Kitchen Interiors

It’s Not Mom’s Kitchen Anymore!

It’s Not Mom’s Kitchen Anymore 1 Mom’s kitchen used to be nice, warm and beautiful but now there is more functional stuff in modern kitchens. Photo Courtesy: Fabio Mincarelli Monfrin

It is said the kitchen is the heart of the home. We use our kitchens for cooking, of course, but also as a gathering place for friends and family. Joys and sorrows are shared over coffee or meals around the table. Preparations for celebrations and cherished traditions take place here too. So making your kitchen the best possible for your needs while creating a cozy beautiful space is time well spent. Now, more than ever, you can create a beautiful functional kitchen with things your grandmother only dreamed of.

Give Yourself Room

As population explodes and costs rise, some are downsizing their homes. While this can be a good thing, it also usually means a much smaller kitchen. Try multi-functional appliances to make small spaces functional. One such appliance is a combined dishwasher and sink. You can lift the dishwasher top lid to use it as a sink. With the lid down lay a cutting board over it and use as a food prep counter.

Dishwasher integrated into Sink – Photo Courtesy: Treehugger

Need to go even smaller? How about a combination kitchen? This small white floor cabinet has a sink and faucet on one end, two stove burners on the other end and space in between for food preparation. You can even store food underneath in the cabinet or opt for a small refrigerator under it instead.

Childhood Treats

Countertop Snow Cone Maker found at Chefs Catalog

We all remember snow cones although we usually found them outside of the home. Well, get ready to reclaim those carefree times only this time you can enjoy a favorite retro treat in your own kitchen. Nothing is as good on a hot summer day than a snow cone. Bring back that pleasure with a personal countertop snow cone maker. Most make the cones in under a minute. It creates plenty of shaved ice for adding your own juice or syrups. Other small “treat makers” for cotton candy, corn dogs and popcorn are available in countertop size.

Prepare Meals and Eat in Style

Face it, cooking gets boring day in and day but with these neat kitchen items you can add a little style to this daily chore. Don’t run from the stove to the cupboard or table. Instead invest in a kitchen trolley. Kitchen islands are nice but with a trolley you’ll have an island you can take with you. You can have everything you need to make the meal right there with you in one central mobile location.

This ‘Red Bonded Leather Sophia Chair’, crafted of solid wood with red bonded leather, captures the chic, subtle lines and solid construction of yesteryears and adds a vibrant look to any room. Photo Courtesy: World Market

After that delicious meal is ready don’t sit down at some boring table. Try high tech futuristic metal chrome counters and stools. Or if you are more into vintage designs choose a booth style table and benches like the ones that used to be found in old 50’s diners with matching dining room chairs.

Gadgets

And now we have a ‘Talking Measuring Cup’!! Can baking get any easier? Photo Courtesy: Inventor Spot

If only there was an easier way to prepare foods… there are many gadgets that can help you. Take heart, measuring at least is easier with this talking gadget. You know the drill; your measuring cup is hard to read with the small print on the side and measuring spoons tend to get scattered or lost. Instead save time measuring, not to mention your eyesight, by using a talking measuring cup. Set this cup in the base after filling and then listen to it tell you how much is in it. You can choose which units of measuring you want to use plus it knows the difference between different densities. Use it with both liquid and solids too.

You’ll never burn food again with a new self-stirring pot from Japan when it makes it to the market. When it reaches a certain temperature, it starts spinning inside on its own. No matter what you are cooking, food won’t burn because it’s always moving without you having to remember to stir it.

Today’s kitchens need not be dull and ordinary. Cook up some creativity and make a kitchen that is uniquely your own by utilizing the numerous up and coming trends and designs.

Filed Under: Kitchen Interiors Tagged With: kitchen design

Some Killer Kitchen Improvements For A Small Budget

by Margaret Benson · Leave a Comment

Some Killer Kitchen Improvements For A Small Budget 1 One of the many beautiful kitchens by Custom Bench Tops (CBJ) of Australia

If your kitchen has started to fade and you tend to keep the door closed when guests are visiting, maybe it is time to remedy the situation. If your finances are a tad strained, you can take comfort in the fact that there are some inexpensive ways in which you can give your kitchen a fantastic facelift.

But How?

A kitchen rebuild can cost many thousands, but this is for some very obvious reasons. If you replace the cabinets, worktops and white goods, you will need serious cash. You can save a lot by keeping your remaining cabinets and just upgrade certain parts of the kitchen.

Keep The Main Structure

You will not be replacing the main body of the kitchen and this will make the job far simpler as well as cheaper. Once you start to reshape the room, you need to consider plumbing and electrical work as well as the purchase costs.

Lighting

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This well lit open kitchen and island share the space with a dining room.
Photo Courtesy: Nancy Hugo

Instead of a more expensive recessed light option, you should consider a more decorative unit. As well as being considerable cheaper, these will be able to support a far higher wattage light bulb. The results of a one hundred and eighty watt lighting unit will make the kitchen look like a million bright dollars.

Flooring

Some Killer Kitchen Improvements For A Small Budget 3

Vinyl flooring is a very cost conscious option, but it can also be visually stunning. If you think about a classic two tone tile effect, you will be on the right track. Just consider the color scheme for the rest of the kitchen before deciding on a final choice.

Right: Kitchen floor – It’s vinyl! – Photo Courtesy: publicprivate

Painting

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It is amazing the effect a fresh coat of paint can have on your kitchen. You should think about the whole color scheme before your final choice however. A citrus theme always works well particularly in a smaller kitchen. It gives the impression of a clean larger space and will always cheer you up when you enter the room. Choose a washable type of paint as you never know when the cooking may get a bit lively!

Cabinet Doors

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Kitchen Remodel Complete! – Photo Courtesy: Colleen Lane

Instead of shelling out for a new set of cabinets, you can get a similar effect by upgrading the doors. Try to match these with the new paintwork or try for a contrasting but tasteful option. Before buying your new doors you should check the condition of the cabinets. It would be a shame to upgrade the doors only to find out that the cabinets were on their last legs.

Laminate Counters

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You can obtain some very stylish looking laminate counter tops for a reasonable price. A favorite choice these days is the granite effect laminate pattern. They look nearly as nice for less than a twentieth of the price premium. For that finishing touch you need only add some contrasting edge dressing, chrome effect always does the trick!

Accessories

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Grace grabs food from her fridge. Photo Courtesy: Eloise L

A new cooker or fancy fridge are safely out of the equation here, but you can still pick up some nifty accessories for small change at your local home improvement centre. Think about some hooks for your pots and pans or maybe some tasteful prints for your new walls. Just remember that nobody ever need know that you redesigned your lovely kitchen for less than the price of a month’s food shopping!

Margaret Benson is an interior designer and specializes in designing kitchen benchtops. Being a lady, she has a special affinity towards the kitchen and tries her best to design the kitchen in the best possible manner. She also gives useful tips on her blog and talks about making some inexpensive changes to the kitchen in today’s post.

Filed Under: Kitchen Interiors Tagged With: kitchen remodeling, kitchen renovation

How to Create the Perfect Kitchen

by Sonya · Leave a Comment

Plenty of room to cook and entertain in this kitchen. Photo Courtesy: Sonja Lovas

Kitchens nowadays are not just used as an area in which to cook and prepare meals. Kitchens today are very much part of the home and are used as a family and entertainment area as well as a cooking area. Some kitchens also have an adjoining open-plan lounge and relaxation area with sofas, seats, and a coffee table where families can congregate near to the kitchen and socialize.

If you’re planning a new kitchen layout, then here are some things to think about and consider in order to achieve the perfect kitchen for your home.

Start with Storage Space

With a kitchen comes a whole lot of kitchen and dining equipment, everything from forks, spoons and knives to food processors and ice-cream makers.

Make sure to plan enough cabinets and drawers for storage like the ones in this modern kitchen. Photo Courtesy: Susan Serra

Do an inventory of everything you have to store in the kitchen which will determine the amount of space that you need in order to store all of your kitchen belongings. This is an essential and practical element of kitchen planning to ensure you have adequate space and storage.

Usage

A Chalon Handmade Kitchen with furniture from the beautiful Hambridge Mill, in the midst of the Somerset Levels – Photo Courtesy: Chalon Handmade

You will then need to think about how you are going to use your kitchen. Do you want it as an informal cooking and eating space, do you want a seating area adjoining the kitchen to minimize disruption when you’re cooking, or if your kitchen is large enough do you want a dining area in your kitchen? If you want an informal guest entertaining area, you could choose an open-plan kitchen and design space with an island for instance, where you can cook and chat to your guests in relaxed surroundings.

Appliances

You will also need to work out where your appliances will go in your kitchen. If there is already plumbing for washing machines and dishwashers, then it’s best to keep these in situ. If you want additional appliances, plan these in and check everything fits. Remember you can stack a washer-dryer unit on top of a washing machine to save space if you need to, but you need adequate wall space. Ideally if you have the space, plan in a utility room where your washing and drying machines can be out of the way in their own bespoke laundry area.

Your cooker is the most important appliance in your kitchen, so do your research into what you can buy with your budget and whether you want a conventional or fan-assisted oven, gas, electric or a hybrid of the two and also if you require a cooker hood and extractor fan. Buy the best cooker that you can afford as this is a good investment. If you have the space, then you could consider a range-type cooker with a larger hob and double ovens.

Above right: A wood stove with new features as advertised in a March 1918 Country Gentleman magazine. Photo Courtesy: Don O’Brien

Working Areas

If you love cooking and are a serious cook and spend a lot of time in the kitchen then you will probably require a lot of worktop space in order to prepare and cook food. You will also need room between the fridge, sink and cooker which is called the kitchen `working triangle’.

What your work triangle is supposed to look like – Image Courtesy: City Homestead

It is advisable to plan your kitchen so that the distance between these three important areas in the kitchen should be between 5 metres and 7 metres which will optimize this space effectively in the kitchen.

Sink

Your sink and drainer tends to be the fitting that is overlooked, however if you plan this wrong it could be frustrating. If you are going to be doing a lot of washing up then have a sink and draining board that gives you enough room to cope with a lot of dishes, kitchen utensils and cooking pans. If your work surface is taken up by the draining board on one side and isn’t practical, remember you can turn the sink round and have the draining board to the right as well as the left which could give you more work space where you need it.

This sink doubles up as a dishwasher! Designed by ALPHAPROJECT

Choosing taps can be fun too as there are so many wonderful designs to choose from with single lever units, mono units, mixer taps, pull-out taps with spray attachments, and water filter taps.

Kitchen Units

Nowadays there is plenty of choice for kitchen units with a range of colors, designs, materials and fittings. We are spoilt for choice which means that it could be hard to decide on the type of units you want for your kitchen.

Start with the budget you have for your kitchen units and then look at the style of units you like within your set budget range. There are free standing kitchens and fitted kitchens, traditional kitchens, modern and sleek kitchen units, stainless steel and commercial-look kitchens, Shaker kitchens and hand-built kitchens. View as many examples of kitchens as you can including friends’ houses, online, magazines and in stores to get a really good idea of your preference and taste.

The revolving Circular Kitchen designed by CC Concepts. What will they come up with next?!!

In addition, think about functionality in the kitchen and the type of cupboards you would like because there are many designs of separate units available within one kitchen range. You can choose from overhead, wide cupboards with doors that open upwards for cooking pans, or pull out drawers, normal sized cupboards at floor and eye level, and large larder cupboards that rotate or pull out.

You can also choose an appropriate worktop, either the same color or a different one. You could go for a little luxury and invest in a solid wood or granite worktop that can be bespoke made for your kitchen units.

Fittings and Finishes

The fittings and finishes of a kitchen really can make it look special, so think about your tiles, kitchen unit handles, splash back choices and flooring.

Flooring should be functional, easy to clean and co-ordinate with the units that you have chosen. Tiling or wall splash backs also need to be functional and easy to clean as well as look good. Splash backs have been improved and modernized and are in a range of exciting ideas and designs including traditional tiles, glass and stainless steel. You could also have funky LED lighting inset into your splash back areas.

Left: A nicely laid new Linoleum kitchen floor – Photo Courtesy: Eric Mueller

Sonya writes for What House?, a leading UK property portal that features new build homes and the latest mortgage and property news.

Filed Under: Kitchen Interiors Tagged With: home, home decor, home design, home improvement, home improvement ideas, home improvement projects, home improvement tips, kitchen design

How To Get Rid Of Your Popcorn Ceiling

by Barry Leon · 2 Comments

Popcorn Ceiling – Photo by Valerie Zinger

While you could easily hire a professional to remove your popcorn ceiling for you, you are going to save yourself a lot of money by choosing to take on the job yourself. Prices vary drastically depending on where you live and who you hire but the job has been known to cost as much as $2 per square foot. Honestly, the whole process sounds much more intimidating than it actually is and today we are going to teach you just how simple it is to remove your popcorn ceiling and get your ceiling looking the way you’ve always dreamt.

Check for Asbestos

How To Get Rid Of Your Popcorn Ceiling 2 - Asbestos Warning

Photo Courtesy: Michael Pereckas

Many popcorn ceilings that were built before the 1980s contain Asbestos, which is extremely harmful to your health. While Asbestos is perfectly safe when it is sitting as part of your ceiling, untouched; the moment Asbestos is moved, it becomes airborne and can lead to Mesothelioma and Asbestosis. It is important that you test your ceiling before you begin the project on your own. Take a small sample and send it to an EPA Certified Testing Lab. If it comes back positive, you will need to contact a Certified Asbestos Contractor to do the job for you. They are specially trained in how to remove Asbestos without causing harm to you or your family.

Prepare the Room

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Preparations for removing a Popcorn Ceiling – Photo by Chad Jones

Most people would argue that the toughest step in removing a popcorn ceiling is the preparation. The best thing to do is remove everything from the room starting with light fixtures or fans from the ceiling. Next, you want to cover the walls and floor with plastic sheeting, putting special focus on wall outlets to ensure they do not get damaged. Taping an extra piece of plastic around them is a good idea, in case any excess water finds its way through the plastic somehow. Before you begin, you must turn off electricity to the room because you are going to be working with quite a bit of water. From there, you are going to want to completely cover your floor with contractor paper so that it can pick up any excess water and help make your cleanup that much easier.

Apply Water to Your Ceiling

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Be well prepared for your Popcorn Ceiling removal – Photo Courtesy: rioncm

Using a pump sprayer, begin applying water to your popcorn ceiling. It’s best to work in areas of about 5 foot by 5 foot. It is going to take quite a bit of water in order to get the ball rolling, but you do not want to apply too much because you could potentially damage the surface below. Let that sit for about 30 minutes so it can soak into your ceiling, then using a wall scraper or putty knife, begin chipping away. If the right amount of water has been applied, the ceiling should begin coming down without a hitch. It will be like butter. We advise wearing a mask as you scrape, because a lot of the ceiling pieces are going to be falling onto you.

If you come across areas that are tough to remove, simply apply a bit more water and let it soak in. It really shouldn’t take much effort to get the material to break free. Some piece of the material may actually begin to fall on their own periodically.

Fill in Holes, Gaps and Imperfections

Now is the fun part. You get to walk through the room and fix any imperfections in the ceiling you may find with joint compound. A very thin layer is typically all you will need. Pay close attention to wall joints or places where nails are present. Take your time to give the entire ceiling a thorough once over, because this is going to set the tone for your future ceiling. Once you feel comfortable with the look of your ceiling, you can go over the entire area again with a pole sander to get rid of excess joint compound. You may need to complete these steps a few times before you get the look you are going for.

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Photo Courtesy: Bart Everson

Time to Paint and Clean Up

Once everything looks flat and even, it’s time to focus on painting. Start off by using some primer and then the color paint of your liking. From there, clean up is extremely simple. All you need to do is remove all the plastic and paper from your walls and floor, which can be rolled up neatly and tossed in the trash. Not as bad as you thought it would be, is it?

A former home improvement specialist, Barry Leon is the author of several home renovation articles, including this one. She personally recommends building custom kitchens rather than installing ready made ones.

Filed Under: Kitchen Interiors Tagged With: ceiling, ceilings, custom homes, home improvement, home improvement tips, kitchen remodeling, painting

Eco Friendly Kitchen Design

by John Pauline · Leave a Comment

Photo Courtesy: Kendyl Young

It’s no secret that for a lot of homes the kitchen is very much the center of great amounts of activity, especially for family homes or house shares where a large number of meals will be cooked and eaten over the course of a single week. It’s also often one of the most energy driven rooms in any house, with all the electrically powered appliances from kettles to dish washers and so it’s one of the best rooms to focus on with economy and ecological saving technology.

Saving Water in the Kitchen

Even in regards to less busy households, energy expenditure and waste water are normally at their highest in the kitchen. But there are a number of ways to cut down on both factors; some of them are even achievable with no extra spending whatsoever. The cheapest, most obvious and often the least utilized of all these potential energy savers is simply to turn off every wall socket (with the exception of the fridge of course) every time you finish cooking, or leave the house. Another small but significant method for saving energy is to only boil the amount of water you need; if it’s only you having a cup of tea then measure the amount you need by the size of the cup you’re drinking out of. This takes no time at all and will save you electricity and therefore money in the long run.

People may think this is an overly obvious method of money and energy saving, but it’s far less commonly used than some might think. Another method of saving is to switch the kitchen taps you use, for a set with a form of economy click feature which will automatically stop at 50% flow to save the amount of water used. There are in fact a number of simple, newly adapted features for kitchen taps which allow for lower water usage and many of them are detailed on specialist comparison web sites.

Energy Saving Kitchen Lighting

There are also methods of economical improvement and energy conservation in terms of lighting choices. For example, a lot of modern kitchens now utilize the LED bulbs in their under cabinet lighting strips, which use up to 80% less energy than standard bulbs and last up to and above 30,000 hours longer. It’s also advisable to switch to fluorescent lighting if it’s not already installed in your kitchen; this is also an energy saver although not by anywhere near the same level of saving as LEDs.

Beautiful Kitchen Lighting – Photo by Grant McLean

Even without the day to day changes you can make to your bills, there is now a huge range of deliberately ecologically improved and economically sound kitchen appliances available; from washing machines to refrigerators, everything that’s been optimized can be found and compared online using Eco savvy websites.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that energy saving is simply for climate experts and nature lovers; it’s an ideal pursuit for anyone with an eye for savings, or a mind for economical improvement.

This ‘tips and advice’ article was written by blogger John Pauline. For more handy hints about life and stress, find John on Twitter @johnvitality

Filed Under: Eco-Friendly Ideas, Kitchen Interiors Tagged With: eco kitchen, eco-friendly homes, energy bills, green living, kitchen design, sustainable kitchen