Today "call of nature" takes on an entirely new meaning when it comes to bathroom design. As the Green Movement gains momentum, we turn our attention towards nature and the beauty of organic elements. Nowhere is that more appropriate than in the bath, today's sanctuary, a place to get away from it all. Two products that stand out to me in this regard is the Vesi Channel Faucet by Brizo and the beautiful vanities at Stone Forest.The Vesi Channel Faucet by Brizo, inspired by a real life experience of nature takes it to the next level. Check out this brief video featuring Judd Lord (badass name and creative hot guy all in one), Director of Industrial Design for Brizo.Stone Forest, based in New Mexico, has been crafting design elements for kitchens, baths and landscaping since 1989. For the most part, the lines are straight and simple allowing the natural beauty of the material to take center stage.
Check out their website as well for a whole lot more natural goodness!
Elements Converge In Dream Kitchen
Another year is winding down. We have been blessed again with many interesting projects. As we are in “finishing up mode” I thought I’d share with you one of the best of 2011. This project was a true collaboration. Our clients, a couple of sweet snowbirds from Chicago, were very hands on which made it fun to see this kitchen take shape. The existing space was on the small side, the cabinets a little dated.
Our assignment was to add a whole range of state-of-the-art appliances and a clean unique contemporary feel that would flow into the existing family room. Naturally storage and function were also of the utmost importance but the real challenge was in fitting it all in!!
They chose a rich coffee bean stain for the cabinets to match existing cabinetry in the family room. The cabinet fronts were not ordinary doors, no way. Together, with our clients, we designed the Soldono and the Soldono Pacifica Doors just for this job. The Soldono custom door features a cherry frame around a horizontal grained oak center panel all stained in a rich espresso color. The center panel is beveled on one end with stainless steel grip strip inset on the frame. No hardware sticking out in this kitchen! A select few of the upper cabinets sport the Soldono Pacifica custom door which received center panels in olive ash burl veneer for a huge shot of “unique”. 
Stainless steel serves as an accent finish and is found in the appliances and in the monster-multi-functional Hafele appliance garage. Refrigerators are Subzero, ovens are by Gaggenau, cooktop is by Miele and the dishwasher drawers are by Fisher Paykel. Thank you to Linda Roberts at House of Appliances for her guidance. Counter tops are Caesarstone quartz by Stone Palace and the backsplash is painted glass by Florida Shower Door & Mirror, Inc. Clearly they do much more that shower doors! Perhaps the "piece de resistance" however is the glass tile behind the hood. It truly looks like water cascading down the wall behind the hood! The sink is a Precision by Blanco and the glass theme is picked up again with the glass table. You can find a listing of all the trades on the Local Resources page here at Kitchens for Living.
LATEST PRODUCTS TAKE THE STAGE
I’m finally feeling better, thank you, after being laid low by a vicious virus last week. You know the one, right? I won’t bore you with the details. Suffice to say, while I was out going viral (and not in the way I would wish) here’s what’s been happening far and wide.
Delta Faucet Company unveiled its flagship DREAM2O(SM) showroom, located in Chicago's Merchandise Mart, during a private grand opening event on Thursday, May 5. (You’ll remember my amazing experience with them last year in New York. If not, click here for a flashback.) The new 3,097 square-foot design center is a hands-on, interactive environment where architects, designers, and homeowners can experience more than 90 fully-functioning faucets and fixtures from the Delta® and Brizo® brands. What makes this showroom unique is not only the fact that it is the first and only showroom of its kind, but also the innovative displays which are just a perfect way to showcase their cutting-edge products. Read more about it here.
If you’re in NYC this weekend you can visit the International Contemporary Furniture Fair or ICFF held at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center through May 17th. Sink manufacturer extraordinaire, Blanco (another flashback here) is officially launching two new collections including the Silgranit II Truffle Sink and the Culina faucet.
Italian kitchen cabinet manufacturer Scavolini is introducing the new quartz surface Santa Margherita on May 16th from 6-9pm in their Soho gallery. If you'd like to attend contact Daniele Busca 212-209-0910 as this is an invitation only event.
SILGRANIT SETS THE STAGE
If the kitchen is the "heart of the home" then certainly the sink is the heart of the kitchen. Think of how many things happen in and around your kitchen sink. We wash dishes, we clean and prep veggies, we wash hands and even tiny babies in our sinks. One of the best kept secrets in the "sink world" is the Silgranit sink by Blanco. The use of granite as a sink material is not a new one and was used hundreds of years ago. Silgranit, however, is a new breed and is a mixture of 20% acrylic (yes just like the fake finger nail material) and 80% ground up granite.
On my recent trip to Toronto I had the pleasure of visiting the only plant in North America manufacturing granite composite sinks. Blanco, a privately owned firm based in Germany is the leader in this technology possessing 6 of 7 patents on the process. Our gracious hosts at Blanco walked us through the process from mixing the acrylic with granite sand, forming and heat setting the mixture on nickel sink molds. The result is a Silgranit sink that is indestructable. I kid you not.
We were taken into a quality control lab where they had a WHITE Silgrant sink stained with tea, ketchup, mustard, red juice and red wine, all the worst offenders, right? One wipe of the sponge (no soap) and rinse with water and the sink was once again pristine! The sink could not be scratched either. A couple of us went at it rather vigorously with a fork. The metal shavings of the fork were left on the surface and were easily wiped off with a sponge. How about dents, you ask? No dents either, a steel ball dropped into the sink had no effect. Hot pots won't burn the surface either. These sinks also come in 7 different colors. Anthracite black is the most popular followed by my favorite, Cafe Brown. Blanco unveiled their newest color offering, Truffle, at the Interior Design Show 2011.
It's a taupe-grey color and they made sure we wouldn't forget that by supplying us with a matching EYE SHADOW! How cool is that? Are there any downsides to this Silgranit stuff? My research tells me that grout and maybe hard water could create a film, just as on any surface. There are solutions ranging from vinegar and baking soda to the handy dandy Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. I can hear you thinking "so how much is this magical space age sink gonna set me back?" Most models are available in the $500-$1,000 range from plumbing retailers such as Next Plumbing (See listing on LOCAL RESOURCES page) in West Palm Beach. FaucetDirect.com has them available in the $300-$400 range.
Don’t forget to enter your chance to win a free Orgaline drawer organizer by leaving a comment on any post between now and February 15th! Click here to read January 14th post for details
ALL THAT GLITTERS IS CHROME AT IDS11
Now that I'm back and basking in the sun once again, I'm busy creating a whole new Flickr site with all those photos I took to share with you. Here are just a few to get you warmed up.
Look for the link right here at Kitchens for Living where you can view all the photos and commentary. As soon as I post you'll be the first to know. Just to get us started I thought I'd show you some of the faucet fashion at IDS11. Incidentally this is the 13th IDS show and it's Canada's largest contemporary design show. This year's event featured 300 exhibitors. As an American designer, it was interesting to see the differences not only in taste but in product offerings just over the border. Products and styling appear more progressive. When I question why so many of these products are not available to us here in the USA I am told that it is not our market. I hope they are wrong. If we can't get it we can't buy it. Right?
Plumbing faucet manufacturers from Moen to Riobel to Brizo showed a dazzling array of faucets of all types with one thing in common, a polished chrome finish. Fellow bloggers who had the opportunity to visit Cologne, Germany last week for the "Living Kitchen" event tell me that polished chrome is the choice in Europe as well.
Next post: The Sink of the future is here today!
Don’t forget to enter your chance to win a free Orgaline drawer organizer by leaving a comment on any post between now and February 15th! Click here to read January 14th post for details
Toronto Day 2
The white is growing on me. I can’t stop staring at the snow drifts. I know by now this is getting tedious for my northern readers so I will refrain from any more comments about “the white”. For some reason 30F in Toronto feels like 50F in Florida. Today the group met up and we were taken by limo to Via Allegro Ristorante, world famous for their amazing wine cellar known as “the womb”. The priciest bottle in this room, kept at a constant 57F, goes for $65,000!
Our gracious host, Blanco Canada President Flavio Bergamin, presided over a four course lunch in the true Italian custom including a not-to-be-missed Napa cabernet/shiraz blend by the name of Duel. Kudos to restaurant manager Joseph for his great service and enthusiasm. After lunch it was on to the Blanco Silgranit Plant.
Silgranit is a composite sink made of 80% granite and 20% acrylic resins. Believe me when I tell you it is indestructible. We witnessed two-day-old stains of tea, wine, mustard, ketchup and juice wipe right off a light colored sink with just a sponge and water. After trying diligently none of us were able to scratch or dent the surface either. Blanco is currently the only company manufacturing granite composite sinks in the US and they own 6 of 7 patents on the product. If you are tired of stainless, which can scratch, this is a great option. The most popular color is Anthracite Black followed by my favorite Café Brown. The seven colors offered coordinate with quartz countertops as well as granite.
One of the perks of an adventure like this is you get to cross paths with all kinds of interesting people in the world of kitchen design. Today I had the pleasure of meeting a group of people ranging from design bloggers and writers to radio and TV personalities. Here’s the line up:
Joseph Freenor writes about cabinet & furniture trends and information CFT411.com
Paul Anater is someone you probably already know. He writes about design and anything else along the way. Kitchenandresidentialdesign.com
Cindy Dole is host of KFWB radio talk show Home Wizards
Vicki Payne CEO of Cutters Productions CuttersTV.com
Susan Palmer is the Decorating Diva SusanPalmerDesigns.com
Last but not least our hosts Flavio and Marc Presidents of Blanco Canada and Blanco America.
Tonight is the opening reception for the Interior Design Show! More pix to come. The concierge is digging in the basement through thousands of left-behind cords to find one that will fit my camera. Did I mention how nice Canadians are?