Kitchen Design Details - Banquette Height

I've added a new category, "Kitchen Design Details". Sometimes, I'll come across a useful piece of information, or am reminded by a detail from an image that I feel might be important to pass on, so I thought I'd create this new category.

It's funny how this happens. Today, I saw an image in the hot, new, building and design site, PointClickHome. I immediately honed in on the built in banquette. First, let me say, this is a beautiful image, isn't it? It is a lovely representation of a rectiliniar design.

What I want to highlight in this image is the height of the banquette, nothing else. When planning a banquette, consider the following:

• What is your table height?
• Will you want a cushion on the top of the banquette?
• How comfortable will you want the banquette to be? 
• If you want super comfort, then think in terms of THICK cushions, sofa-like, as much as 4-5" thick, and watch the firmess of the cushions as the cushions dimension will then compress easily or not, changing your seat height.
  
• When planning for thick, comfy, cushions, your banquette may be as low as 14-15" high, which LOOKS very low, but have no fear, this is an acceptable height to plan for, if, for example, your cushions are a medium firmness.
  
• If you do not want a cushion, your banquette height may be 17-18" - measure a chair and compare that height to your table height to determine a comfortable height
  
• Try to experiment in advance with a variety of seat cushions you have on hand from existing furniture, to guage your comfort needs/desires. And, yes, take that sofa cushion off as well and try it out!
  
• Visualize if you will want to linger at the table or even stretch out with a book, or if the purpose is for quick, efficient, meals only. This will also help you focus in on the comfort factor you want designed into your banquette.
  

Me, I don't think this particular cushion would serve my purposes for comfort, being so thin, but that's just me. Know what you want to feel when you sit down at the table! 

 

KBIS 2007 Kitchen Design for Better Homes and Gardens Midwest Living Magazine

So, I've been real busy since KBIS, and I took so many pictures and brought back so much information that I have more to share with you! The "Idea Center", which is either three or four full, real, kitchens, produced on the KBIS site in a wonderful, huge area, was, as usual, well, wonderful! Meredith Corp., produces these kitchens, each from a particular magazine, and each has a specific theme. It is a trends spotting experience also! In this case, trends that I am spotting are:

• a soft contemporary styling
  
• walls of tile or stone
• rustic features
• an eclectic look
• mini version of a work stations concept
• comfortable feeling
• large, multi-functional sink
  

From the press release: Midwest Living's kitchen at KBIS, "Back to Basics" is a relaxing weekend retreat, with its ‘back-to-nature’ kitchen and bath space. Pairing the Heartland’s agricultural heritage with contemporary cabinetry and appliances, the converted barn is designed to relax and enhance the weekend getaway experience. The space plays on the growing trend towards more outdoor living, as the entire structure opens to nature with an 8’ entrance flanked by barn doors, an outdoor shower, and a screened porch with daybed.

How gorgeous is this?? Enjoy! 

 

 

 

 

Absolutely Beautiful Kitchens

I love the blog Absolutely Beautiful Things, authored by Anna. Today, I looked through it and found a few posts on particularly beautiful kitchens, which I'd like to show you.

The first post shows a gorgeous white kitchen which is actually very similar to one that I did recently.  And, in Anna's later post Kitchen Love Part Two, please check out the inspiring ways to use shelving on walls and in pantries. Anna is an Interior Designer in Brisbane, Australia and owns a very wonderful shop called Black and Spiro.

Please also take a look at the blog At Home With Kim Vallee. The advice on this blog is excellent. It is practical and insightful and creative, a special and important combination. Kim's writing translates into focus and direction and makes it easy to follow too.

And one more, more shelving from Small Space Style, another blog with great ideas and again, very practical advice.

I need to do a post about shelving in kitchens, it is so HOT these days. These blogs have inspired me! In my practice, I am designing with open shelving more and more. It is accepted more than it ever was. A shelving post is coming soon!

The image shown is one of my favorite images. I love the way this shelving looks. That said, I must say that of course it is completely misplaced and even dangerous due to the placement of the range underneath it. I think this image was from a show house some years back. You can tell it's old because of the dishwasher. Nonetheless, I love the shelving if we look at that alone! 

Scandinavian Kitchens and Independence Day!

It turns out it's perfectly appropriate, and I even wish I had planned it this way, that I'm two days late for my weekly Monday Scandinavian Kitchens exhibit. Today, being, July 4, Independence Day, is the perfect tie-in to dedicate this post to my parents, who came from Copenhagen to the U.S., at that time, sailing past Lady Liberty, to pursue the American dream.

My parents, especially my mother, wanted to assimilate as seamlessly as possible into American life. She quickly found a church to become a member of, got involved in school and PTA activities, made lots of genuinely good friends and was happy to gain citizenship and to feel like an American. My father founded a business, made his fortune, later lost it all, blaming it on unions, also typically American! I lived the American dream growing up, and while assimilation was important to my parents, the wonderful Scandinavian cultural traditions remained intact. Food, the language (between my parents), the fantastic Danish modern furnishings, the special Danish sense of humor, and more, remained inside the home as I grew up. To think of the furnishings that were thrown out in later years, I can't go there! I was raised in two cultures with perfect balance and proportion.

So, hats off to my parents and those who dream of a better life in the U.S. I still cannot imagine the pain there must have been to leave one's home country, family, friends and all that is precious, but the promise and draw of the United States surely burned strongly then and burns ever stronger in so many people dreaming of living in the U.S. And, the dream of a better life became official on July 4, 1776!

It is with great pride as a Danish-American, that I share with you some simple, yet lovely, vignettes of Scandinavian kitchens, with a little bias toward dining together, on this July 4! Enjoy! 

 

Here is my cousin Lis in her kitchen in her and her husband's summer house.  A great memory:

 

 The top image is from the wonderful blog chezlisen and the next image is from Huset Fullt adnother enjoyable Scandinavian blog!

Kitchen Appliances - Retro, Color, Cool

I've been wanting to show you the very cool appliances from Big Chill Retro Appliance, and now, seeing this post from Desire To Inspire, this is the moment to do it! As soon as I saw these Big Chill refrigerators, I knew they were done right.

I don't know what 50s or 60s vehicle the special logo comes from, but it's the kind of thing that you know you've seen before. And, the lines of these refrigerators, I feel like I've seen that style before too. It has personality, not just bulk. I'm wild about the lines of this refrigerator!

Very interesting too that the ranges are identical to Elmira's line of ranges, another great line of retro inspired appliances. Oftentimes, one manufacturer distributes the same item to multiple brands, I think that is common knowledge. That said, there could be some tweaks of differentiation on the inside of the appliance, tailored to a brand's specifications.

Now, I know that Scrappy Girl over at Domino Magazine is interested in retro cool appliances for her future kitchen renovation, and I've been wanting to send this over to her, so here it is. Don't you just love the chrome trim? And those handles!

Of course, we know these appliances are also all about color! That's where a whole lot of fun comes into the pictures, yet, look at how wonderful these images of soft colors looks on these appliances.  

The Big Chill's website has good information on it. The FAQ answers all your questions, I was impressed by how complete it is. The Big Chill is based in Boulder, Colorado. Cool, in more ways than one.

Green Kitchens - Consuming to Conserve?

Very interesting article in The New York Times, Buying Into The Green Movement. This piece talks about our eagerness to literally "buy into" the green movement, causing critics to question the fundamental issue...are we "consuming to conserve", thus, this line of thinking being a paradox? Are we eager to buy new green products, products, whether green or not green, which may not truly be needed at all, thus, creating an unnecessary environmental impact?

I can't advise new homeowners whose kitchen is 40 years old and damaged, to forego renovating their kitchen. I am not of that philosophy, although some may be. To me, THAT is an oxymoron. However, there are ways to think a little deeper as to how one can be green, with, or even without, the use of green products.  

Let's take new kitchen cabinetry. A client may have an interest in designing with "green" products. One issue, which has a huge environmental impact, of course, is fuel. A homeowner may want to consider if they really want to order green cabinetry from a fabulous and highly styled eco-sensitive cabinet manufacturer, their single order being trucked in from Washington State, if they live in New York.  Is it wiser to buy cabinetry within a radius of a few nearby states, which will be delivered in a truck along with other orders for multiple local deliveries? This is one approach to thinking green in another way.

And, what about countertops? I know at least one of my suppliers will make wood kitchen countertops, which can be shipped along with the kitchen cabinetry. I also carry wood countertops that come from Atlanta, Georgia, and from far away Denmark (some woods which talk of being from sustainable sources-except for the jet fuel transporting it from one place in the world to another.) Likewise, slate countertops which I use on occasion, originating from Vermont, are relatively close by and intrinsically eco friendly.

Can a kitchen be designed in a green way to use less cabinetry but still maximize storage? Absolutely. Another way to "think green."  I did it in my own kitchen in some very clever ways, which I will describe in more detail down the road.

I am open to all ways of lowering our environmental impact, including the use of products which, while they may not be green according to one set of specifications, may indeed be green(er) than previously thought, when compared to how they are transported to their destination, how they are designed, or according to other alternative ways of defining "green."

Other ways of thinking about the green movement and consumer behavior are presented in this article. I thought it was very interesting.