Spaghetti Scrubs

No, they aren’t made of spaghetti, nor are they stringy surgery garb. They’re cleanup tools made from corn cobs (coarse scrubbing),  peach pits (gentle scrubbing)  & walnut shell  material.

Goodbye Detergent! the company that makes Spaghetti Scrubs, aims to reduce the amount of detergents used in cleaning cookware & dishes.

These guys are naturally abrasive, dry quickly (no stink microbes can take root), last for months,  and come in 100% recyclable packaging.

Apparently, soap hangs out awhile on these things – a little goes a long way, as they say – so when you do use it you don’t need much.

Hint

It cooled off this weekend. Like sweatshirt weather. And naps. And there has been a definite uptick in contact emails and calls coming in.

I decided that I’ll post this image every year when the season seems to get started.  This year is a little earlier than last year. But welcome, all the same.

EcoMod to the rescue

We’ll be calling Bonanza to give them back this kitchen, so these nice folks can have one from this century.

Here’s an interesting detail: chair rail AND crown molding compliment this wagon wheelery extravaganza. WTF?

These poor people have to guzzle gin & bourbon just to live with this excuse for cabinets on a daily basis.  Don’t try this at home, kids: we’re going in.

Stay tuned for Afters. Pictures, that is, not after thoughts. Which is obviously what these cabinets were in this house.

Blog discovery!

This morning I discovered a new (to me) blog written by a woman who does a wonderful job of sharing information about what “green” really is.  Especially in terms of kitchen design. It’s called Green Kitchens by Design, by Roberta Kravette.

She also designs with inclusivity in mind. Inclusivity, as in design for people with mobility issues. Check out this post about a spring visit with Hafele in NYC, in which they looked at mobility & kitchen design.

Hafele’s got a great demo exercise to let designers walk a mile (so to speak)  in the shoes of a compromised mobility person. Roberta volunteered to wear a special suit designed by Cornell University’s Center for Aging Research to simulate restricted movement:

“The suit consists of a pair of overalls outfitted with weights on the arms and legs, stiff inserts to restrict elbow and knee bending, straps to restrict leg and arm movement and other Inquisition-esque design details.”

To the right is a pic of the suit wearer showing the ease of drawer vs door opening without the person’s full range of motion available.

Seeing the forest for the trees

Here’s a positive post about managed forests & their vitality to the biosphere & surface life in general.  Apparently, thanks to managed forest practices, we have 1.9 trees growing for every one tree we harvest.

Trees do more for us than just be a building material:

• filter groundwater supply for us
• absorb CO2 & produce oxygen
• enable bio diversity of other plants & provide habitat for animals & organisms of all shapes & sizes

Every material in its place

For all its plusses, wood is not necessarily the best material for cabinet construction. Roberta penned a guest post over at K+BB Collective about why & when plywood, particle board or MDF is a better choice than solid wood.

Good to know I’m not the only one preaching the virtues of engineered wood products!

Can’t build out? Build UP.

We’re working on a kitchen design for a client right now that incorporates an additional ledge of countertop surface area. It sits between the backsides of the cabinets and the wall to which they are secured.

Basically, we framed out a 40″ high wall up against the exterior wall, & it will be capped off with a piece of quartz matching the main countertop.  It doesn’t have to match, necessarily; it could be stainless steel, for example.

Pros & Cons

Obviously, a plus is the additional storage surface area gained.  It could be used for anything from spices to small herb growing containers to a handy book notch.

As for the negatives, it does gobble up 6″ of floor footprint real estate, and it adds to the cost of materials & labor. So if it is already a very narrow space, or the budget is super tight, it wouldn’t be a great option.

Outside the box

There are multiple ways to gain the extra shelf. One is to frame the additional wall described above.

Another is to use  stand-off hardware & make a 5 ” or 6″ deep elevated surface. The bonus with this method is that the space under it is still usable.