the curtains. Not sure I see many of them in a steampunk home, although the cafe-style might work (it’s the one that covers only the bottom half of the window.)

PBS also had a wonderful series called The 1900 House. The website is still up. Pop on over and read what the Victorian cook had to deal with – dangerous coal stoves, gas lamps which sometimes shattered, and lack of refrigeration. One of the nice things with playing with the alternate reality of a steampunk kitchen is that we're much safer today. Phew.

Enjoy.

Is this the year of your remodel?

I don't know how it is in your neck of the woods, but I am run. off. my. feet with happy and excited new clients. Which is wonderful, but I am thinking that if all my other trade friends are as busy, there will be some serious order lag as manufacturers struggle to keep up with the demand. (A overly ornate way of saying shortages and delays until more workers are hired.)

Not complaining, merely noting.

So if this is the year you plan to remodel, build, or otherwise change your home, here are two thoughts for today:

1) The old days of instant gratification on ordering almost anything are no longer here. At least, not at the moment. They might be here at a later date, but those of us in the industry have already experienced anywhere from a week to a month extra ordering time (called "lead time") on everything from tiles to doors. We've seen more than a few mills closed and some retooling of many manufacturers - closing down satellite operations, etc.

For us in California, this is what I've heard the past two years: "They're not sending a delivery truck until it's full..." Of course, this year is, "Lookit the SNOW/RAIN/ICE!" Our mantra for the first part of this year will be: "Expect delays." Okay? Okay.

2) When you order your handles or knobs, or even your tile, make sure that you order spares. Murphy's Law states as soon as you order the exact amount:

a) one piece will be flawed, and the one new piece will not match anything including the original order, or

b) the line will be discontinued, or

c) you'll get the exact amount perfectly, but 6 months down the road something might happen which requires you to order a new piece. You'll now discover that section b) is now in effect.

Just ask me how I know as I sit here innocently whistling.*

* Dear clients reading along at home: This is all past experience rhetorical and has absolutely nothing to do with your projects. We're all good. Breathe. You know I'd let you know.

Pros: Be a client

So I'm working on other projects outside of the company that have nothing to do with the day job. It's a good learning experience on what not to do with clients.

This company was all happy to work with me right at the beginning. We had a great rapport. Then after the first part of the work was done, there was nothing. I sent emails, only a few because I believe people can be sidelined by life, by holidays, and by a hundred other things. I always give the benefit of the doubt.

But this -- no calls, no response to emails is disappointing.

Stepping outside myself and my growing dissatisfaction, I can only study my own emotional response to the lack of communication and see where so many people in our industry don't do as good a job as they could. (Failed expectations are the sole cause of anger. Ommmm.) And as with all failed expectations, now I start looking for things I wouldn't have paid attention to before -- such as how the lack of communication began once I paid my final deposit.

Now it's probably only coincidental, but when you grow dissatisfied with a company, your brain starts making things up. (For those of you who'll say it was a big mistake, etc., etc.: I believe in innocent until proven guilty.) The person in this company could have something happening in his or her life - an accident perhaps, but here's the thing: is it really so hard to send an email? I trust them still...but can't help but feel that as someone who constantly keeps my clients in the loop, can't they do the same?

It's like the cars around you who don't signal. We can't read minds.

Construction is well known for showing up at all hours without word to anyone. (There's a cartoon out there with a couple at the door staring at the contractor. The caption reads: "Wow. The economy's so bad that the contractor showed up when he said he would.")

 In some ways, it's amusing: Me, the person in construction, is complaining about the service that doesn't return my emails. But since I always have, promptly, I guess I expected others to do the same. And tracking the emotions that lead down a negative path is certainly interesting.

What are you doing to keep your clients in the loop?

Spot the kitchen errors #1- the answers

Well, didn’t you all come out to play with your mad kitchen design skillz!

A couple of days ago, we looked at an unfortunate design, most likely in a tract home. I’m thinking that budget was the #1 priority and “get some cabinets in there” was the design focus.

Here’s the kitchen again:

For those of you who didn’t play along at home, we all discovered:

1. Blank wasted panel between microwave and oven which denotes a stock cabinet. And no one thought to raise the oven in that space.
2. Angled glass wall cabinet hangs past the end of the counter and they hid it by adding a large purifier/chiller at the end.
3. Crown mold is undersized.
4. MLC of Havoc Among The Flowers said, “The microwave is too high.” Yes. I’ll just toss my soup up there and call it quits.
5. Bronwyn added, “Cook tops should have at least 18” of space on either side.” (For the rest of you out there, do you have any idea why? Because a pot diameter is at least 12” before you factor in a handle.)
6. She also added that, “they tried and failed to frame the sink with cabinets.” Narrow cabinets with useless open shelves are wasted in a smaller kitchen such as this – the end result is busy.
7. Did you notice that the stainless steel back panel behind the cook top isn’t the full width between the wall cabinets? They tried to line it up with the cook top and looks like they left 3" of space on either side to the wall cabinets. What do you think? Would you line it up with the cook top or the wider wall cabinets?
8. Jennifer from Ominivorous Child said, “And speaking of darts… is that how they decided where to stick the can lighting?” which I’m laughing over because that was my thought exactly.
9. Gaidigt added, “…have got to agree with previous posters. No counter space next to most of the appliances, appliances jammed together for extra heat build up, no apparent lighting or ventilation at the cook top, random layout of open shelves and glass front cabinets, and possible clearance issues when opening appliances.”
10. Also, did anyone notice that one glass interior is blonde and the other matches the door stain?
11. Lisa added a very good point: “Flammable wood cabinets smack up against the cook top. I realize it's not a gas cook top but I thought you still needed to have some clearance between a heat source and flammable material and there looks to be almost zero clearance.”

Well done, all of you! I might have added that the backsplash, flooring and counters do absolutely nothing to bolster the strength of the cabinet color – in trying to please everyone, the end result certainly doesn't please me, and sounds like it didn't please many of you either.

The biggest challenge with this kitchen is that it’s too small to add both the chosen appliances and the elaborate design details -- they've been copied from a much larger kitchen and not to anyone's advantage. This design should have had a range instead of a cook top and wall oven, which would have provided our landing space between the range and the refrigerator with good storage below.

Here’s a kitchen I designed with a bit more room which allows for the correct counter space (wanted a better picture but was in a hurry this morning to get to work and knew I wouldn't have to check permissions. It has the better spacing between the cooktop and refrigerator which is so important.)

This might have been what they were trying to achieve (the oven is off to the left), but even then note the single glass door with cabinets on either side to frame and balance it. Crown molding is a better proportion here.

Would I have liked to have panels on the appliances? Sure. But both the clients and I felt the appliances were in fine working order for now…

Spot the kitchen errors #1

I found this on Istock and had to buy it to show you what NOT to do.

Judging from the photographer’s description, this is a real kitchen. *sigh* On the surface this seems to be nice enough. My guess is spec. home, done for looks and so poorly designed when it could have been better. Can you find all the errors that make this kitchen not such a great deal?

I’ll start you off with three (not just the obvious ones):

1. Dead giveaway that these are a bargain stock cabinet?  6 sq. feet of tall oven cabinet wasted between the oven and microwave for a blank panel. Okay, I’ll give you two-for-the-price-of-one here: Why did they spend the extra money to separate the oven and cook top if they’re only going to raise the oven 4” higher than a range? There’s a whole acre above it and they couldn’t be bothered to raise the oven. 
2. Let’s hide the mistake where the angled wall cabinet with the glass hangs past the end of the counter by adding a large purifier/chiller (which could have been eliminated from blocking the door if they’d added a unit at the sink.)
3. Excuse me. I need to water the crown mold so one day it’ll grow biiiiiiig and strong – or at least match the scale of the sub-molding beneath it.

I can easily spot six more. What do you see?

Design, longevity, and "once bitten..."

My designer mother and I were talking this morning about how being in this business for so long sometimes isn’t a good thing, because we have a hard time getting over unfortunate experiences.

We remembered a huge company who could never get the lip on their drop-in cast-iron or vitreous china sinks straight. It was so lovely, the gentle waves of the sink edge against the counter. (Argh. No, not really.) We went through at least 5 for one project and gave up. This was 15 years ago. Can’t even look at their new product lines today.

Or when a counter company affiliated with a big company refused to talk to independent designers, architects, or contractors. Slammed the door hard whenever we all asked and were less than gracious. Then the market fell out, they dissolved their partnership, and now they couldn’t be more friendly. I’m friendly too – but their product isn’t in our showroom.

Or a local fabrication company who, when the commercial market was flying high, decided to drop all its residential work – smack in the middle of our projects. I’m glossing over frustration and anguish that caused. Then, commercial projects fell off the planet and now they’re back to residential, but as the owner said ruefully, “I burned a lot of bridges.”  (Yes. Because unfortunately we’re not really sure you won’t do it again.)

I deliberately haven’t mentioned any names. We all make mistakes. Luckily for us, the good outweighs the bad -- plumbing manufacturers who have never made a misstep, appliance companies who couldn’t listen harder or be more gracious and people-oriented, and cabinet lines where everyone feels like family. (A happy family.)

One of the biggest improvements I see with the birth of social media is that companies can’t treat independents and small businesses as isolated cases, like they used to in the “old days” when representatives walked through the door and pronounced the standard default: “it’s all your fault and an installation error”. Sure, it can be the lack of knowledge on our side too, but small businesses were never treated as having much swaying power (and it was hard to check with other companies unless we picked up the phone, or talked at meetings.) Today we can. Our conglomerate of designers, architects, contractors, and fabricators cross-check if it is indeed our error…world-wide.

Which isn’t a bad thing for all of us…especially our clients who reap the benefits. In the meantime, mom and I will have to stop flinching whenever clients ask for cast iron sinks….

Steampunk Sunday: Furniture links

Okay, I have two interesting websites on steampunk furniture for your perusal.

1) Dennis Slootweg is a Dutch designer whose steampunk furniture has already made its way into various steampunk sites over the past three years or so.

Lage roestkast

                                            Gesloten Roestkast no2

His vision of steampunk is hard edge, with a nod to industrial factory 1984 (or would that be 1884?) The pieces all have some element of recycling and rust to them, and he likes metal and wood (not unlike the Modernists at the last turn-of-the-century).

2) Because We Can is an Oakland, California design-build studio just a skip over the hill from me. They have CNC routers and engineered plywood and aren’t afraid to use them to create some truly whimsical pieces. I figure at some point I’ll be asking them to design something for a project or at the very least bribe them with cookies for a trip to their place.

 

  A nod to Art Nouveau: Teak and maple chairs created for a private residence

 

Victorian-infused: Standing height table with table top/meeting board on hydraulic lift

 For those of you who pay attention to such things, these are the people who created the Jules Verne-inspired steampunk offices for Three Rings Design (a gaming studio) that I wrote about last year and you can see a portion of here:

Custom lights and screen divider in the background designed for the…hey, why doesn’t our office have a pool table?

Clicking on any of the photos will take you to their websites. Enjoy!

Quality: In the eye of the (generational) beholder?

Quality:

1. General: Measure of excellence or state of being free from defects, deficiencies, and significant variations. ISO 8402-1986 standard defines quality as "the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs."

2. Manufacturing: Strict and consistent adherence to measurable and verifiable standards to achieve uniformity of output that satisfies specific customer or user requirements.

3. Objective: Measurable and verifiable aspect of a thing or phenomenon, expressed in numbers or quantities, such as lightness or heaviness, thickness or thinness, softness or hardness.

4. Subjective: Attribute, characteristic, or property of a thing or phenomenon that can be observed and interpreted, and may be approximated (quantified) but cannot be measured, such as beauty, feel, flavor, taste.

- via The Business Dictionary

 

Yes, I’m back to the quality question again. Earlier I mentioned attending an Ellen Cheever, CMKBD, ASID, CAPS, talk last month on future design trends. For those of you who don’t who Ellen Cheever is, she’s one of my gurus growing up in kitchen design. There were a very few “stars” in our field, and she was one (and still is).

Anyway, she said something during the talk that my little brain glommed onto: That quality means something different to each generation. Well, sure. No big deal, right? Until she said this, “For Boomers, good quality never included plastic. Gen-Y or Millennials grew up with it.”

For Boomers (and trailing Boomers, aka Gen-X), quality means real wood and metal and glass. Working parts. Pieces that stay together for a lifetime. 30-year toasters. Items they could fix by running to the local hardware store for parts. Items were saved up for, ordered on layaway in a store, or by mail from a catalogue (which rarely had sales). And no, one didn’t return something just because -- not unless one wanted to get laughed out of the store.

However, Millennials grew up with plastics as a part of their lives. From toys to phones, computers to microwaves, plastic is part of life. Millennials don’t expect items to last 10 years, let alone 30 – and why would they when improved generations of products come out almost every year? More importantly, how could they fix them? Most devices are so complicated they need specialized technicians to service the warranties, or…they’re tossed away.

Now, when I was young and knew everything, I didn’t believe my parents when they said things like “You pay for quality once. You never stop paying for cheap.”  I do now, but I also see my clients paying good money for high-end appliances that need repair in less than 2-5 years or new products that come out on the market that need tweaking less than a year later or even new companies that come and go.

Some say that quality is in the eye of the beholder and everyone’s different. I say how much more are we going to accept items that cost more to fix than they do to replace, especially when the recycling side of things isn’t keeping up?  Will this next generation appreciate or demand long-term quality as they get older? Or will their understanding of how items last (or don’t last) mean a revision in what defines quality for our homes?

I’m stuck between the two generations – I see both viewpoints, but I don’t know the answers. Do you?