Family Includes the 4 leggers

Anyone who shares their home with a dog knows that wherever they are, so are the tail waggers.  Especially if it’s in the kitchen. (What dog doesn’t like food?)

But a dog or cat in the kitchen can also get underfoot easily. We’ve had many a screeching cat from stepping on a tail.

The way to keep creatures out of the way, but still in the room is to give them a comfortable hangout. It avoids spillage while tripping over them plopped down in what they think is a good spot.

NEWSFLASH: Compromise is possible!

How about designing a nook for a dog or cat within the kitchen space?  Humans & pets can coexist without inconvenience to either. An out of the way place for a bed, and an area just for them to eat & drink can make everyone happy.

It’s no secret that dogs especially love cave-like dens.  Most crate trained dogs prefer to continue sleeping in them even when the door is left open.

These guys have king’s quarters: plush bed, secure box, food,  toys & water.  All in a spot that they know is theirs. The envy of a street dog, for sure!

Out of the way, but still in the action. Perfect.

Soul searching, anyone?

In times of uncertainty & upheaval like these, our tendency is to seek stability wherever we can find it. Home is the ultimate sanctum for recovery & nourishment.

It’s also a place where we control our environment the most. We might not be able to do anything about the stock market, greedy corporations, or unemployment, but we can change what color our walls are, & make home a place that suits us to our liking.

Which one of the images above strikes you as more authentic?

>> read more >>

SlideShare Preso is up

Yesterday I uploaded a short presentation I made to highlight our kitchen designs for multi-unit residences.

Kitchen designs in a dense urban setting are a tremendous opportunity to exercise efficient, clean design that integrates the cooking/eating zone with the social living zone.

Oh the Urbanity

Living in the heart of a city not only requires well designed spaces, but also doesn’t rule out newer practices in a kitchen. It’s possible to include a composting and recycling zone into even a small kitchen.  We’ve come a long way from the antiquated “work triangle”. We include these zones in all kitchens we design.

Inside /Outside

One thing not mentioned in it is how often people think the inside style of a home must match the outside. This is not a law, you will not go to jail if you have a modern kitchen in a craftsman home.  There are no fashion police out there looking to throw offenders in the pokey. But I’ll save that discussion for a future blog post.

Check out the preso here.

Everyone’s a critic

This kitchen was featured in a post about a modern home listing in Portland over on Jetson Green.

At first glance, the abundance of wood finish is great:  it’s warm & provides  good contrast with the stainless appliances.

Look a little closer & things stand out. Like, where can you store anything in that kitchen? 3 wall cabinets, 1 blind corner base cabinet, 1 drawer under the microwave and 1 single door base cabinet?

Granted, there may be more storage outside the edges of the shot.  And sink cabinets don’t count b/c of the amount of sink guts, disposal, & it’s usually the designated garbage and detergent zone in most houses.

Lines & Clearances

What happens when you need items out of the drawer under the microwave and that corner cabinet simultaneously? Or how about getting into the dishwasher when the oven door is open?  That is a busy corner with all the appliances scrunched into it.

As far as lines go, I love the horizontal orientation of the wall tile.  But the variation of vertical vs. horizontal pulls on the cabinets is visually noisy.

The shelf over the window at the sink & the window itself are nice touches. I wonder why the wood banding above the tile on the sink wall does not continue over the tile at the range hood?

WWED? (what would ecomod do)

• continue the wide wood trim above the wall tile along the range side wall, interrupting it at the vent;
• either darken or lighten the wood on the cabinets or on the floor, but not both, to gain some contrast;
• add horizontally oriented wall cabs over the sink for added storage. I’d line them up with the glass doors on the corner wall cabinets to continue that visual line;
• swap the positions of the DW and the single door base cabinet to help unclutter that corner;
• find a way to incorporate more drawers (40% more storage with drawers over doors, kids!).

Ikea Kitchen Designs & Orders Compiled

Let’s say you want some help with your kitchen design, but are overwhelmed by the whole Ikea ordering thing.  Not everyone lives within reach of an Ikea store, where they can get help laying it all out. Enter EcoModernism.

We recently completed designs for people in London Ontario, the Kansas City area, and Alexandria VA. We put together their planner files, walked them through the ordering process and got them on their way. In fact, the Alexandria VA kitchen has been completed.

Got Skype?

All it takes is a couple of phone calls, emails to send along pictures & measurements, and a few days.  So if you want some help designing an Ikea kitchen & ordering it, we’ll walk you through the jungle no matter where you are.

From the Department of Useful Tools:

This morning I set up my account with HourVille, a tool that lets you buy or sell any service by the hour. Pretty slick – you can pay me directly to my PayPal account, and you can see my availability on my booking schedule.

Book Me!

I only have my design service detailed out so far, but you can hire me to:

• design your kitchen around you, not the Joneses (whether it’s IKEA® or not)
• help put together your IKEA® kitchen order
• assemble and install your IKEA® kitchen order
• review design ideas you may have on the back burner

Over the past 4 or so months, I’ve noticed a trend to delay kitchen renovations. Some of the reasons for that include:

• the economy: it’s tight, unpredictable, and folks want to be safe.
• the election: related to the economy, direction of government is no longer as much in question.
• the holiday season: it’s here, no doubt.
• indecision: uncertainty about design, budget, duration of the project

Actually, the only one of those things we can’t do anything about is the economy. The election’s a done deal. As for the budget and design conundrum, it may be worth a closer look. And maybe the holiday season is not the hurdle it appears to be. (Unless you have to spend it with your in-laws, with whom you share no common political ground. In that case, we really can’t help you.)

Budgeting for a remodel: look again

There is also an increasing trend to be more creative within kitchen design budgets. Two of my most recent clients opted to go with IKEA® cabinets in their remodel projects. The savings on the cabinets gave them more to play with for their countertops and appliances. One even decided to upgrade her master bathroom cabinets as well!

For $4,100, we were able to get 14 IKEA® cabinets for the kitchen and bath I designed, including:

• hardware and inserts,
• sinks,
• a dishwasher and
• over-the-range microwave
• assorted fixtures and fittings

She still has to get countertops and some other finishes like flooring, but what a fantastic price on the bulk of her remodeling components! Additionally, she was able to take advantage of a special 15% off sale, so timing was also an advantage. She opted to do most of the assembly herself, and is hiring out for the cabinet installation, plumbing and electrical, carpentry for wall adjustments. Not bad.

Bottom line: it’s entirely possible to significantly optimize costs within the design budget.

Still debating?

Check out our IKEA® Pros and Cons info in our post here. There we cover info about all IKEA® products, not just kitchen cabinets. Like everything else, IKEA® may not be for everyone. However, we seem to be finding no shortage of people who do love it.

Proudly Enabling the IKEA® Habit

That’s our new tagline! Countless people have written in, ecstatic that they can continue to get their IKEA® “fixes” in the Raleigh area, even without a store closer than a 4 hour drive away. So we thought the adjustment in the tagline was fitting.

[diagram images courtesy of jessica hagy and indexed]

HGTV & NKBA team up for kitchen & beth design series.

The Slow Food Movement began in Italy in 1986 to preserve regional cultural cuisine within an eco region. Some of its objectives include:

• forming and sustaining seed banks to preserve heirloom varieties in cooperation with local food systems
• developing an “ark of taste” for each ecoregion, where local culinary traditions and foods are celebrated
• preserving and promoting local and traditional food products, along with their lore and preparation
• organizing small-scale processing (including facilities for slaughtering and short run products)
• organizing celebrations of local cuisine within regions (for example, the Feast of Fields held in some cities in Canada)
• promoting “taste education“
• educating consumers about the risks of fast food
• educating citizens about the drawbacks of commercial agribusiness and factory farms
• educating citizens about the risks of monoculture and reliance on too few genomes or varieties
• developing various political programs to preserve family farms
• lobbying for the inclusion of organic farming concerns within agricultural policy
• lobbying against government funding of genetic engineering
• lobbying against the use of pesticides
• teaching gardening skills to students and prisoners
• encouraging ethical buying in local marketplaces

The Dwell on Design (DOD) conference in LA going on this weekend has some interesting content, including how the Slow Food Movement is influencing kitchen design.