COTE DE TEXAS BLOG

Showing posts with label KitchenAid. Show all posts

Live from the International Builders Show 2010

The show is coming to an end this afternoon and attendees are heading home. Like the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show last spring, it was a smaller event than in past years, but exhibitors were happy with the quality of leads they got, if not the overall quantity of traffic.

My goal in attending these events is to see the latest products my readers and clients would find appealing for their homes. IBS2010 didn’t disappoint in that regard. Here are those I found most notable.

Kohler

Kohler always has innovative and stylish products. On the innovative end is the Conceal Mirrored Cabinet and Lock Box. What a terrific way to keep prescription medicines secured from curious children, prying guests or open house shoppers.

On the stylish end, Kohler has introduced the Vault 18-gauge stainless sink that works as a drop-in or undermount. While good-looking contemporary sinks are easily found in the undermount class, they’re much harder to find for drop-in applications. This one has a very sleek edge that separates it from its clunky cousins! It's also available in a single bowl style.

Brizo

Always in style, Delta’s upscale Brizo brand, introduced an elegant new faucet series called Virage. It’s available in numerous finishes and a non-aerated water stream that accentuates its clean, classic lines. I personally loved the polish nickel. Not a game changer, just a lovely looker worth writing home about.

KitchenAid

KitchenAid has come up with a new French Door refrigerator that answers the prayers of moms everywhere who want to show off their kids’ photos and art. Rather than magnets and paper, parents scan juniors' artwork onto a memory stick and upload it to the fridge's USB port, where it will "hang" for as long as you want to display it. The LCD panel has other functions, as well, like displaying recipe substitutions and measurement conversions, but to my mind, the ability to personalize it with kid pics and vacation shots tops them all! (FYI, I mentioned to KitchenAid's brand manager that a future version with food preservation guidelines would be another great feature to include. She agreed.)

Amana

Also in the Whirlpool family is a fun new fridge called the Amana Quick Tap. The dispenser can be filled with any beverage of your choice, and would be ideal for game rooms. It’s adorable and affordable.

Whirlpool

Whirlpool also introduced a super-convenient feature to its newest refrigerator called MicroEtch. What it does is prevent spills from escaping from a shelf and leaking down the sides and bottom of the fridge. I wish I would have had that last month when a Coke glass tipped over on the top shelf just before a house showing! This fridge also has good lines, LED lighting and excellent capacity, too. The anti-spill feature, though, is what makes it a must-have.

Merillat

Merillat's builder cabinetry line has also addressed leakage with its new CoreGuard feature for sink base cabinets. These are the most vulnerable to plumbing leaks and can be a real hassle to replace once damaged. CoreGuard replaces the standard wood box with a plastic one. Only the removable face frame and doors are wood, to offer a consistent look. The floor is also tilted forward, so that leaks are easier to identify. Cleanup of household cleaning products is easier in this storage area, too. Let’s call this concept a Game Changer!

Cedar Mountain

A vanity line that you’re not likely to find in a builder model, home center or kitchen and bath showroom is Cedar Mountain’s custom log vanities. Each one is customized from a different tree for the homeowner’s space and sink choice. I could see them fitting in beautifully in a mountain home or log cabin. Not for everyone, certainly, but beautifully made and highly specialized.

Aquatic

Another bathroom innovation is Aquatic’s Ava Bath. This accessible tub is a departure from the standard walk-in model and offers nicer design points than is typical in this class. As I told one of its executives at the show, it’s not quite designer quality yet, but it’s a huge leap forward. It’s also not going to meet every user’s accessibility needs, but neither do the walk-ins. Aquatic is definitely on the right track with this Game Changer.

New City Door

I really like the door offerings from this Israeli company. New City Door's styles are sharp and a homeowner has the option of changing out the panels if their taste changes in future years. They offer glass and laminates in bold and subtle patterns.

Bertch

This well-respected cabinetry maker has just launched a line of exterior doors that can be coordinated with its cabinets. Imagine having the capability to have your kitchen door stain and door style coordinate with your cabinets and the glass inserts repeat in your cabinetry's focal points. I love the design possibilities of this capacity. Bertch also makes coordinating interior doors, which would work great for walk-in pantry applications. The exterior ones are so new that there is no official photography yet. This is my iPhone floor shot.

Cree LED Lighting

Cree is offering LED remodeler recessed light kits with color rendering far superior to what’s been on the market in the past few years. They’re also developing a real game changer: an LED bulb that will replace incandescents in every lamp, chandelier and wall sconce in your home. Consider the energy savings inherent in this capability. These should be available by the end of the year. Look for them in your local home center after Halloween; your electric bills will be less scary as a result!

Kanaflex

Not being a plumber, I wasn’t familiar with this company before the show. Known mostly for hoses and the like, Kanaflex has gone in a new direction with a super-lightweight stone composite panel that can be used for countertops, shower surrounds, baseboards, backsplashes and fireplace surrounds. KanaStone has numerous design applications and various sizes and thicknesses to meet them. They are as beautiful as their granite and marble skins, but more affordable and easier to work with. They’re so new that there is no official photography. Here's my iPhone floor shot.

Shirestone Custom Countertops

Shirestone is another great surfacing option. It is not new for 2010, though their highly-textured outdoor tops, I’m told, are. This material is non-porous, making it highly stain resistant and low maintenance. It is also a pour-in-place product, like cement, so that it can surround columns or extend great distances and curves without seams. It can even go over existing tops, like outdated laminates, making a small scale remodel possible with a huge visual impact.

Click here for companion post, More from the International Builders Show.

Sensible Style - Easy Color Updates

Sensible Style launched in July 2009 to answer your questions about kitchen design and remodeling. This time around, we’ll look at updating your space with color. One of the most common questions readers ask is how to incorporate color into a kitchen without dating it. Unless you’re completely committed to a beloved blue or red, and resale is not an issue, you may not want to change all your cabinets, countertops or appliances to that hue. Here are some ways to add a hot color without a major investment.

Fabrics

One of the easiest and most affordable ways of adding this season’s hottest colors to your kitchens is with dish towels, accent rugs, table settings and pot holders. If you want to make your kitchen sunnier, add a pop of yellow to your black and white kitchen with one or more of these items. Or add a burst of orange if you’d love an energy boost each time you walk into the room! Or go soft with one of the season’s woodsy neutrals.

A detail as small as dish towels can update your kitchen. These, from NapaStyle, are both attractive and organic.

Paint

Paint is another easy, affordable way to incorporate the latest colors into your kitchen. It’s especially inexpensive if you’re providing the sweat equity yourself. Some of the hot paint colors that work great with popular cabinet finishes include…

* Deep plum or cool grey with blond maple cabinets
* Watery blues with cinnamon cherry or painted white cabinets
* Spring or seaweed green with black or dark oak cabinets.

Note, too, that paint doesn’t have to be limited to your kitchen's walls. You can also paint your ceiling and the inside of glass-fronted cabinets for a color surprise.

Paint adds instant impact to a room. Here, Valspar’s Seaside Retreat adds a cool, coastal note to a white kitchen.

Countertop Accessories

Canisters, spoon rests, utensil crocks and even cutting boards can be swapped out for colorful components, giving your kitchen an instant and very affordable update. You can find traditional or contemporary styles in the latest shades, and donate them easily to a charity’s thrift shop if you want to update again in a few years.

Add color and charm to your kitchen with Sur La Table’s new Italian Ceramic Spoon Rests.

Serveware

You can certainly add color to your kitchen with new dishes, glasses, bowls and trays. If your kitchen features open shelves, glass-front cabinets or built-ins, this is a great way to color-kick the space with ease. When choosing dish colors and styles that will be open to the room, consider coordinating them with the permanent elements in the room.

Update your space with new dishes, like CB2’s new Petal Green Dinnerware set.

Countertop Appliances

Choosing non-neutral countertop appliances is your next level of color commitment! Not as pricey as a range or refrigerator, but not as inexpensively replaced as a canister set. Be sure that you love the color you’re selecting, as you’re likely to own that appliance for a number of years. Consider, too, whether your chosen color will look good on your counters, an easy one if your tops are black or white.

Colorful countertop appliances can add a kick to your kitchen’s color quotient. Just choose one you won’t kick yourself for in a few years. KitchenAid’s Empire Red Artisan Stand Mixer, available at Williams-Sonoma is a classic, (and easy to match to other brands' red models, too.)

Window Coverings

Window treatments are another way to add color to your kitchen. If your windows are a standard size, this can be an affordable update with in-stock retail or online offerings. If you need a custom size, this will be a costlier investment. Many kitchens have windows over a sink or doors to a patio. Adding an updated shade to these areas can brighten the space without a major color commitment. You can add accents in the same color in your table settings both indoors and out to extend the color in your space.

These Woven Waterfall Shades from Smith + Noble add a soft color note to a black and white kitchen.

Cookware

Cookware can be a major long-term investment, and should be chosen for its performance and durability, above all. That being said, there are delicious colors to choose from in this category and if you store your cookware on a pot rack or open shelving, it can spice up your palette as well as your palate.

Colorful cookware, like this Azure Blue Dutch Oven from LeCreuset, available at Williams-Sonoma, can add a burst of flavor to your kitchen’s décor.

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

Sensible Style - Small Makeovers, Big Impact

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

Since this is Makeover Month on Kitchens.com, we'll focus on kitchen makeovers. Not the kind that take months to plan and execute and thousands of dollars to cover. This posting will show you small, reasonably quick and affordable ways to make over your kitchen.

Get a handle on it

If your cabinets don't have knobs or handles on them, adding hardware will liven them up enormously. I recommend handles for drawers and knobs for doors, but you can do all one or the other. Think of cabinet hardware as jewelry for your kitchen and dress it up! You can choose a brushed nickel, chrome or pewter finish to coordinate with stainless appliances. Bronze will look beautiful on painted white or black cabinets. Glass can give you a lovely retro look. Black is a nice choice, too, especially if you have black appliances and want a rustic look.

Rustic knobs on these American Woodmark Townsend Oak cabinets enhance the kitchen's arts and crafts style.

Crowning achievements

I love the look of crown molding on cabinets, even contemporary ones. To me, they look more finished that way. Of course, you have to have space between your ceiling or soffit and cabinet tops to accommodate crown. You also have to choose a style that works with your cabinetry. If your door style is contemporary slab, a bullnose or square molding will accentuate, not muddy, its contemporary aesthetic. If your doors are traditional raised panel, a classic crown will look elegant. Transitional, Shaker door styles coordinate beautifully with cove or angle moldings.

If your cabinets extend all the way up to a soffit, you can paint or faux stain the soffit to match the cabinets and put your crown at the ceiling. This will make your cabinets look taller, your kitchen ceiling look higher, and really pull an upscale look together.

Traditional door styles, like the Richmond Cherry by American Woodmark shown here, look pretty, but naked, without crown molding.

Island fever, bar shopping

Upgrading your countertops can cost thousands of dollars for an entire kitchen, and often also involves changing out your sink, faucet and drain, as well as dealing with backsplash damages. Get an easy, affordable update by just changing the top on your island or raised bar.

The new top should coordinate visually with the surrounding ones to give the space a pulled-together look. If, for example, your surrounding laminate tops have flecks of gray, you could opt for a solid gray quartz top for the island or bar. If they're solid white Corian, a recycled glass top with bright colors on a white background can look great. Maybe you've got wonderful oak floors, but less-than-wonderful, old, chipped white tile tops. A dark wood top on your island or bar in the same color family as the floors will become a rich focal point.

An island or bar can get topped in a different material, like the Vetrazzo recycled glass shown here, adding a dramatic, yet well-coordinated, focal point to a kitchen.

Light the way

Many of the older kitchens I've redesigned have big ugly, cracked plastic light boxes or one dated fixture in the middle of the ceiling. Removing that light box or replacing that fixture is a quick, relatively easy way to update the look (and functionality) of your kitchen. There are numerous lighting options for kitchens, including pendants, chandeliers, pot rack lights, island fixtures, track systems and recessed cans. (This Gold Notes guest post by lighting designer Vicky Lodge could be useful for you in considering new kitchen lighting.)

Enhance the style and functionality of your kitchen by replacing outdated light fixtures with new versions, like this monorail system from Tech Lighting.

Fabulous faucets

Don't underestimate the aesthetic power of a good-lucking faucet to give your kitchen a style boost. There are hundreds of looks and price ranges to choose from, both contemporary and traditional. There are also water-saving opportunities with some new models. While you're faucet shopping, look for one that works with the overall style of your kitchen. Also consider getting a companion soap dispenser if you have an extra faucet hole to cover. (Getting the soap bottle off your countertop is an added aesthetic upgrade!)

This Kohler Simplice faucet in its new Matte Black finish can give your kitchen a mini makeover. The coordinating soap dispenser gives you added convenience with more style than a bottle of dish soap on your countertop.

Backsplash bling

A pretty backsplash can really jazz up your kitchen, and doesn't have to cost a fortune either. There are myriad options, from ceramic to bead board to stainless steel to tin ceiling tiles. Choose one that amplifies the style in your kitchen, rather than introducing a new one.

A gorgeous backsplash, like this one designed using Crossville Tiles, can become a fabulous focal point for your kitchen.

Small appliances, big impact

Can't afford to replace your major appliances with stylish stainless ones? Change your countertop appliances instead. Blenders, toaster ovens, coffee makers, toasters and other small appliances come in stainless, too. Another option is to bring in a kicky color, like red or turquoise. You won't have as many choices, but you will have a cheerful kitchen to put them in!

Stainless steel or colorful countertop appliances, like this Cook for the Cure Kitchen Aid pink stand mixer, can up the style quotient in your kitchen.

Softer side

Don't forget about your kitchen fabrics either. New window valances, pot holders, aprons and dish towels can style up your space in a low-cost jiffy. Coordinate all the fabrics in patterns and colors that work together well, and that work with your kitchen's style, too.

These shades by Smith + Noble coordinate beautifully with the styles and colors in the kitchen.

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

Color Notes: Green Day

Welcome to the latest Color Notes posting. The purpose of this series is to share inspiring products and helpful ideas for the many hues you might want to incorporate into your home's design scheme. This posting covers one of my personal favorites - green. I've always incorporated green into my home. When I painted my open floor plan condo in LA that color, my brother said he felt like he was sitting in a bowl of guacamole. In my Florida home, our master bedroom is a soothing shade of green... and I have never felt like breaking open a bag of chips. (The green shown here is Benjamin Moore's Green with Envy.)

Why green?

Green is a cool, calming color that evokes images of nature. In fact, the very word "green" has come to mean natural and environmentally-friendly.

I love green in spa style baths and bedrooms, but it also works well in kitchens, offices and dining rooms. Green enhances most wood floors and cabinets - like leaves enhance a tree. In fact, as I recently shared in a Woman's Day interview, if colors work together in nature, they'll work together in your home. After all, there's no better designer than the Creator, is there?

Where not to go green

There aren't any rooms that couldn't go green, but if your purpose in a space is to create a mood of intensity and energy - perhaps an area where you home school - rather than calmness and relaxation, it wouldn't be your first choice.

I love green with...

White

Kitchy together here on Jonathan Adler's Bamboo wallpaper

Orange and Cream

United in pretty paisley on Pottery Barn's Brooks Chair

Pink

Glamming up a bed with Kenzie Bed Linens at Neiman Marcus

Dark brown

Pretty together on a paisley wallpaper by Candice Olson for Kravet

Navy

Circling a super-fun dog bowl by Jonathan Adler

Grey, yellow and blue

Pulled together on Pier 1's mod Abacus Chair

Red and tan

Elegant together on my own china pattern - Oberon by Wedgwood

Green scene

It was great fun finding cool green gear to share for this posting. (I have a collection of green pottery at home that I keep adding to.) Hope you enjoy these!