Kitcheneering‘s boutique showroom is moving half a block towards the ocean to 160 Avenida Victoria in San Clemente, California as of May 15, 2013.  This newer, larger space with two designated parking spaces will make it easier for clients to visit us. Please come by to see and feel cabinet samples, tile, knobs and pulls as you visualize your perfect home!

The magazine can be purchased at craft and home improvement stores and is available online at www.clothpaperscissors.com.

How do you select the best cooktop or range top?  Look for the following:

• Large (high BTU) burners in front (this is where you’ll saute’)
• Space around the burners adequate for 13-inch pans and pots (large pasta or soup pot in back and saute’ or simmer pans in front)
• Knobs in front or on the sides (so you don’t have to reach across hot pans to adjust the heat)
• Gas burners that generate 15,000 BTUs or higher (one BTU is the amount of heat to raise a pint of water one degree)
• Electric burners that generate 4,000 watts (equivalent to about 15,000 BTUs)

Have you heard of the heat “recovery ratio”?  It’s how long it takes boiling water to return to a boil after you add pasta or vegetables. More importantly, it’s how long it takes for oil to return to optimum temperature after you add chicken or meat to brown.  If the recovery ratio is long, your chicken dries inside and absorbs grease outside while it turns golden.  The end result looks similar but the quality is inferior.  It’s all about the burners.  Heat is a chef’s secret ingredient!

For more Moorea’s book on buying the right appliances, KITCHENAPPLIANCES 101 (What Works, What Doesn’t and Why) please click here.

Fri, Apr 19, 2013 – 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM, Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS), Convention Center, New Orleans, Louisiana

Trends in Kitchen Design-Adjacent Spaces

Presentation Description:

Mudrooms – Laundry Rooms – Pantries – Craft Centers – Desks. If you aren’t designing these kitchen-adjacent spaces, you are missing out on an important revenue stream for your business. Busy homeowners need room for managing life’s chores. Today’s clients often choose great-room style open concept kitchen-dining-living areas. For all the advantages of an open floor plan, there is an often-overlooked downside: when you mix the public and private spaces in a home, there is more pressure to keep the space neat. By combining a cramped mudroom, claustrophobic laundry room, and too-separate office into a chore-oriented service center, the space is not only more comfortable but also more versatile. At the end of this session you will be able to identify sales strategies to expand kitchen-remodel and new-construction projects to include adjacent spaces.  We will discuss how kitchen design best practices can be applied to other work areas to increase sales.

Standard base cabinets for kitchens are 24-inches deep and, with overhang, counter tops are typically about 25 inches.  If small appliances are kept on the counter, this further narrows available the two-feet deep work space. 

Cooking is easiest when everything needed is easy to see and easy to reach. When there isn’t enough horizontal space for this, we start to work vertically – we stack.  Containers and pots and bowls and food are stacked on top of each other, or placed on top of the refrigerator, range,  sink – anywhere we can find space.  Does this sound painfully familiar? 

Solution – 30-inch deep counter tops!

This is easily done by installing standard base cabinets six inches from the wall (called “furring out”) and topping with a 30-inch counter.  The gap is covered by a 30-inch-wide side panel.  You’ll be amazed at how much more space you have with six inches more depth along the length of your counters!  Your coffee maker, toaster, food processor, canisters or display treasures can stay on the counter — and you still have about 18-inches of depth for your work space.  In addition, you can make your wall cabinets 15-inches deep (instead of the standard 12-inches).  This allows you to store even over-sized dinner plates and–wonder of wonders–platters! in a a wall cabinet.  

To purchase your copy of Studios Magazine, click here.

Cultivate is an online resource for kitchen inspiration.  Their inspiration gallery features kitchen photos from their community of designers, architects, and manufacturers, in addition to their own selected collection of kitchen environments. The Cultivate community is invited to explore the many design alternatives as a way to discover their own point of view. Our Kitchen Articles section contains a knowledge base of topical articles that help orient homeowners to what they should consider when planning a kitchen remodel. Cultivate members are also invited to connect with designers and other trade professionals as they begin planning their own projects. Cultivate is produced and managed by Williams-Sonoma, Inc.

Read her first article: 6 Wrong Ways to Incorporate a Kitchen Prep Sink

• They are terrible ventilation—absolutely useless at the task of getting smoke and bad smells out of the kitchen.
• They create traffic problems—just look at breakfast (what should be a simple meal). Husband is scrambling eggs. Wife wants to reheat her coffee. A tussle ensues and in the time it takes the husband to step aside and wait for the wife to finish, the eggs are overcooked and rubbery.
• In order to be reachable, it has to be installed low—making it so low that if you have a tall pot on the back burner you can’t see into it and may even have to move it forward to stir.
• It is always gross and sticky from cooking residues (that it can’t vent!)

With all these problems, the benefits of saving space and money seem dubious at best. I’d rather put the microwave in the right place (near the refrigerator) and buy a hood that works.