Kitchen Sync

Gear yourself up for DIY

I found this buried in the PR news releases yesterday (no, it wasn’t sent to me. I have my finger on the pulse. The pulse, I tell you!) If you don’t think that DIY is going to be a growing entity in the next few years, you might want to note this:

Scripps Networks, the leader in lifestyle media, and 5min, the leading syndication platform for lifestyle, knowledge and instructional how-to videos, today announced a strategic advertising and content partnership. The agreement will extend online viewership for the Scripps Networks cable channels by syndicating video content through the 5min network. Scripps will also offer its advertisers new opportunities to reach highly targeted audiences by selling into the 5min Home and Food categories. Additionally, 5min will provide contextually relevant videos from its library to the Scripps online properties. – PR Newswire, Oct. 5, 2009

Yes. The company that created HGTV is going online with how-to videos.

This isn’t something to pass off lightly. I’m also noting home improvement stores gearing towards the DIY market and read just yesterday about a higher-end tool manufacturer aiming its marketing campaign towards “the experienced DIY-ers.”

For those of us in the residential remodeling field, this isn’t cause for alarm, merely a shift. There will always be a market for those who don’t want to do it themselves. Don’t get me wrong – I’m a big fan of DIY – in the right capacity. (i.e. no inexperienced fingers were harmed during the creation of your DIY project.)  While there are a lot of very good DIY-ers, some projects are not as easy as DIY magazines, online websites, and television would have us all believe.

(I shudder at my last tile project. No, you don’t want to see it. Ever.)

A couple came into our showroom on Saturday – both were very experienced DIY-ers and wanted to remodel their kitchen. “We didn’t pick a very good plumber for our last project,” she said. “I had to re-do the angle stops and reset the valves.”

“So why are you here?” I asked. Some people are overly ambitious but as we sorted each other out by delicate ‘how-much-do-you-really-know' questions and had reached the delighted ‘ah-you’re-one-of-us’ stage, I had to ask: “If you can do it all yourselves, why see us?”

They looked at each other and shrugged. “Can’t plumb, not a good electrician,” he said.

“We don’t want to do all the work ourselves,” she said. “That’s a big project, removing walls and all – we don’t want to be tied to the house forever. We can do the smaller projects.”

And I think that’s an important distinction for us in the full remodeling field.

Home Trends to watch from the PCBC show

The Pacific Coast Builder's Show was smaller, finer version than it's been in the past. 50 years old this year, it's smaller, as in one football-field worth of displays instead of 3-4. Much easier to get around and in some ways, a boon for the booths there. When I went on the Thursday, it was busy. 

 

There were many interesting items - integrated solar roof systems and on-demand water heaters and outdoor kitchens, but there were three items that stood out for me this year: one because it's a long overdue, two because I'm seeing the commercial design elements spill into residential, and the third because of the same spillover from commercial but also because it's an intriguing idea. Let me show you what I saw.

Home Trends to Watch: Multi-tasking ovens

(Timeline: depends on economic recovery and the increase of Gen-X homebuyers. I'll see it this year, but most likely demand will be greater in 3- to 5-years.)

For those of you playing along at home, there are two important kitchen design factors to pay attention to -- the re-structuring of appliances for the next generation and the re-introduction of appliances as future forward.

By restructuring, I'm referring to the tweaking of existing design for modern family usage. The emergence of double drawer dishwashers, microwave drawers, and refrigerators with bottom freezers are all good examples.

The shiny future factor for ovens and ranges has been a bit more of a challenge. I first saw the wave of trend ovens with touchpads and colored LED displays back at the 2006 KBIS, yet by the end of 2007, the feedback from my clients wasn't entirely positive, enough that I posted a mock letter to the appliance manufacturers.

The people buying these higher-end products? Baby Boomers. Touchpads with multiple choices were not only overwhelming and counter-intuitive to people used to a simple control knob, but reading the numbers with bifocals--especially when the controls are at the top of a double oven combination--was also a literal pain-in-the-neck.

The manufacturers were too early.

Home Trends to Watch: Wireless Televisions

(Timeline: Now. Mass market in 3-5 years for mid-to-high level homes.)

My mother, Carol Morisseau, is also a CMKBD, CID, and a Baby Boomer as well. With regards to trends, you can't beat her: she's more wired in than The Matrix although she'll disagree. Hence the following conversation:

Me: "I can't think of anything to discuss this week for Home Trends. Help."

Mom: "You haven't been paying attention to the electronics market, have you? What about wireless televisions?"

Me: "But they've been threatening this since 2004. Besides, didn't they go static-y and drop transmission?"

Mom: "That was some of the battery versions."

Me: *eyedart* "Um, it was busy this week?"

Mom: *mom look* "They debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Last winter.  Ellen Cheever mentioned it at our meeting this week. Go write what you know and then I'll tell you the good stuff."

All righty then.

 

Home Trends to Watch: Floor design

(Rating: Mid- to- high-end homes)
(Timeline: Now. Expected to grow in popularity within the next 3-5 years.)

For the past couple of years, there's been a growing awareness from my clients that the floor is yet another surface to play with - a sixth wall, if you will. Part of this has been spurred on by photos in consumer magazines, and it certainly hasn't hurt that the flooring industry has stepped up (*cough*) in terms of materials, patterns, and finishes.

The internet, of course, is highly responsible, but there's another element: travel. Business travelers are staying at the upscale and boutique hotels, and bringing the design ideas home. Luxury travelers are also reporting back with their own wish lists.

(Quick, informal poll: Designers/architects/homebuilders -- how many of you have been asked for a "W Hotel" style bathroom? Raise your hands. It's no stretch for me to imagine a sea of hands -- I've discussed this with many professionals already. Those of you who wish to see what I'm talking about, Google "W hotel bathrooms" and click for images.)

So if you're looking to stay ahead of the curve, here's a few ideas you might find of interest:

Tile Floors

• Instead of a standard straight grid or a diagonal layout, there's more willingness to play with multiple colors, or at least a border, pattern or shape.

 

(Photo credit: DalTile)

Home trends to watch: sun tunnels

(Rating: Starter to mid-range homes.)
(Timeline: Already here. Expect sales to balloon exponentially
with the President's green directives.)

For those of you who don't know what a sun tunnel is, it's simply this - a tube from the roof to an interior ceiling to bring daylight into the home.

 

Solatube directs reflected sunlight to the home interior

Unlike a skylight (unless it has protective covering or shades), the interior of the tube has a series of reflectors preventing full sun from damaging the interior finishes of your home. No heat, just bright light.

I've been specifying them for 6-7 years now. Marketing would have you believe it's the greatest green item to hit a ceiling space in forever, and let's be fair - it does have its bright moments. (Pun intended.)

Imagine a dark closet or hallway or interior bath flooded with light during the day, all without having to turn on a light or use electricity. There's your energy savings right there. (Also, reflected light means no fading of clothing - or at least very little. I'm thinking of you, Arizona and other sunnier states.)

A 14" Velux Sun Tunnel in a walk-in closet

There are two brand names: Sun Tunnel and Solatube, but I first knew them as sun tunnels (small case) when I visited Australia in 1992. I was fascinated at how much light they created.

Two pluses on why you'll see them trend in the next couple of years. In addition to the growing green interest:

• they're under $ 500.00 - much less than the cost of skylights
• they install in under half a day.

Home Trends to Watch: Charging Stations

(Rating: approx. 2-4 years away from mass market.)

Kitchen desks are out; message centers are in
The requests these days are for message centers in the kitchen, not desks, and if you're a contractor or designer savvy on trends, you know how much a client's eyes light up when you say, "And here's a landing space and message center with a cork- and message-board, and a place to hold your keys and cellphones." Even if it's just an alcove in the entry, busy lifestyles dictate a central location where one can scribble, "Dad, don't forget to pick me up from soccer at 5!"

For a Baby Boomer couple without children: the former desk is
now a message center/hutch. File drawers are in the center
with pens and notepaper neatly tucked away.

Current unsolved dilemma - where do the cell phones recharge?
The average family of four actually own between 4-6 personal and work phones. Each charger has a large adapter which will only allow one phone to plug into an outlet at a time.

Home Trends to Watch: Water Filtration Systems

(Rating: certainty in many areas of both Canada and the US in mid-to-high end
residential; possible localized inroads of lower-priced units in starter homes.)

(Photo: Everpure)

I once lived in an area of Silicon Valley where the water smelled like either dark green pond growth or sulphur.  The municipality claimed the water was safe, but who wanted to drink something that smelled like imminent tadpole birth?

Needless to say, we had almost a 100% specification rate on water filtration systems.

That was almost ten years ago.  Where I live now, just outside of San Francisco, the water is pretty decent, but many people (typically in the higher income brackets) still prefer bottled water by almost 10-to-1 ratio over drinking tap water. It wasn't until about four years ago, that requests picked up for kitchen sink filtration. 

I attribute the growing trend to three factors:

Home Trends to Watch: Age-in-place Design

(Rating: Certainty for all ranges of residential remodeling.
Mid-to-high-end homes to encompass structural changes;
entry-level homes will focus on storage and safety retrofits.)

Age-in-place: the ability to live in one's home as reasonably long as possible.

Over the next few years, we're going to see an explosion of products geared towards the Baby Boomer generation entering their retirement years. Right now, I'm viewing it as akin to standing at the water's edge watching the first round of large waves hitting the shore.

Now, you may think,  "I don't need age things! I'm not a Baby Boomer!" Or, you may be a BB, and still yelling "I don't need age things!"

Trust me, I'm not trying to pin labels. If "age-in-place" makes you squirm, then use "barrier-free design" or even "universal design" - a concept many designers were already studying in the early '90s -- that the home should be designed for every age from 4 to 104.

Stick around and let me show you what's coming up. Here's the good:

New column: Home Trends to Watch

One of the great things about home design is that it's exploded in terms of style and technology. Now I'm lucky to be in an area where technology rules, and where items and materials I think are commonplace aren't.

The last few years I've spent too many times looking at a magazine or something on the news and saying, "I could have written that!" or  "That's new? But I've been using it for xx years!"

Well, no more! *grin*

For the next eight Fridays, I'll be reporting on what I'm seeing as upcoming trends, and, by trends, I mean something that advances us forward, not, er, something that will be out of date in two years. If there's enough interest, I may continue.

With that being said, welcome to the new column!

~*~

HOME TREND -- INDUCTION COOKING
(Rating: higher-end market certainty)

Back in December 2005, my mother and I were in Las Vegas, taking a well-deserved break from a truly jam-packed year.  (Each year, we save up our pennies for foodie-inspired goodness.) This particular year found us perched on red stiletto-high bar stools at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon in the MGM Grand.

For the first time, it wasn't the food that excited us, or the superb plating, or even the people watching. It was the two-burner induction cooktop with two bubbling pasta pots dead center of the open-air station.

Now, we'd certainly heard about induction long before this - it's been around Europe for years, and to a smaller degree, Canada, and we'd always wondered why it'd never caught on in the U.S.

(In retrospect, I've often wondered what the poor sous-chefs thought of us: two ladies oogling the vicinity of their pasta pots with all the fervor of starstruck teenagers. *grin*)  But, in our defense, it was the first solid evidence of induction cooking we'd seen outside of a television program. Our theory is that when the pro world adopts, the residential world (within reason) isn't far behind.