Kelly's Kitchen Sync

Dark kitchen design answers

 

A couple of days ago, I mentioned these points about this kitchen:

• Why does the microwave have to be so high? If this “custom” home was made for a family, Jr. better be a basketball player, that’s all I’m saying….at least he can lift mom up to the microwave and the hood fan controls while he's at it.
• Look again at the pantry in the corner: Open the left freezer door on the refrigerator very, very carefully….one wild swing will either crack the glass on the pantry door or the handle on the pantry door will leave a lovely mark on the refrigerator. Also, I hope that pantry door has a door stop because those ovens look terrified. No, they really do.
• Standard receptacle outlet colors are white, almond, ivory, black and BROWN.  WHY IS THERE A WHITE RECEPTACLE ON A DARK BROWN CABINET?!?!  *twitches helplessly*

I also asked if you could spot the 2 other things I might change in this kitchen. One is design, one is color. Let’s tackle the color first:

 

Color: Most of you guessed the very white pantry door in the middle of that very dark room. You’re right; it would have looked much better to be another color or matching or anything but that bright, bright white. The glass would have provided the lightness (also as reader Aimee pointed out, the backsplash is contemporary. As I point out, the pantry door…isn’t.) Consistency in design could have been stronger. Instead, the door could have been something to compliment the splash. 

Design: There is roughly 12” of counter between the gas cook top and the tall microwave cabinet. If you’re a right-handed cook, there is not enough counter or landing space for you to off-load a pot or plate something on the right counter. A pot diameter is 12”. (Edited to add: 0ops.Wrote this late. It should read 10" without handles.)

The reason I’m bringing this up rather than other items is that this could have been avoided so easily.

Here’s the first: why is the tall microwave cabinet so large? I’ll bet I know why: in semi-custom cabinets, standard cabinet widths run 30”, 33”, and 36” wide. In stock cabinets, 33” is usually missing, leaving only 30” and 36”. Perhaps this microwave with the trim kit made it too tight to use a 30” wide cabinet, we’ll never know, but there was plenty of room to use a 33” wide cabinet and it wasn’t used.

So why didn’t they change out a $ 200.00 microwave and eliminated the trim kit? Again, we’ll never know, but if they had, they could have used the 30” wide tall cabinet. That would have given that kitchen a useful 18” base and wall cabinet between the cook top and the tall cabinet – useful enough for almost everything.

As another option, why wasn’t the tall microwave cabinet eliminated entirely in favor of counter and extra wall cabinets? Who knows?

Right now, the only way to off-load the hot casserole from the ovens is to walk across the path between the refrigerator and sink to the island…and the only way to get a drink of water from the refrigerator is to get the glass and…wait. Where do we get a glass?

For a single or a couple, not so much a problem – this might not come up. A family with teenagers? It all depends on a) how often the ovens are used. And if they’re used a lot, the teenager is simply going to have to wait to get the glass when the oven door is open…especially if someone decided that it’d be a great idea to store the glasses in the pantry.

See? Isn’t kitchen design fun?  *grin*

3 things you should know about dark cabinets

This is my second go-around on dark cabinets, meaning this is the second time they've hit their wave of popularity in my design career. Here are some tips to think about:

1.They’re…dark. Thank you, Captain Obvious. But what I’m really saying is lighting in any room relies on the reflectance levels of the floors, walls and ceilings. If you darken any one or all of these surfaces, you need to “bump” up your lighting plan.

By natural happenstance, ordinary woods absorb light; paints reflect it. Dark woods are very absorbent. So, if your kitchen was white and you're changing the cabinets to expresso or chocolate or any food-related color, you must bump the levels up. (I see the photographer of this shot had to add a floor light – see it reflecting off the island at the bottom of the shot?)

2. They show scratches easily. Yes, I just said that wood absorbs light, so you would think it would also hide this sort of thing. However, like a black car, the type of finish or sheen on your doors can also act as a soft gloss mirror. Have them opposite windows or other strong lighting and dents and scratches show.

Your installer will need to take extra care installing new cabinets – put the doors somewhere out of harm’s way until they’re ready to be installed. Don’t place them face-to-face where any small particle of grit might rub between them.

3. Contemporary slab doors require more adjustment. Okay, so I don’t have a photo here, but there’s something for those of you who want contemporary slab doors. I’d forgotten this one, but the square edges show slight adjustments as “crooked” very quickly.

 

In other news, 3 things to explain why all the rum is gone (your designer drank it out of desperation):

• I’m 5’4” – why does the microwave have to be so high? If this “custom” home was made for a family, Jr. better be a basketball player, that’s all I’m saying….at least he can lift mom up to the microwave and the hood fan controls while he's at it.
• Pantry in a corner: Open the left freezer door on the refrigerator very, very carefully….one wild swing will either crack the glass on the pantry door or the handle on the pantry door will leave a lovely mark on the refrigerator. Also, I hope that pantry door has a door stop because those ovens look terrified. No, they really do.
• Standard receptacle outlet colors are white, almond, ivory, black and BROWN.  WHY IS THERE A WHITE RECEPTACLE ON A DARK BROWN CABINET?!?!  *twitches helplessly*

It’s okay. I’m better now…really. There’s also 2 other things I might change in this kitchen – can you guess? One is design, one is color.

Two questions to help you set your level of quality

Every so often I get into a discussion with a young client about quality.

Here’s the deal: just because something looks great right now is no measure that it will stand up for the long run. Cabinets that are $ 4,000.00 for the kitchen are not “just as good” as the higher priced. Somewhere along the line, something has been cheapened to get you to that point – the boards, the screws, the finish, or the hardware will be of lesser quality. Will it look nice now? Sure. Will it last? Depends.

My designer mother once worked in the appliance/stereo section of a high-end department store. She’s the type to read manuals from cover to cover and then visit the manufacturers to see the progress. She once said of a dishwasher line, “Sure, it’s made at the same factory as the high-end line, but they use a cheaper screw to hold the liner. Plus while the door is the same, the liner is plastic instead of steel. But it’ll look good for half the duration of the higher-end model.”

So, here are the two question you might ask yourself when remodeling in your home:

• How long am I planning to stay in the home? 
• What would I hate to redo again during that time?

Now, I’m not all  “if you don’t buy the best quality, forget it”. Hopefully you’ll know that by now. However, I have been through a few cycles of young clients declaring that I didn’t know what I was talking about and five years later, they’re redoing it again because their original didn’t last.  (I’m more of an “eek, been-there-done-that and please don’t make the same mistake” designer.)

"I grew up with the mantra: “Keep the big-ticket items neutral” which simply means if you keep the cabinets, flooring and counters a basic color, you won't need to change them when (or if) you decide to redecorate."

Neutral covers a lot of bases in terms of color. Whether cabinets are a periwinkle blue or a cherry expresso, you can completely redecorate either kitchen easily, oh yes – it’s simply paint, handles, lighting, window treatments, moldings, and accessories – all the things that don’t require large scale construction or inconvenience.

In home design, there is only one way to lower the cost of a product and still maintain the quality: mass production or items made overseas in countries that don’t pay fair wages, and in the latter, I'm not so sure that corners aren't being cut somewhere else, too.

If a product seems too good to be true, it usually is.

A Reader Asks: Are distressed cabinets timeless?

 

I have always been interested in kitchen cabinets with that distressed look. Is that something that could be considered timeless? – Maude

 

Sure, Maude. Just ask any busy parents with two toddlers and a small dog that likes scrabbling up the cabinet to get to the…oh, that’s not what you meant. Timeless…not inevitable.

All joking aside, for those of you who don’t know, distressing is where new cabinets are made to look old – either a painted door with “rub-through” areas where the wood shows through, or with various dings, holes and cracks applied.

I think there’ll always be certain regions where distressed cabinets are timeless – older homes (my vision sees older farm homes and estate homes from the late 1700s-1800s), or regions where traditions don’t change from generation to generation.

Can distressing also be added to newer homes? Of course. We’ve seen a wave in the last decade of black, distressed kitchens in homes as late as last years. As with everything, it depends. 

A faintly worn detail for the doors and drawers.

Where I find they don’t always work is when the distressing either gets overwhelming, or doesn’t fit the home’s styling. (Unless some interior designer is using it as an element and has the skill to combine the textures, shapes and details to make it happen. It’s not easy to do well.)

While I might still see some of the requests in Northern California (our Tuscan-like climate and Italian-American population lends itself to some of this), we’re actually not seeing too much of it here. In a Colonial home in Philadelphia – I would think so.

There’s also the final consideration – if you like it, even if no one even knows what it is in your town, and you aren’t planning to sell your home for awhile, have  at it. Life’s too short to not surround yourself with the items you love.

Here, I found an album of distressed cabinet photos. You’re not alone, Maude. Have fun!

Spot the kitchen errors #4 - the answers

As I said on Twitter this week, my readers are wise in the ways of kitchen-fu. *bows*  You are all right and many of you noted the same things – the colors, the overemphasis on the wrong items, and...how all the elements as individuals seem fine until they're combined.

If I had to make an educated guess, I’d say that this kitchen was one of those that looked good on paper, but the people designing it simply didn’t have enough training in color or form. Here are the main points:

• The biggest crime: There’s too much of a good thing going on…everywhere! Someone simply took a bunch of design ideas and strung them together like this: “Oh, people like wood and white, I’ll add it. Slate. Let’s design something cool like that photo we saw. Don’t worry about the floor, we can’t change it anyway. And let’s tie in the wood around the room.” The end result is it’s busy.  As Lisa said, “To me there are three styles going on at once. The pine and the floors say "rustic", the painted cream colored cabinets say "contemporary", the counters and backsplash say "Tuscan".

There are certain design elements to shape, form, color that we as humans relate to on a purely biological level. Even if you don’t know anything about design, here’s what happened. In a busy room, without a “resting point” or focal point, our vision darts around the room. This makes us feel unsettled and unable to relax…and why this kitchen doesn’t cut it.

 

• And yet there’s not enough: Dale said this perfectly: “Bland colors / too monochromatic . . . needs dark color somewhere.”  Exactly. There’s no design 'oomph” to this – the pine isn’t cutting it as the dramatic element. We need something to override the “safety” of same color counter and backsplash.  Even a slightly darker green counter would have helped (but would mean changing the tile design).

 

•  Here’s how we save $ 1,000.00: Use legs if your kitchen has a traditional theme, but use them sparingly. A leg like these, which are really cut in half and mounted to a face, are anywhere from $ 250.00 – $ 400.00 and up. Again, with the “too much of a good thing”.

Second item: if you want to save money in your kitchen, pay attention to how many cabinets there are and their widths. In forcing the symmetry of matching drawer banks on either side of the oven, the design sacrificed what could have been a beautiful set of 36” – 39” pot drawers to the left of the oven. If I look in my books, cutting those two sets of cabinets to the left of the oven into one pot drawer unit would have cut another $ 300.00- 500.00 off the price and given far more value. Right now there’s not one base cabinet in there useful enough for pot storage that doesn’t involve crawling into the back.

 

• The woods are clashing. I call hickory the “piebald” of woods – it’s range of color from blond to rich browns is beautiful in the right setting…preferably where there isn’t a pine door that doesn’t even match any of the colors in the floor.

If the floor stayed, I would have either: a) stained it differently to even out some of the most radical pieces and b) selected a cabinet which was closer in tone. And no knots in the cabinets. It's either/or -- not both.

 

• When attempting a two-color cabinet in a kitchen is that you have to allow one of the colors to be a singular focal point. The combination of the oven and the sink so close to each other confuses our vision so we don’t know where to look first. Like many of you, if we absolutely had to go with with two-tone look, I might have said, “Fine. Let’s select the cook top/hood area and keep the sink white.”

 

• Here’s another: I thought for sure no one else would notice, but Darius caught it – the “ if you’re 5’4” or less, you’ll hate those upper cabinets” scenario: “ …the FIRST thing that stabbed me in the eye when I looked at this was how far off the counter the upper cabinets are…A 6x6 tile on diagonal will be app(ro)x 8 1/2" tall so there is 17". add the liner, another 1" and 2 ea 2x2 tiles stacked for a total splash height of a WHOPPING 22"!!!!” 

 

• Let’s talk about that trim. This might actually not have been so bad if some restraint had come into play. Instead of making all the crown mold wood, why not specify white for the crown, and add a wood pencil edge to the sub-molding?  Then match it with the light rail. Light background, pine line. Here, I'll show you.  You can’t see it in the photo below, but that pencil color ties in with the backsplash and other furniture in the room:

 

• Who wasn’t paying attention to the color and height of the outlets and the pencil liner? You all caught how much detail was going on with the backsplash when it didn’t have to, but there’s another issue, one of my pet peeves. If you look under the window to the left of the sink, see how the white horizontal outlet cutting in the middle of the pencil liner?  Gaidig noted it: “Also, I don't like how the pencil line is broken by the receptacle there.”

It could have been caught in the design stage if someone had taken the time to draw in the outlets. And white? White? Standard outlets come in white, almond, ivory, and brown. There are also color-matching outlets. Even almond or ivory would have been a less-glaring choice.

 

• Tile, tile, tile.  The less ornate the other elements of the room are – the cabinet doors, the flooring, and the counter – the more detail you can add to the backsplash. 

Oops. This would have looked much better without the 2x2 rows and the pencil liner. Ditto for the pencil liner around the relief tile behind the cook top – it’s not doing anyone any favors. Plus, one of you caught it (Lisa?) – slate absorbs oils like crazy. Not only does it absorb oil but you have to order plenty of extra – you never know what colors will be in the box. I once chose a copper slate that came horribly orange – all 10 boxes of it. A little iron oxide makes a nice rust too.

Tara said it: “The attempted focal point above the cook top is a complete failure in that it gets lost and looks like a mistake; it is out of scale with the rest of the field tile pattern.” Plus, as she notes, when you have a pass-through or window, this is another linear element that needs consideration too. Installing a pencil liner under another line liek the window sill is…well, let’s simply be kind and say it’d work better without it.

Sometimes the backsplash doesn’t have to carry all the color. They could have done something like this (pattern could have been a simpler style – I’m looking at color). Don't let the backsplash fight with everything else:

 

• Separate oven below the cook top actually has its origins from Europe. It worked great with European appliances, which are approx. 24” wide and the ovens about 24” high. Designers and architects on this side of the pond decided they liked it too (this’d be in the late ‘80s, if I remember correctly) and it became a mini-fad. The architects I knew were in love with how we could keep a continuous line of counter instead of breaking it up. 

The only problem was, our appliances weren’t designed for this. The height of the cook top pushes the oven down so that you need to be on your hands and knees. When we had our own family business, we designed a showroom kitchen with this…simply to show folks how low that was. We didn’t do too many in those days. *grin*

Now, I have no problem with it if the cook top is shallow enough and the oven control panel doesn’t take up a quarter of the top of the oven…and even better when the client is like E.M. and says, “I don’t use an oven a lot and I’m getting a 24”. Perfect. 

(If you’re interested, I’ve talked about cooking ergonomics in a previous post here.)

 

Finally, where is the microwave? Will it end up sitting on the counter? *sad face* I also might have changed the placement/handle on the recycle pullout bin (to the left of the base corner).

You folks are great. Good job!

And the winners are...!

 

Last night all the names were tossed into the Warped Glass of Name Drawings and went to sleep by the sadly depleted cognac decanter (I have delusions brought about by too many 1930s movies in my youth):

This morning, I drew five names: 

 

 

Congratulations!  Each of these winners receive a copy of Kelly’s Kitchen Sync – The Book. I have to dash off to work, but I’ll be contacting each one of you by email. If you see your name here first, send your addresses by clicking on the “Email  Me” link on the right side below my bio. 

Thank you to all of you who entered!

Last call to enter for a copy of Kelly's Kitchen Sync!

Completed. There are 7 2 hours left for you to enter to win 1 of 5 copies of Kelly's Kitchen Sync. At midnight, Pacific Standard Time, entries will be closed. Thank you to all of you who've entered so far.

Drop in with a comment (say hi, tell me what you want for your kitchen, let me know how you found me, or ask why I haven't made you a drink yet) any time up to tonight, Thursday, June 16th, midnight PST. The winners must live in the U.S. or Canada to receive the print book by mail;  if overseas, the winner will receive the .pdf interior by email. I’ll announce the winners on Friday, June 17th.)

If you haven't entered yet by leaving your comment and don't know what to say, I'll make it easy for you. Tell me how we never met. Yes, that's right. Or rather, tell me how we have by making up something outrageous. 

...or you can simply say, "Hi, Kelly. Here's my entry. Pick me!" 

Here, I'll start:

You and I met in London when our limo drivers got into a fight over picking the best parking at Alain Ducasse and then we ditched them in favor of flying to the gastronomique capital of Lyon to eat at La Meunière, but then Interpol got on our case and we decided to head back to North America to surf. The next morning, you woke up with seaweed in your hair and a note, "There's a seal in the saltwater pool. Its name is Fluffy. It keeps barking for you." Good times!

Er, maybe not. But see how easy it is? 

Spot the kitchen errors #4

I've had more than a few of you asking for the next installment of “Spot the errors!”  Since you don’t know one another, I’ve ruled out a conspiracy, but I also realized we hadn’t done one in awhile, so I have a good one for you today.

Here’s a white and pine kitchen. White painted doors and honey stained pine, by the looks of it. 6x6 slate backsplash above a 1x12 pencil with 2 rows of 2x2 tile. Granite counter of an indeterminate blend. The floor looks like a 5” wide-planked hickory to me. Note the detail behind the cook top and the trim around the window and upper cabinets.

What do you think went wrong? There’s nothing really wrong with the design (okay, there’s one thing I would have done for function based on how I cook, but that might not have been the case with the person working in this kitchen. Wait. There’s another. Wait. Okay, there are a few items that could not only saved about $ 1000.00 on the price of this kitchen but it wouldn’t have affect any of the function or…style.

Okay, those items will make a good discussion too, although what I’m really focusing on is the color, texture and focal points.

If you’re so inclined, tell me any or all that you see below:

• what design items I noted
• why this design, which might have looked good on paper, failed to “wow” us
• how you would have made it better

I’ll reveal the answers on Saturday. Have at it!

***

Today and tomorrow is all the time you have left to win one of 5 copies of my book. Drop in with a comment (say hi, tell me what you want for your kitchen, let me know how you found me, or ask why I haven't made you a drink yet) any time up to Thursday, June 16th, midnight PST. The winners must live in the U.S. or Canada to receive the print book by mail;  if overseas, the winner will receive the .pdf interior by email. I’ll announce the winners on Friday, June 17th.)  Completed. Books should be in winners' hands!

In an aside, there's a reason I'm proud of my book and it's not what you might think: All the wood product components of my book have Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI®) Certified Sourcing. 

5 Glass Patterns for a Glass Door Revolution

I’m going to give you a little secret: you don’t have to select the glass that your cabinet company offers. (Okay, there are some where you might, but work with me here.)

If you haven’t seen what glass-makers are able to do with sheet glass these days, you’re in for a surprise.

Glass has changed. There are waves, fur, ripples, cloth, lines, bars – you name it. Best of all, it’s mass-produced, which means getting a couple of pieces for your current glass doors can be relatively inexpensive.

Where you’ll find glass sheets are at stained glass shops and other glass shops (sometimes where they make shower doors). Ask if they have any glass samples for door inserts.

One of the reasons I like textured glass is that I’m not so fond of fingerprints. For some reason, even when I’m careful, I end up with a big smudge that catches the light just so. Or I can never clean the clear glass well enough – there’s always a streak somewhere…even if it doesn’t show up right away!

If you’re nodding, here’s another good point: textured glass hides a lot of smudges and streaks, but better yet, it adds some texture without introducing an extra color to your room.

Here, let’s take a look at a few:

 

“Small Hammer” – looks more like one of those wall fountains with water spilling over the surface. It catches light very well.

 

“Granite” – can’t see much through this, can you? Almost looks like a leather finish.

 

“Thela” – love, love, love this one for a contemporary kitchen door

 

“Crocodile Hide” – looks more like raindrops to me, but then again, I’ve never seen a crocodile. Have used this in a transitional kitchen -- it’s a beautiful focal point.

 

“Frosted Rib” – the glass is actually slightly concave for each section, with alternate frost. Could be perfect for that bistro kitchen with very spare details.

 

I tend to recommend the rough side installed on the inside of the cabinet as it’s easier to clean. Ask me how I know. *rolling eyes*

Bring your measurements to the glass store and get them to give you a price. You may need to remove the doors and bring them with you if the store installs the glass or you may want to do it yourself.

What do you think? Would you use them?

 

***

Four days left to win one of 5 copies of my book. Drop in and leave a comment any time up to Thursday, June 16th, midnight PST. The winners must live in the U.S. or Canada to receive the print book by mail;  if overseas, the winner will receive the .pdf interior by email. It doesn’t matter if you want to share your existing remodel so you can give the copy to your mother, or you want to ask a question about your upcoming plans or even if you simply want to say ‘hi’. I’ll announce the winners on Friday, June 17th.)  Completed. Someone's high-lighting her copy as I write this (because I have magic vision and I can guess... ... Ok, most of the emails have really been, "I'm highlighting the entire book" or something like that...)

How is your day?

 So here is the state of the Kelly: Behind the busy scenes of the book launch party, your intrepid designer was also doing a few interviews…and all of that was going on while I was doing my day job.

Let’s just say I’m still recovering.

Virtual Cat tells everyone the party’s over (so he can tackle the evil confetti)

For those of you who’ve bought my book, thank you. For a brief shining moment, it rose high enough in rankings yesterday to rub elbows with Candice Olsen and Mike Holmes in the top 100 best-sellers In Design and Construction on both Amazons (.com and .ca). At the time of writing, it's #10 in the U.S. and #18 in Canada. It reached # 4 and # 6 respectively yesterday. Did I mention "brief"? Oh, right, I did.

Near as I can figure, Amazon rankings work this way: every time someone buys my book, an angel gets its wings the book rises…only if no other books have been bought for that second, the moon has an eclipse, and Nora Roberts doesn’t come out with her 1,589th and 1,590th book in the last 2 minutes. So, my refrain for the last few days has been calling out: “Nora Roberts must be on the phone, we’re up to 4,922.” and “Curses! Nora Robert burped. We’re going down! 10,319!”

Meanwhile, little book is all: “I’m fine, Mom. Go away.” If any of you get a chance to leave a review anywhere on Amazon, or Barnes and Noble, I’d be grateful. And don’t forget to leave a comment here in the next week, up until April 16th, to win a copy of the book.

(Here's the note: I’m giving away 5 copies of my book to five random commenters. Comment within the next two weeks. The winners must live in the U.S. or Canada to receive the print book by mail;  if overseas, the winner will receive the .pdf interior by email. It doesn’t matter if you want to share your existing remodel so you can give the copy to your mother, or you want to ask a question about your upcoming plans or even if you simply want to say ‘hi’. I’ll announce the winners on Friday, June 17th.)

Completed. Books are being earmarked as we speak...

I’ll see what interesting ideas I can come up with tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll be feeling perkier then – at least enough to take down Nora Roberts in a flying tackle when no one's looking. Not sure what I can do about that eclipse though…