Kelly's Kitchen Sync

Remodeling over the holidays?

There's always been strong feedback to having parts of your home under construction during the holidays. Those in favor say it allows them to be guests and gets them out visiting. Those against say it's too much stress  during a time that is already filled with shopping and guest lists and deciding where to put the tree when the living room is closed off. 

A few decades ago, most people were solidly against remodeling during the holidays; in the past few years, I've noted a change of heart.

From my standpoint, it's a good time to consider a remodel:  it's easier to get the skilled trades, thereby shortening the timeline, and if a construction schedule isn't full, there's not as much coordination and job-hopping to make sure everything is correct. There's also enticements -- there have been some great deals this year in home goods -- everything from appliances to cabinets -- that I haven't seen in earlier times. 

If you want your kitchen or bath for the holidays

Start designing by August at the latest, depending on the size of the project. Mid-September is my cut-off date for accepting project to be completed before Thanksgiving and end of September is for Christmas.

If you want to start just after the holidays

Remember there is the week-and-a-half between Christmas and New Year's where almost all manufacturers are closed.  I caution my clients to allow an extra two weeks to all their ordering times at this time of the year.

Avoid Murphy's Law and save yourself the stress.

There's some sort of cosmic law that goes into effect and it's triggered by this:

• If you have a definitive date of when the project must be done ("And it all must be done by ...") , something will happen to mess it up - delayed or broken products, sick or injured tradesmen, Kelly suffers from eyestrain and dsylexia and 46" becomes 64". Everything becomes a real struggle throughout the entire course.
• If there isn't a timeline (other than the usual schedule), everything goes as smooth as silk. Everyone is jolly, items come on time, there are no installation issues, and any minor hiccup is solved within an hour or two.

*scratching head* I don't know what it is but if you're ever planning a remodel, keep that in mind. 

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Please visit the Amazon page or Barnes and Noble page to order my book, Kelly's Kitchen Sync, and help support my work on this blog. It makes a great gift for friends or family members planning next year's kitchen remodel....

Happy Thanksgiving!

To those celebrating, that is. That will be me in a few short hours. :)

For those dreaming of a new kitchen one day, holidays are the best way to study your kitchen to see what works well and what could be improved on.

As you prepare your turkey and stuffing and as the guests arrive, note:

• Where are the bottlenecks?  Where do guests congregate? Is it in front of the dishwasher? Cutlery drawer? Ovens? Is there a place where they can gather without interfering with the preparation?
• Are two or more cooks able to move around each other? Where is the point where someone can't get by?  Would placing an appliance elsewhere solve this?
• How many times does the cook have to criss-cross the path of the cleaning crew to get what they want?  Does the placement of dirty dishes by the counter involve walking through the cook's area? I usually discussed point-of-use items -- for example, pots near the range, dishes near the dining room. here could they go which would be a better fit?

If you find yourself thinking, Well, it could be better if the dish storage was to the right of the sink instead of beside the range, but you don't have any storage there now, that's an excellent point to jot down for your new kitchen. 

Kitchen design is commonsense. Our job as designers is to be part traffic-cop (Can Aunt B. get around Uncle G. to get to the plates?), part ergonomic and time-saving specialist (How easy is it to get the mixing bowls out of the cabinets? Can we save 8 steps if we locate the mixing counter here?), and part safety manager and all-round Holiday Saver (Will someone run into the opened oven door and spill the turkey?)

If you can spot the areas of conflict, it makes it easier to contemplate design ideas that will simplify your life.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with my Thanksgiving cartoon:

 

Top 10 Design Recommendations

Five (oops, four. I can't count) years and over 440 posts ago, I started this little blog called Kitchen Sync. My goal was to pay it forward and help homeowners and beginning designers with some of the design I faced in everyday practice. 

Over those five four years, the little blog has grown. It's brought me friendships and knowledge, not just for readers, but for myself as well.

Tongue firmly in cheek, I decided to save new readers the trouble of reading all the posts at once by condensing the essence. 

Without further ado, my top 10 recommendations for residential design:

1. My standard answer for every question readers have asked: "It depends."
2. Read your specs. Read the fine print. Read, read, read. Read it again. No, really.
3. Kitchen and bath design was much simpler in the days before every product became custom.
4. All products do not fit in every kitchen (or bath) and products don't always fit with each other.
5. If you're in your home long-term, choose what you like.
6. If you're in your home short-term, pay attention to the comparative values in the neighborhood. Don't go overboard but also don't lessen the quality.
7. Most kitchens and baths in magazines and online aren't representational...unless you have a design team, talented trades, and luxury products. 
8. You can still have a gorgeous, functional, and drop-dead kitchen (or bath or bedroom or...) without #7.  I know. You send me pictures. :)
9. When you're in the middle of your project, there's going to be some challenges. You'll get through them.
10. At the end of the day, you and I are blessed to create your space with both beauty and function. In addition, we have roofs over our heads, food in our mouths, our health, and our family and friends. Life's short, have fun.

Happy Monday to you!

Friday Inspiration: Arched handles and recycled glass tiles

Two discoveries for you today:

1) For those who believe contemporary isn’t all about linear planes, the Arch Series for cabinetry by Alno Inc.:

 

 

A418-SN 2” Arch Knob

 

 

A419-4-SN 6-1/2” Arch Pull

 

2) Want some character with your environmentally-friendly materials?  Crush Recycled Glass by Fireclay Tile was recently nominated for Interiors & Sources 2011 Readers' Choice Awards. 99.5% of the product is 100% recycled glass from pre-consumer recycled window panes. Gloss and matte, various sizes.

 

Clicking on the photos will take you to the websites. Happy Friday!

How to Keep the Plumber off Your (Holiday) Guest List

I don’t often offer you press releases; however, this one from InSinkErator^® offers some excellent tips about your disposal for the holidays.

P.S. You can still invite your plumber friends but at least they’ll have a break from work during your festivities…  ;)

 ***

 Take cues from the pros to keep plumbing pitfalls at bay this holiday season

RACINE, Wis. – (Nov. 17, 2011) – The holidays are marked by great meals shared with friends and family. But if hosts aren’t careful, they may find themselves entertaining an unexpected guest – the plumber.

InSinkErator^®, a division of St. Louis-based Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR) and the largest manufacturer of food waste disposers, reports that their customer service team fields substantially more calls during the holiday months due to homeowner mishaps. The reality is that the majority of incidents involving the kitchen sink and disposer could have been avoided with proper use and adequate preparation.

Professional plumbers are on the front lines of holiday plumbing disasters and, naturally, have learned a few tips and tricks along the way. Take Dan O’Leary, a professional plumber with Haendiges Plumbing out of Whittier, CA. Dan has seen his fair share of holiday plumbing debacles, including rescuing a customer’s wedding ring!

“I tell customers to never refer to their disposer as a ‘garbage disposal’ because then they will treat as just that – a garbage can,” said O’Leary. “When cleaning up after meals, it’s especially important that hosts check for the string used to tie turkey and chicken legs together. This often gets dropped into the sink and then is overlooked once the disposer is run. Unfortunately, this is a surefire way to cause trouble.”

Jim McStravick of McStravick Plumbing in Philadelphia advises holiday hosts to practice “portion control.”

“My single piece of advice is to avoid overfilling the disposer,” McStravick said. “The majority of jams and clogs stem from putting too much down at once. Just like your mouth, you can only fit so much in before getting stuffed. Don’t make the same mistake with your disposer.”

Bryan Stuckert of Stuckert Plumbing and Heating in Philadelphia adds, “Most plumbing problems over the holidays stem from owner error/misuse – not a faulty disposer. Regardless, we know you’re going to hurry through cleanup. To prepare for the extra volume of food waste, I encourage customers to install a disposer with advanced grinding technology, like the Evolution Series^® from InSinkErator. In five years of installing these products I have yet to receive a complaint or service call.”

From rogue forks that slip down the drain to mountains of potato peels or turkey bones stuffed down too quickly, holiday chaos doesn’t have to result in costly service calls.

“Nothing ruins holiday cheer like a backed-up sink full of leftovers,” said David MacNair, InSinkErator’s vice president of marketing. “Trust the experts when they say to slow down during preparation and cleanup. Disposer misuse is easily prevented with a few simple guidelines.”

MacNair offered the following list on how to maximize disposer performance, divert food waste from landfills and more importantly, give your plumber a much-deserved day off.

 

Disposer Holiday Do’s and Don’ts

• Don’t put grease or fat down the disposer or any drain. It can build up in pipes and cause blockage. Instead, pour grease into a jar or container, and then discard in the trash.

• Don’t use the disposer like a garbage can. Avoid letting items like bread ties and napkin rings fall into the sink, as they can cause jams.
• Do grind hard materials such as small bones, fruit pits and ice. A scouring action is created by the particles inside the grind chamber.
• Don’t fill a disposer with too much waste at once. To maximize the grinding ability of the disposer, gradually feed food waste into the disposer. Run cold water down the drain for several seconds before and after disposer use to flush food waste through the plumbing system.
• Do remember that your disposer is an environmentally responsible alternative to landfills. Send food waste to your municipality’s wastewater treatment plant through the sewers – many are able to turn food scraps into renewable energy and recycle biosolids into fertilizer.
• Do check before the big get-together to see if the disposer needs to be replaced. The average life expectancy of a disposer is about 10 years. If your disposer is outdated, consider replacing it with an advanced model like the Evolution Excel^®. It is designed to grind bones, fruit and vegetable peels, and other difficult food waste with 60 percent less noise.

 

Additional information on food waste disposers can be found at www.insinkerator.com.

You rate the trend: refrigerator roll-out shelves

So I’ve spotted a quiet little revolution carrying on right under our noses: the addition of roll-out shelves and drawers in refrigerators, such as GE’s new “armoire” style refrigerator:

 

GE Profile™ 20.7 Cu. Ft. Refrigerator PGCS1PJYSS (Photo credit: GEappliances.com)

If you click on the photo, you’ll be taken to the webpage to see the specifications where it notes there are 3 slide-out shelves. I don’t recall any studies where homeowners suddenly sat up and said, “Oh, wow. We need roll-out shelves”, so I thought I would put it out to you:

You rate the trend: Roll-out shelves in your refrigerator – yay or nay? Leave your answer in the comments. 

 

P.S. I can tell you what I'm excited about: LED lighting for refrigerators. So. much. brighter. (and clearer) lighting. Although I suppose those of you with late-night cravings might not be feeling the love as much...

Kitchen cabinets? Not without your appliances first!

We’ve had a couple of clients walking through our door lately who want a kitchen design and cabinet price. They don’t have any idea of the appliances and, furthermore, (and I quote): “Don’t want to be locked in yet” but somehow want a magical price to appear within a week and can’t figure out why we don’t jump all over it.

We want to help. We really do. The challenge is that the days of planning a kitchen without appliances are over. You might argue that your kitchen is not a high-end kitchen, that you’ve received pricing already and did just fine. But have you received your final pricing with the changes needed to match even the “standard” units?

 

There’s a double-whammy in design.

Two decades ago, I could design a kitchen in my sleep. We didn’t need the appliances until the time of the order. We didn’t have a lot of choices for cabinet modifications, and appliances were very “standard”.

Over a decade ago, refrigerators blew out of their size range. Cooktops and wall ovens grew larger, wider and deeper. Ranges had controls at the front. Range tops came in so many different thicknesses, you had to have a top installer to make them work.

I figure today a designer’s workload has quadrupled in the amount of time it takes to put a project together…and most designers can’t figure out a way to stretch their work weeks.

Getting multiple designs doesn’t help you and/or the folks you’re working with. Let me show you why.

 

Today, if you’re planning anything that requires brand-name manufacturers, you need to have some idea of your appliances.

A timeline:

1. Your kitchen designer designs your first kitchen cabinet layout and gives you a price. Said layout takes anywhere from an hour for a stock cabinet design to over 4-8 hours for a custom design. So far, you’re not paying for anything.
2. You decide you don’t want a range, you want a cook top and an oven and ask your designer to redesign. (This is an example for cabinet showrooms or large box stores. Most designers, like me, work on an hourly basis or a retainer.) At this point, you haven’t picked your appliances.
3. You receive your price. You make your choice and place your order.
4. Now you select your appliances and the designer designs a final layout, which could have been completed in the second go-round and could have saved you another 1 hour – 4 hours of design time. Yes, I have spent 4 hours redesigning – almost half is researching the specifications and the fine print and reconciling with a number of factors, such as: Will the building department accept as current code interpretation regarding burner clearance? Will the Homeowner’s Association allow the ducting noise? Those are two off the top of my head.
5. After all that, you find -- Surprise! Your cabinet price came in higher. Why?

Here are three examples:

a) If you choose a Wolf oven, most of them are 24” deep. 

As their specs read:

IMPORTANT NOTE: Unless you are using cabinets deeper than 24", it is recommended that the electrical supply be placed in an adjacent cabinet within reach of the conduit. Choose the location shown in the illustrations that best suits your installation

In other words, will you need to eliminate tray dividers on one side if it’s in a base? I can tell you that their specs are deceiving. Most cabinets have a back which will need to be cut out in order to add this oven unit…and/or you’ll need to order a deeper, custom unit. While you’re at it, some of these ovens are over 500 pounds. Make sure you have decent cabinets and/or consider extra support if the cabinet is a stand-alone.

b) If you chose the new Dacor range top, it’s a whopping 30” deep. Certainly won’t fit in an existing 24” deep cabinet. Further more, it’d block 1/3rd of the drawer below it. A custom cabinet could be designed for it; said cabinet would need finished side panels. Also something will need to be done about the toekick design.

c) Or perhaps you went simpler: the Electrolux range – which has a flared control top and an oven door which is wider than the oven itself. While it could technically fit into a standard range opening, any and all top drawers would be blocked, and so would the bottom drawers or doors in a frameless cabinet line.

 

In the meantime, multiply the design time by dozens of clients a week.

Usually, designers, architects, and builders get a combination of surprises like these.

In a custom line, it often means starting from scratch on one or two walls. It’s a domino effect. So that same design we used to say, “Sure, no problem. Let me make those changes for you” knowing that we’d spend no more than an hour max., can now take up almost a day. Multiply that by a dozen clients a week (conservative estimate, especially in a cabinet showroom), and hopefully you’ll see why a) we don’t want to start designing until we have all the facts and b) we’re simply running out of time.

Just wait until the recession is over.

 

What you can do before you go shopping for cabinets

You don’t have to buy them yet, but before you walk in for cabinets, consider:

• Appliance homework first
• Plumbing homework second

Get a list of both. That way you can discover early if your cabinet line has enough customization for your choices. Some stock and semi-custom lines surprisingly don’t, especially as we deal more and more with higher-end appliances. I’ve needed to switch two cabinetry choices for kitchens this year, because the design and integration of the appliances and plumbing fixtures wouldn't have been possible in the semi-stock line.

Save yourself the time, and in the case of design fees, money too. We’re all too busy these days.

A Reader Asks: Kitchen height for shorter and older cooks?

My 70-something year old Mom is moving from LA to the deep South, so she can live closer to me (her only child) and her grandchildren. Moves are complicated, but we are all excited. The one thing Mom really cares about in a house is the kitchen -- she loves to cook, and with her grandchildren in the room with her.

So we've found a small arts and crafts style cottage, built in the 1920s. The kitchen is a hideous square with oversized appliances and Formica counters, but definitely something I can work with to get her what she wants on the small budget she has.  The real issue is her size -- at 4' 10', every kitchen she has ever had has been a struggle.  Do you have advice for designing kitchens for those of us who are smaller, and perhaps any tips for designing for the aging cook? Thank you, Joyce.

Well, how wonderful for your family, congratulations. 70-something is still a pretty active age so I hope she doesn’t wear you all out with her energy. *grin* My own grandmother is 4’10” (she of the saying “Good things come in small packages” earlier post on small kitchen luxury) so I think I understand what you’re looking for.

I don’t see why she can’t make the kitchen counter heights shorter. Never mind resale, never mind anything else. The point is to make it both easier (and safer) for her height and requirements. I know there’s a tight budget but here’s what I would recommend:

• Consider office cabinets or lowered vanity cabinets to double as base cabinets. Ideally should be 30” – 32” high.
• At least one wall cabinet that comes down to the counter – and the rest don’t always need raising to the ceiling. Alternatively, see if there’s any room to install a 15” deep x 72” high pantry somewhere.
• One 24” dishwasher dish drawer (may have to build a box for it to sit on or a custom drawer below.This may be the one luxury. It would also fit under the lower counter.
• Cooktop and small oven.
• To keep the costs down, I don’t see why she couldn’t still use laminate counters. Pillow-tile counters were popular at the time but I don’t think we’re as fond of them as they were back in the day, and smooth-tile counters simply don’t have the same look.
• Forget a true 1920s reproduction sink with legs or exposed face unless you’re really looking to return the kitchen to its roots.
• If cabinets are out of the budget, can you hunt flea markets for stand-alone antique pieces?
• Look for a smaller width refrigerator 30”-32”.

Any and all of those items solve two issues – the height requirements, but also the safety requirements. As we age, we lose some sense of balance (your mother may not, but I’m finding even I do something I call “falling off my feet”.) The biggest importance as we age is to not place items too high or out of standard reach. We want to avoid anything that would require a stool.

I don’t know what the style of the kitchen is but I’d love to restore it to its roots without spending the farm on custom moldings or built-ins. Let’s take a look at a 1920s Hoosier – the catch-all cabinet of its time. It stored flour, spices, oils, space for pots, and a pull out baking board. While we don’t need all the compartments today, it’s the inspiration for my thought of bringing the wall cabinet down to the counter.

(Photo credit via Antique Home Style)

Linoleum was popular then, along with enameled stoves, tile, and painted trims. For more inspiration, check out Antique Home Style’s Gallery of 1920s kitchens. I don’t know what color your kitchen is now, but you’ll see that contrary to popular belief, all 1920s kitchens weren’t always white – they had some sizzle!  Also, the heights of the cabinets weren’t always that high.

Do let me know how you make out.

I'm busy! (which isn't a good sign for posting)

Apparently, according to all the media, I should be be waiting for a sluggish economy to recover. However, feeling slightly guilty, I have to tell you that I have so much work for the next 4 months that I can't currently take on any more projects. The guilt is because I know some areas are not doing as well. However, in the glass-half-full department, I'm here to say that I've been chatting to pros around the country. While not everyone is busy, more than a few are reporting business is picking up.

That reinforces a few things, such as:

a) don't always believe the doom and gloom of the press since they're selling as always through fear. And those of you who are still not seeing any good news on the horizon, know at least that there is some positive movement after the last few years, which is a very good sign.

b) if you're considering a spring remodel, you might want to think about checking in with your chosen companies to see what their schedules are, especially if you're in a high-tech area. Whether people are tired of waiting for the recession to be over, or business is picking up, the end result is the same. 

c) this totally breaks me trying to be a dedicated blogger with 3 posts a week. 

I know -- it's the last one is the deal-breaker, right?  ;)

In lieu of a researched post, I thought I might venture back into the archives for those who hadn't perhaps ventured that far back (2007/2008). That's 4,000 years in internet land, I know, but the information is still viable for those of you pouring over your research now. 

• A thought on selecting granite
• A tip for choosing a contractor
• A shot of color