Kelly's Kitchen Sync

Friday Inspiration: The Spooky Halloween Edition!

In honor of Halloween, I thought I’d have some fun. Grab your flashlight, stay away from the noises you hear in the attic and let’s go hunting!

 

Mom, there's something scary in the flowers! Skulls and Irises 4x4 handmade tile from Dean Tile and Design

  

Well, of course pairing Swarovski crystals with spiders creates elegance? How did I not know this? *hand to forehead*  No, seriously. I'm fascinated. I just can't figure out if it's in a good or bad way... Spider cabinet Knob by Edgar Berebi complete with spider webs on the shank

 

Batty 2x2 handmade tile dot from Emu Tile

"Um, the bats are fooling with the lights again!" Sunset Pendant Light by Rejuvenation (No, this is a real light.Truly. Perfect for your gothic home…)

 

Impress the inlaws (which isn't secret code for blaming me!) From the U.K., Skull and Crossbone tap heads by Stephen Einhorn 

 

Feisty little gargoyle dares you to use him as a cabinet pull! Emenee Wild Things Cabinet Knob: OR-369 

 

 Clicking on the photos or the links will take you to the websites. Have a happy and safe Halloween!

A Reader Asks: How do I establish a mock-free kitchen budget?

Kelly,

Enclosed is a link to an article from Renovation Style here

 In a nutshell, the original kitchen cabinet quote came in at $70,000. The homeowner found an ornate antique piece of furniture for $900, simplified the cabinets, and reduced the quote to a little more than half. If you look at the pictures...well, I can't imagine the kitchen cabinets looking any more "done up."

Which brings me to my question: how do you establish a budget before meeting with a designer? If I had this look in mind and showed Corey-the-bitchy-kitchen-designer the images and told him my budget of $35,000, he'd laugh and I'd be one of those clients he rolls his eyes over. But, a designer IS able to get the look for less by working their magic. So, how should a client proceed and establish a budget without making a fool of themselves with the KD?  - Thanks, Elana

 

Elana,

Yes, it doesn’t seem fair to look at a photo, discover that someone saved the money and still had something beautiful, does it?  But we've got two topics going on here which I'll discuss in order.

What Corey was referring to in his post was the media misinformation and the lack of preparedness some people have when starting a home project. For some reason, everyone researches vacations and cars before they buy, but not always remodeling. To be fair, there are so many options and so much misinformation out there that it can be bewildering for most of us!

By your very question, you are not the future client Corey was referring to. You care, you want to do your homework. Most people do.

Corey’s frustration (and mine) is when some homeowners come in without any research and then tell us that “our prices are outlandish” and “it should only take x number of days and cost x number of dollars” to accomplish something…especially when it appears that their experience is a few television shows on home design.

We’re frustrated when we warn someone that what they’re choosing is out-of-budget but they refuse to believe we can’t magically get the same items for half the price. I doubt Corey would scoff at a $ 35,000 budget (unless that was a 18x18 addition); he does scoff unrealistic budgets where someone thinks the whole remodel should cost $ 5000, look like something out of Architectural Digest and is mad at us for not making it happen. 

Our frustration does not extend to homeowners who are genuinely lost. No designer worth his or her salt is going to be upset at a client who a) walks through the door knowing nothing and wants to learn or b) has incorrect expectations for costs or c) comes with a modest budget and asks what’s achievable.

Even if I won't end up being the designer of choice, I’ve always spent some time helping people understand what their options are.

Now, tackling that example you show, that kitchen at $ 35,000 is still high for the number of cabinets; I've designed 3 kitchens right now which are double the size for the same price. It's still a high-end kitchen. If you look at the floor plan, I could probably design that kitchen for another $ 7,000 – $ 9,000 less…and this is in California, land of high rents and overhead and not Minnesota. The multi-step crown molding is most likely running into four-figures alone. So it's not really representational of a low-to-mid-end and that extreme swing from $ 70k to $ 35k wouldn't be as great. 

So let’s see what you can do.

 

To establish your budget, you need to figure out first before you walk through a retail door which items are your “can’t-live-withouts”: pullout drawers, fancy range, glass doors, etc.

Much of this can be done on the internet before you even leave the home. No internet? The kitchen magazines, such as Kitchen and Bath Business, have articles which show a kitchen designed with different materials so you can see where the costs are.

One of the biggest mistakes that people make is that they use top quality for appliances, lighting, counters, and then say, “Well, there’s not much left for the cabinets” and get the lowest quality. Don’t do this if you can help it.You use the cabinets as much and if not more than anything else in the room. If the cabinet “deal” is too good to be true, run. The disintegration of quality out there the past few years has been truly staggering.

Take a look at the various quality levels for each item: which are in the low, middle, and high ranges?  To help you, here’s a thought: if you go to a showroom, take a rough sketch of your room with the overall dimensions and layout. Explain that you’re in the research stage. Say that you’re only looking for cabinet ranges for kitchens they’ve done in a similar layout. It’d be helpful if you could say you want a Shaker Cherry doorstyle or something about the cabinet you like.

An experienced designer should be able to give you some ballpark ranges that you can tuck away for your research. If you’re a bit further along than that, then get a cabinet price.

 Please don’t do this!

When homeowners are first designing rooms – any rooms, not simply kitchens – they put in all the bells and whistles (the equivalent of “when we go to Europe, it’s all going to be 1st class, baby!). Then they get the price, and turn white. I understand. What I dislike is when I but hear later how the project was completed elsewhere in a much simpler (and yes, less expensive fashion). And the clients are telling others, “Yes, we wanted to work with her but she was way too expensive.”

ARGH! (Professional designer term.) They’ve forgotten they asked for all those goodies…and they didn’t give me the chance to help them scale back. 

Please, when you get the out-of-budget price, sit down with the contractor/designer/architect and simply say, “This is out-of-the-picture. How do we scale back?” And work with them to come up with new figures. None of us will think badly because it wasn’t what you wanted to spend; we all have the same choices to make ourselves. Our goal is to find something you like. We want to work with you. There is nothing worse than not being given the chance, especially when I look at the project and see so many areas where I could have made it better!  ;-)  (So modest, huh?)

Experienced designers know 1001 ways to make a room zing without spending a lot of money.

Look, there are 3 cabinet lines in my showroom. Together they form over 200 door styles, 3 different case constructions, 4 options for the box construction, and over 70 stains, paints, and pigments. That’s ONLY for cabinets and doesn’t include custom options. I can design the same mid-sized kitchen layout anywhere from $ 12,000 for a simple stock design to $ 55,000 for exotic woods and custom everything.

I designed two projects with clients this year where we figured out the “wish list” or, as my designer mother calls it, “the budget reality check” and then we scaled back like the homeowner in your example.

We can trick out a design like no tomorrow…but at least give us a chance.

Zephyr's hot new hoods

Before I talk about hoods, I need to briefly talk about the kitchen industry and where the paradigm shift from that's the way it's always been done to cool + design + designers = kitchens first began. Almost everything you see and hear today – designers showing off their collections, branding, out-of-the-box thinking for mainstream kitchen consumers – started from here: 

Somewhere around 1999, architect Michael Graves designed a line of stunningly sleek coffeepots and teapots for Target.

At the time, there was no high-end design for big chain stores. What we think as standard with kitchen collections and designer names didn't exist in the kitchen world, never mind other industries. Michael's thinking was that stylish design could be affordable for everyone. In turn, the general consumer saw inventive items they liked instead of the tried-and-true stock manufacturers had offered for years.

Michael Graves became a household name.

The idea of designers attaching their names to items (other than clothing and furniture) was born. Since then, the culmination and merging of media in all forms has only accelerated the entire process, especially in the last decade.

So now we come back to Zephyr, who has already collaborated with well-known designer Fu-Tung Cheng for a few years now:

“When I first met my friends at Zephyr I was struck by the similarity of our visions and our common belief that design can be transformative. This has led us to develop an inspired series of hoods that I hope will open people’s minds and change the way they see the world around them.” – from Zephyr’s website

Fu-Tung did just that – created a series of hoods called the Cheng Collection - from stylish:

Okeanito – enough canopy to capture high-heat

--to room for homeowner self-expression:

Padova – the paneling and the mosaics can be added to create your own detailing

 

Which brings us up to current day. A group of us were lucky enough to listen to both Fu-Tung and Zephyr’s newest collaborator and industrial designer, Robert Brunner, and listen to their thoughts on design.

"Transformative. Revolutionary. Game changing. Statements like these have followed Robert Brunner throughout his career—as founder of Apple’s first industrial design group, later as a Pentagram partner and today as co-founder of Ammunition Design Group." - from Zephyr's website

Robert Brunner of Ammunition Group may not be a household name to you, but he is to to anyone under 30 who’s in love with Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, Lady Gaga’s camera glasses, or even remembers him as director of Apple’s industrial design. And he’s designed a series of hoods for Zephyr that are not only out of the box, they’re making a sprint for it.

Well, let’s ease you into it slowly. Here are two that I’m mentally designing future kitchens around now:

Layers Wall

 

Edge – the dark top piece is wood which can be removed

And here’s the “out-there”:

Horizon

 

Tilt

I warned you, didn’t I?

I see very few of my more traditional homes or Baby Boomers taking the last two to heart. However, I also want to leave you with this: even if the designers I huddled with last week mused that the Horizon resembled a bent Ipod* and were mulling over cabinet choices (polyurethane over zebrawood) for the Tilt, the future generation of new homeowners, the Gen-Y age group (aka Millienials aka Echo Boomers) will be all over these.

The styling is a bit early for the general housing/consumer market: those first-time homeowners may not have money for the kitchen remodel…yet. But they’ll be taking notes, and like fashion, the name of the designer will be an important part of their buying choices.

In the meantime, this should do well for the Gen Jones homeowners (who have the money) and the mid-to-upper contemporary market.

What do you think?

 ***

**Zephyr, if we could please add a tv/computer screen on the top section of the Horizon, I need two now. So do about 2,000 of my close personal designer friends. Let's talk. *grin*

 

Friday Inspiration: Faraone contemporary stairs

Faraone is an Italian company that has been around for over 40 years. Just outside Milan, they got their start with aluminum ladders. It’s where they are today with this beautiful stair line called “Balloon” that grabs my attention for today’s Friday inspiration:

 

 

 Photo credit: Faraone

 

I assume there would probably be some code violation that would prohibit us using them in the U.S. (I'm thinking the open risers in some jurisdictions?) but I think I've already mentally designed a house around them this morning. 

Clicking on the link will take you to their website. Enjoy!

A Reader Asks: Dropped baking peninsulas in small kitchens?

Hi Kelly,

Could you say a little more about the dropped baking peninsula? I wanted something along those lines for our smallish 2 cook kitchen but our designer couldn't see how it could work either technically or in the space. – A.

How much time do you have? *grin*

Yes, placing a dropped baking peninsula in a small kitchen can be challenging. There are two main reasons why I wouldn’t design a peninsula, dropped or otherwise:

1) It’s adjacent to a main work area (sink, refrigerator, or range)

When you stand at a peninsula, you’re effectively blocking any access to the appliance or storage that is adjacent to the peninsula, which means:

• a dishwasher beside a peninsula is a bad idea
• so is the main dish storage
• the refrigerator
• the dog dish



 How’s this for a small kitchen? Fine for one person, but two or more? No. Okay, perhaps if the person chopping veggies stood on the outside of the peninsula but there'd always be that dance around the sink.

In fact, if any working area that requires you to move away from the baking peninsula in order for another to access the area adjacent isn’t a good idea.

2) If the peninsula isn’t long enough, it’s not doing you any favors.

There’s a factor at work in spec. homes or with kitchens that aren’t, well, designed. (Or is that well-designed?)  It's called a “short returns” and if it's a working peninsula, it’s less than useful or ideal.

Here, have a look at this kitchen:

  This is a pet peeve of mine – a short return peninsula designed solely for seating that completely chops up the best of the base storage. Sad thing is, they could have added another foot to the peninsula and made it somewhat useful. 

If I had to make a guess, this return on the other side is 18” – 21” wide. A person is 24” wide. A baker takes at least 36” – 48” of frontage space, especially if he or she is rolling out dough (it’s not just the rolling, it’s the pan, pie, sheet or bowl nearby that adds to this width.) While the corner area could be used for landing space, it's hard to reach as a dropped counter because we're reaching across and down. This is where your height plays a role. At 5'4", I'd have a tough time reaching that corner from the inside, but could work fine on the outside.

But who wants to work on the outside when all the storage is centered inside the kitchen?

Taking into account a smaller kitchen, say 8 feet: if we factor in 48” for base cabinets along the two walls (24" deep on each side - roughly), that would leave us with less than 48” of center room if we factor in counters. Adding a return peninsula to this space would provide a peninsula that is roughly the same size as above.

As my regular readers know, there is no “one-size-fits-all” but if I was looking to add a peninsula, I’d be looking for a kitchen width of 120” (10’ wide) for a 60” dropped peninsula, which would give a baker 36” of counter space. It could be as small as 114” wide, but that would be about it.

If your kitchen is smaller than this, A., then this might be the technical reason your designer talked about. 

A suggestion for others:  The next time you stand near the corner – doesn’t matter which way you face -- check the position of your elbow over the adjacent counter edge. (It should extend at least 4” over it.)

If you make the peninsula too small, you’ll end up turning in a tight space. Any items on that adjacent counter are in a perfect position to be swept off the counter unless you learn the hard way.

A visit to Zephyr Ventilation - part one

All right, let’s get the FTC disclosure out of the way-- First: I was invited by Zephyr to see the latest products and meet their designers – all of this was arranged on their dime. Second: I happily accepted because a) I’ve designed more than a few kitchens with Zephyr hoods over the years (one going in as we speak) and looked forward to viewing the latest products and b) they’re in my back yard and I have a soft spot for West Coast folks. 

The Zephyr showroom in San Francisco

One of the biggest challenges in specifying hood has been dealing with the "I-can't-hear-you-when-the-fan-is-going" problem. It's the number one complaint I hear from clients and although it's phrased as "will it be noisy?", it's also tempered with resignation. It seems a given that noise comes along with maximum ventilation, especially when we’re dealing with high-heat cooking and the smoke that comes with it.

So when I heard and blogged earlier about Zephyr’s new DCBL Suppression System™  and about how Zephyr’s engineers had brought down the decibel (DCBL) levels, I have to admit I was intrigued.  You can read about the system on Zephyr’s website here.

Having visited the showroom and heard it in action, I'm happy to report that it is indeed quieter than current models. (Hooray!) It'll never be silent; however at the highest speeds, we can talk loudly rather than the shrugging-and-hand-signals we’re all used to.

This lessening will be a definite plus for my clients.  

The second plus is that Zephyr has also designed a new Bloom™ HD dimmable LED hood lighting, which at 3 watts and 25,000 hour lifetime. Why I like that is that halogens are warm, especially when you have 2 or 3 of them going on at once. (You feel the warmth from above and below. While that may be great in cooler climes, it's not as good for warmer.) LED doesn't have heat, yet the challenge was that full-strength LED that close to your eyes is camera-flash bright. Dimmable controls? There's our problem solved. (Note: LEDs don't dim to nothing like incandescents - they'll always have a lowest light level.) 

The Zephyr Next Generation Europa collection have my stand-bys – the original chimney-style Napoli and Venezia, the curved Milano, as well as the newer square-edge Modena, which fits beautifully with some of my contemporary designs and they now will all be with the DCBL Suppression System™. 

 

Napoli

Milano Island

Modena Wall

In part two next week, I’ll show you some of the avant-garde hoods that industrial designer Robert Brunner (former Dir. of Industrial Design at Apple) and our own Fu-Tung Cheng of Cheng Designs have designed for Zephyr. A group of us were lucky enough to hear both of them speak at this event and it’s always exciting to listen to those who push the envelope.

In the meantime, I’d like to thank Zephyr and company for being such gracious hosts. Zephyr website can be found here: Zephyr Online  (I’ve only touched on some of their European – and really, world-inspired -- hoods.) You can discover where to buy them here.

Let me know what you think.

Steampunk Sunday: Watermark Designs

During my meeting in San Francisco last week, I was directed to Watermark Designs thanks to a conversation that went something like this: “You like steampunk?”  *grin*

I’ve been waiting a long time to see if any of the U.S. plumbing manufacturers would produce something for the steampunk bathroom. While we have Sonoma Forge on the West Coast, there’s been little out there, which has led to creative homeowners fabricating their own.

Watermark Design has been manufacturing bathroom fixtures and accessories in the U.S. for 30 years. While I doubt they had steampunk in mind, the Brooklyn BK400 series looks like the perfect fit for those searching for an industrial-edge for a steampunk bath. 

Check these out:

Brooklyn BK400 widespread faucet

 

 Brooklyn BK400 single handle wall lav

 

 Brooklyn BK400 thermostatic shower trim kit

 

Brooklyn BK400 deck-mounted tub set

 

Brooklyn BK400 bidet fixtures

 

Dealer locator information can be found here.

Friday inspiration

Every Friday (depending on work schedule), I’d like to feature something I find interesting. I may or may not have specified it, but it helps me stay inspired and offers you something other than “look at everything that can trip you up!” posts.

Today’s inspiration is from Mockett – glass/leather/chrome combinations for cabinet hardware. Not something I might necessarily use in a busy kitchen, but as an accent or surprise piece tucked away in a lesser-used cabinet or in a contemporary bathroom or side board. These are grown-up handles – no room for sticky fingers! (Yes, it’s a bad assumption on all accounts that only kids would have sticky fingers. I had toast and jam this morning…everywhere.)

 

The glass and chrome knob with the glamorous name: DP-162 

 

Glass and stainless sleek DP-160 would be a nice touch on a slab door

  

Leather and steel DP 4050-  a fairly large showpiece (2-3/8”) showpiece for a stand-alone or special feature cabinet

 

Clicking on the photos will take you to the website location. Enjoy!

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to Zephyr I go!

Zephyr Angolo (Photo credit: Zephyronline.com)

Zephyr Ventilation in San Francisco, that is. For the next couple of days, I’ve accepted an invitation to see the latest they have to offer for hoods.  While there, we’ll be discussing all things ventilation, chatting with Blogger19 pals along for the ride, and meeting new folks too.

If I can figure out how to send photos from my phone, you’ll be coming along for the ride too. Stay tuned!

Two neat design finds

Although I discuss the ramifications of design, I don’t often talk about all the goodies I see and specify. This is partly because there are so many others out there who I think do it better than I do, but also…I’m getting old and jaded. *grin*

However, here’s a couple of items that are currently inspiring me:

1) Emtek’s Triton lever

 

Although it comes with a traditional rosette, I’m really liking the square (above) or the rectangular Neo (below) which is more in keeping with some of the contemporary exterior entry door backplates.

 

2) Voguebay Tile

Because they’re a little proprietary over their images, I’ll simply show you a photo I took of their wonderful glass tiles and provide the link here.

Check out the AquaStone while you're there.

Enjoy!