SENSIBLE STYLE - Color Charged

"Courageous. Confident. Vital... It's a color for every day, with nothing 'everyday' about it." -- Pantone LLC on its 2011 Color of the Year




Maybe Pantone 18-2120 Honeysuckle is your color of the year, too. You love its vibrant pink energy and want it in your kitchen. But how do you incorporate a hot, trendy shade without dating your kitchen or anchoring yourself into a strong color you may not love down the line?

Trust me on this one: Don't buy honeysuckle-painted cabinets, large appliances or honeysuckle stone countertops unless you've loved pink your whole life and are absolutely certain you'll never, ever, ever sell your house.

You can still use this rich hue in your kitchen, but a little bit of a strong color goes a long way. Here are some Sensible Style approaches to integrating a strong color like this.


Go soft

Integrate your preferred color into your kitchen fabrics:

• Select pot holders in your chosen color
• Use it in a festive apron
• Find chandelier shades in your color of choice
• Add dish towels in solids or patterns that tie in that shade
• Find place mats and napkins that bring in your color du jour
• Look for floor mats in the color you love
• Tie it on with seat cushion fabric

Houdan Pink Fabric from Pierre Deux

Verano Pink Dish Towel from Crate & Barrel

Serve it up

• Add the color in serving platters and bowls
• Choose canisters in your selected shade
• Incorporate it in your bakeware collection
• Add drinking glasses in that color to your place settings
• Find cooking utensils or serving utensils with handles in that shade
• Look for trivets and spoon rests that incorporate it

Emile Henry pie dish at Bed, Bath & Beyond

Ikea's Yngaren bowl

Bigger splash

OK, so these strike you as wimpy and you want to make a stronger impression with your selected accent color. I'm still going to try to talk you out of big, expensive, permanent elements like cabinetry, countertops and flooring. But you can bring in your accent color with a bigger impact this way:

• Perhaps there are countertop appliances available in your color choice
• You can find cabinet hardware in pretty much any color
• Use the color you love in easy-to-change wall paint
• Select window treatments that include that color
• Look for a kitchen-friendly art piece with that shade in it
• If you've loved it forever, find an accent tile to integrate into your backsplash

Four-slice toaster from Dualit

Perennial Poppy Mosaic accent tile from Ann Sacks

Le Fleur knobs by Atlas Homewares

Final thoughts

Remember, always, that your space should reflect your personal likes and loves, not a website, TV show or magazine. I'm not a pink person myself and have no insecurities about missing out on Pantone's 2011 color of the year. I may miss next year's, too, without any regrets. But I have friends and clients who love the "now" color, style, look. This post is dedicated to the trendies among us. You know who you are.




Read all of the Sensible Style posts, linked from the right column!

Sensible Style - Your 8 best holiday helpers

Sensible Style launched in July to answer your questions about how to get the most out of your kitchen. ...

That's especially crucial at this time of year, when many of us are entertaining friends, family and colleagues in our homes. That makes it stress time for your kitchen! Here are some handy helpers to make the holiday season easier on you, your schedule and the hardest working room of your house.


Maximize cooking capacity

Most of the kitchens I've remodeled have started out with a single oven range with four burners on top, and a separate microwave oven. This is the sum total of their cooking capacity. Here's how to increase yours without tearing apart your kitchen this holiday season.

1) Replace your standard microwave oven with a convection microwave. This will turn your micro from a simple reheating, defrosting, popcorn-making machine into a top-flight cooking and baking appliance. They're available in both over-the-range and built-in models, and ideal for doubling oven capacity in compact kitchens.

2) Add additional capacity by choosing a convection microwave with warming oven capability. This will build in some flexibility to your cooking and serving schedule.

3) Add a fifth burner to your kitchen with a portable induction cooktop. These single-burner appliances boil water quicker than your current gas or electric versions and can sit on a spare foot of countertop to increase your capacity.

A portable induction cooktop, like this one from Viking, can increase your stove top cooking capacity.

Simplify prep and clean-up

Meal prep and clean up never garner any gourmet points, but occupy a significant part of your holiday entertaining time. Here's how to streamline the process and get you out of the kitchen quicker.

4) Select cookware that can go from the freezer to the oven to the table to the dishwasher. This will reduce your clean-up time considerably, (and the amount of water you use cleaning up after your big holiday dinner). There are several attractive brands you can choose from. Find the one that fits your budget and style.

The most attractive quality to this Emile Henry cookware just may be its extraordinary convenience.

5) If you were looking at replacing worn-out, broken or warped wood cutting boards, consider a color-coded (meat, vegetable, fish, etc.) set that can go into your dishwasher instead. This is much more sanitary and convenient, as well.

6) Invest in an immersion blender. This handy tool requires less clean-up than a standard stand mixer, takes up no space on your countertop and builds some flexibility into your prep process.

7) Keep your cookbooks cleaner and your countertops cleared with a cookbook holder that mounts below your wall cabinets.

This Under Cabinet Cookbook Holder is available on Organize-It.com
T

Tread lightly

Most of us have tiled kitchen floors that are extremely hard to stand on for the hours it takes to prepare, cook, serve and clean up after a holiday dinner.

8) My favorite holiday helper is a cushioned floor mat that make this season as merry for our feet, back, hips and legs as for our hearts and bellies.

Choose a size, color and pattern for a GelPro mat that fits your kitchen and takes the stress of holiday entertaining off your body.

Visit the Sensible Style box on the right column for links to all the posts in this ongoing series.