The Mushroom Factor

Probably the most repeated question we’re asked about redoing our kitchen is whether we’re getting stainless steel appliances. When I say no, I inevitably first get looks of surprise and then something on the order of “how strange are you?”

What is it with stainless steel?!

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have anything against the glowing surface…except for the fact that everyone’s kitchen is done in it. For that reason, and because it doesn’t fit my kitchen’s style, I am NOT buying stainless steel appliances.

So, aside from stainless steel, what are the kitchen trends of today? And how far off, whether by intention or ignorance, are we as we renovate our kitchen?

The Top Five Kitchen Trends, according to This Old House online

1. Earth Friendly
“Green is in all over the house-perhaps most of all in the kitchen,” writes Kristin Mucci, of This Old House online.

I painted my walls green. Does that count?

Actually, we’re doing some fairly green things in our renovation project. One example is recycling the wood we saved from our porch ceiling when we rebuilt it 15 years ago. It’s fir pine and after stripping the white paint and finishing it in a clear varnish, it looks stunning in the sunporch section of our kitchen.

2. High Tech
“The kitchen of the future is here now, chock full of techie elements that meld functionality with fun.”

Okay, here’s where we fall a bit short. While some people are putting high definition television into their refrigerator doors and hood ventilations, we’re the last household on the face of the earth that doesn’t subscribe to viewing beyond the three majors, ABC, CBS, and NBC (or so our children tell us).

3. Colorful
“Stainless steel might never go out of style, but it’s sure losing some steam against this year’s bright appliance hues.”

Ah, what we lack in technology (and stainless steel), we make up for in color. Our white refrigerator was great in function but with the front of it rusting away, it lacked in form. We took it to an auto body paint shop and had it painted red. We love it!

4. Fresh and Healthy
“Companies are catering to nutrition-conscious consumers with products that help keep cooking healthy.”

No, we haven’t put in a copper sink with natural antibacterial qualities, as offered by Native Trails. But a new kitchen really brings out an enthusiasm for cooking and with that comes an interest in healthy, good quality food. Hey, the fact that we can now find our spices greatly enhances the success of our meal!

5. Convenient and Multifunctional
“This year’s products pack it in for multitasking, time-challenged consumers.”

I can’t begin to tell you how moving from cramped cooking quarters to an efficient triangular work zone makes life so much easier!

So there you have it. Our kitchen certainly isn’t keeping up with the latest trends, nor do we want it to. But it’s ours and it fits us perfectly. Can’t do better than that!

As I’ve mentioned, we’re in the midst of a big kitchen project.

We’ve been at this project for more than a year and may easily be for yet another. People are often horrified to hear this, but really, it’s not been that bad. It’s tolerable for two reasons. First and foremost, it’s not like we’ve been put out of a kitchen for a year. For the past twenty years, we’ve used our pantry as the kitchen and continue to do so during this project. Secondly, we’re pretty easy-going people. This is pretty important! Patience is a virtue, my dears, one will worth cultivating during home renovations.

An old house kitchen in its original state, such as ours is a rare find. To a kitchen designer, it’s a blank palette waiting for the first splash of renovation. To the layperson, it’s a bit of a challenge!

Neither of us are professional designers. While we did consult one initially, for the most part, we’re winging it on our own. We’re hoping our artistic and technical abilities are enough to carry us though—here’s where input is welcomed!

Our kitchen before

Our ideas: They’ve been evolving…

Our ideas have been contingent on two things: original design and budget. We want to maintain the simplistic, Craftsman style to which the house was originally built and, for budgetary reasons, we need to do the whole project ourselves with a minimum of purchases.

But, hey, we’ve been planning this project for twenty years! We want it to be good! I guess that makes three contingencies: design, budget and quality. Is this a feasible combination? We shall see.

Our kitchen: Our plans for after

1. Bring the cooking and storage into the kitchen where it belongs. Convert the pantry into a laundry/pantry room.
2. Combine the walk-in closet and sunporch into a breakfast nook—still to be called the sunporch because it’s such a cheerful, sunny room.
3. Keep the existing windows (they’re only ten years old and of original size). The counter underneath will have to be 1-2 inches less than standard height, but that’s okay because we’re short people.
4. Build a china cupboard on the kitchen side, a similar cupboard on the dining room side, and a pass-though opening in the wall between.

So this has been our project. I’ve been documenting it in greater detail at this site. But be warned, like our kitchen project, it’s usually running a bit behind.

We’re pretty easy-going people, don’t forget!

Fan of Prairie School architecture? Planning to visit the Purcell-Cutts House and other architectural gems in Minneapolis, MN? Yes or no, you’ve got to check out “Unified Vision: The Architecture and Design of the Prairie School.”

Published by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, this web site showcases the work of architects Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, William Gray Purcell and George Grant Elmslie. It also features the Institutes’ collection of Prairie School furniture and home décor.

If you’re planning to tour the Purcell-Cutts House—a classic example of Prairie Style and designed by William Gray Purcell and George Grant Elmslie in 1913—this web site is great preparatory research. The site’s linear tour offers 360 degree views of each room, together with detailed commentaries. The photos are stunning.

The site also takes you on a personal “walking tour” of notable Prairie School buildings in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Complete with audio narration and printable tour guides, it’s the next best thing to actually walking through the city streets (and considerably warmer at this time of year!)

Check it out—it’s a cool site!

It’s winter here in Wisconsin—and a good, old fashioned winter at that. We’re getting record snowfalls, below zero temps and an occasional rain shower. Put this together with a poorly ventilated attic and you’ve got the inevitable ice dam. 

Can something so beautiful cause so much damage? Well, apparently so.

The University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension describes an ice dam as “a mass of ice forming at the bottom edge of a sloped roof. The ice results primarily from heat escaping to the attic from the house, causing a warm attic.”

With all the snow we’ve been getting, it’s accumulating heavily on our roofs. If this roof is warm, the snow melts, runs off the roof and into the eaves where it then refreezes. The real problem occurs when water backs up under the shingles and works its way into the house.

And so, here in Wisconsin, where we haven’t had to deal with this in years (global warming, don’tcha know), we’re working off the brats and beer by raking snow off our roofs.

Our current project—one we’ve been working on for over a year—is the renovation our kitchen. In truth, this has little to do with renovation and everything to do with creation.

Our house is 90-years-old and in the course of those ninety years the kitchen was never updated. Yes, it was a very quaint kitchen. But let’s be real, a sink hanging on the wall with no surrounding cupboards—no cupboards anywhere—is not conducive to today’s style of living.

So, as you can imagine, a lot of planning, research and discussion (emphasis on the cuss) has gone into this project. But hey, it’s been fun!

THE BEST ADVICE IS WHAT WE’VE FOUND ONLINE
We’re not kitchen designers. And, judging by the number of times we’ve redone the same soffit, we certainly can’t profess to be designers either. But we’re also on a budget and paying for such expertise didn’t make the cut.

Instead, we turned to the Internet and found more knowledge than we ever imagined possible. Here are a few of my bookmarked links:

gardenweb.com
The Internet’s Garden & Home Community

I’m addicted to the forums on this site. They easily are the nurturing source in the development of our kitchen. The well-organized topics range from kitchens, to appliances, to lighting, to bathrooms to home finance. There’s a lot of conversation and participants, for the most part, are homeowners rather than industry professionals. They readily pass along ideas, recommendations and photos.

Anyone know who sells a good quality stainless steel sink?

Ask such a question on one of the forums and you’re sure to get lots of good answers. Many members recommended Galaxy Tool Supply in Chicago, IL, and sure enough, we found a 16-gauge double sink at a very good price. And, yes, I’m ditching the old cast iron baby. Need an old sink?

hgtv.com
Start at Home

If you love bold interaction and the latest Internet technology, check this out. I could spend hours and hours digging through this site. It has phenomenal imagery and its long list of video clips features interesting tidbits from industry professionals.

The How-To/Online Tools pages are fun and you can design your own room in 3-D. The one drawback, these pages only work with Windows Internet Explorer. What about us Mac people?

behr.com
Explore Color

As a graphic designer, I’m supposed to know all about color. Somehow, though, color on the wall seems so much different than it does on paper! In addition to rebuilding the same soffit several times, I’ve also repainted its walls in no less than three varying shades of green.

We’re not stuck to using one particular brand of paint, but the color site I like best is that of Behr’s Explore Color. It’s user friendly and coordinates your chosen color as a main or accent color.

You can also preview your chosen color on their sample photos or your own. Pretty cool. I really should have tried this before I painted my kitchen!

Next time…