Basic HTML Version
90
winter
|
spr ing
wood cabinetry. The difference in cost between the two is about $15,000
for the average to above average kitchen.
Now, to paint or stain the cabinets? This one isn’t about cost, but about
what people want. Plain stain is, well, plain stain. A custom multi-step
finish, similar to that found on fine furniture is what is on many of today’s
buyers’ minds. Another is painting, but again, a multi-step painted finish
is a must.
Recently we did a kitchen and decided to use flat black lacquer to update
the original cabinets. It turned out so well that everyone assumed we had
replaced the cabinets.
Another cabinet idea in the same kitchen was the use of free-standing
cabinetry, similar to glass-front china cabinets, also lacquered flat black.
The overall effect was that of a European kitchen, the kind made up largely
of freestanding cabinets, which rarely matched one another. When you
purchase an existing home in Europe, typically the kitchen cabinets and
appliances are not included, only the proverbial kitchen sink (visualize a
dark kitchen in a 17
th
-century chateau, with a single ray of light peeking
through a small window, revealing the kitchen sink, alone, attached to the
wall unsupported by cabinets).
What About the Counter Tops?
Solid slab granite or marble, versus granite or marble tile?
Well, to me that’s a no-brainer.
If your budget allows for slab materials, then that’s the only way to go.
Nothing says you skimped on a kitchen project more than using tile over
slab. The question is not only one of esthetics, but of serviceability. No one
wants to deal with the grout lines between the granite or marble tiles; they
are too hard to keep clean.
What about other solid surface materials?
Well, yes, there are many others currently being used. Lately, I’m seeing
a lot of Caesar Stone, which is an engineered stone (engineered stone is
composed of 93% quartz particles) that is supposed to be more dense
than granite, and more stain proof. It also offers more flexibility in design for
using shapes and curvilinear lines, and is offered in a multitude of colors.
Like granite and marble, Caesar Stone can be polished, or honed (a matte
or dull finish). The cost of Caesar Stone is comparable to that of granite, so
I’m not convinced that I would use it or why someone would choose it over
granite, an authentic natural material, especially in this “green” age.
Other solid surface material are Corian (too 1970s); limestone (too
porous); marble: viable but less dense than granite; Formica (oh,
pulleeze!); soapstone: interesting, and we are definitely seeing more of it;
concrete (a real pain in the ba-juby!) is highly porous and easily cracks,
although pluses include its flexibility in shape, texture, colors and finish
options; copper: lead over copper, and stainless steel countertops, were
first popular in the 1920s and ‘30s. We’ve begun seeing these materials
employed in the kitchen again in the last several years, though not in a big
way. We’ve mostly seen them used in conjunction with other countertop
surface materials. For instance, as stainless steel counters flanking the
stove and/or kitchen sink, with granite or marble counters elsewhere;
butcher block is considered difficult to sanitize, and is probably not a
great choice: think germs.
Refrigerators, Stoves, & Ovens
Now for appliances, the more difficult decisions. Stainless steel continues
to reign supreme, as the “commercial kitchen” look remains number one.
We are beginning to see some white kitchens again, however, as well
as some brightly colored appliances (think the French ovens La Cornue
or Aga), and even some metallic numbers such as Vermillion Red and
Champagne from G.E., (and you thought buying a car was tough!).
Commercial-style appliances, no matter the color, remain de rigueur. A
recent ad in one of the local shelter magazines for Jenn-Air appliances
featured the company’s new Oiled Bronze suite . I know seeing the word
“Bronze” in the same sentence as the word “appliances” conjures up
childhood memories of your parents old bronze appliances, especially
that bronze refrigerator that just wouldn’t die, even though all the other
appliances had been replaced with the then new Harvest Gold. Thank God
Julia Child was then just an OSS Spy, and Martha Stewart hadn’t yet made
her first cup of wassail, or to the therapist we might have gone sooner.