Details, Details...

Regardless of the size of any home remodeling project, details in the design are what make each and every project unique. While it is true that there's hardly such a thing as an original idea, the way in which those ideas are implemented adds personality to your space. Here are some examples of recent Case projects where the details had a larger impact on the finished product. While none of these details are functionally necessary, they influence the overall design greatly.

Natural stone mosaic medallions dress up this tub face.

This double vanity features matching bowed sink cabinets & furniture legs, making an otherwise simple master bath just a touch more elegant.

This counter top tower features a mirrored back, finished interior, glass shelves, puck lighting & a bottomless frame so the quartz counters can be seen throughout. Functional & stunning.

Never underestimate the wow factor of wainscoting. Make it even better by continuing the top of the wainscoting around the vanities as the backsplash.

Solid surface shower curbs & benches are not only more attractive to look at, they're easier to keep clean.

Mix & match textures! Use glossy finishes with matte finishes, smooth surfaces with textured surfaces. Whether you're conscious of it or not your eyes will notice the contrast & the design becomes more visually appealing.

Kitchens Designed to Free Women

This is an interesting story from National Public Radio. Studying the evolution of kitchen and bathroom design over the last century gives us a great look at the sociological changes in our society. It's fascinating how kitchens were designed for women for decades, but the majority of high ranking professional chefs in our culture are still men...

Now, more than ever it is so important to consider men, women, children and even the family dog when designing a kitchen. While food preparation techniques have evolved over time one thing remains true: the kitchen is the heart of the home, and it must be designed in such a way that it accommodates all of the people who utilize it.

Photo courtesy of MoMa, found at NPR.org

A Kitchen Revolution Aimed at Freeing Women
by Robert Smith


"This week in New York, the city's foodie elites gathered to poke around an 80-year-old kitchen. It was designed in 1926 for a housing project in Frankfurt, Germany. But rather than being updated with Ikea fixtures, the entire kitchen was ripped out and shipped, piece by piece, to New York.

The Frankfurt Kitchen is now in the Museum of Modern Art, in between the Andy Warhols and the MoMA snack bar. It's the centerpiece of a new show called Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen. The kitchen is tiny, the size of a VW bus. It's mostly outfitted in gunmetal gray — no granite countertops. But through one of the first architecturally designed kitchens, you can see the ideas that launched a million home remodeling projects: built-in bins, undercabinet storage, pullout drawers and a four-burner stove. These days, there are magazines and television programs devoted to kitchen design, but in 1926 it was a new idea. In fact, curator Juliet Kinchin tells NPR's Robert Smith, designing a kitchen was actually a political act.

The Politically Progressive Kitchen
"There's always been that political dimension to kitchens," Kinchin explains.

"For centuries, really, the kitchen had been ignored by design professionals, not least because it tended to be lower-class 
women or servants who occupied the kitchen space," she says.

"The kitchens were often poorly ventilated, shoved to the basement or annex, and caused a lot of drudgery in the kitchen."

It was women who led the reform of the kitchen into an efficient space — one to be proud of. Kinchin says, "they were trying to adopt a scientific approach to housework and raise the status of housework."

"The designer of [The Frankfurt Kitchen], Grete Schuette-Lihotzky, was passionately concerned about the quality of women's lives," Kinchin continues. "She felt without sorting the drudgery they were involved in, they'd never have time to develop themselves in a professional way."

The Perfectly Designed Housewife
"The exhibit features a lot of industrial movies from the '20s through the '50s, which make it clear that once you let designers into the kitchen, they don't know when to stop. Architects weren't just creating kitchens; as it turns out, they were also designing the perfect housewives to go in them. 

In a corner of the exhibit, there's actually an architectural drawing of a woman with all her dimensions clearly marked. Her name is Josephine. "She's the 5-foot-4 incarnation of the average American woman, life-size," Kinchin says. "This is what interior designers and architects worked with when they were designing the dimensions of the modern kitchen."

The designers obviously felt designing the perfect kitchen was liberating for women — but not all women agreed.
"Schuette-Lihotzky did make women's lives a lot easier," Kinchin says, "but she has been criticized by feminist critics in the 1970s for actually isolating women in the kitchen."

If you treat a kitchen like a factory, the criticism goes, then a woman becomes like a factory worker. "She becomes like a robot."

But the ideals of designers are often countered by reality. As Kinchin points out, no amount of design can overcome the chaos that happens in the kitchen. "When we start cooking, we create mess and disorder — however rational and perfectly well-organized they are."

Appliance Finishes

One of the most common questions I get asked during the beginning stages of a kitchen renovation are whether or not stainless steel appliances are going to stick around. The short answer is: YES. Stainless has been around for a long time and it's not going anywhere. 90% of the kitchens I design use stainless appliances. Even if you want a traditional look to your space, stainless steel blends well and keeps the design interesting when repeated.

I will say that with stainless steel appliances, just like everything else you get what you pay for. While technology is improving as far as keeping the surfaces less fingerprint prone, here are some things to consider when it comes to sticky fingers:

     - The reason finger prints leave such awful marks on stainless steel is because the metal is covered in tiny grooves. When your hands touch the surface the oil on your palms hangs up in those tiny grooves leaving a mark. The higher the quality stainless steel, the closer the grooves are and the less likely it is to show finger prints. Sub Zero and Wolf have some of the finest stainless steel (and technology) on the market, but it comes at a high cost.

     - Only clean your stainless appliances with approved stainless cleansers. They are made specifically to fill in those groves, keeping those surfaces print free.

     - ALWAYS rub the stainless appliances in the direction of the grain of the steel; up and down or left to right. Don't ever use a circular motion or a zig zag pattern when cleaning or you'll never get rid of those streaks.

Never the less, if stainless still isn't your favorite here are some equally attractive alternatives.

Jenn-Air recently introduced their Oiled Bronze Finish. I must say that it's not as pretty in person as I had hoped, but it's certainly interesting and has it's place in the right space. I had hoped it was more of a matte copper, but after I saw it in person for the first time it almost looks like a shiny copper that's been painted over black and then scratched (althought the texture is smooth).

Here's something else fun from Jenn-Air: Floating Glass! Available in black or white, floating glass appliances are chic and sophisticated. I love how this white refrigerator was built into the cabinets and paired with stainless steel wall ovens.

Still too boring for you? Well how about an Aga range in Heather? For the investment you'll be making with Aga, I hope you love heather!

Then of course there are always custom appliance panels. Appliance panels are made to match your cabinetry for a completely seamless approach to kitchen design. Regardless of your taste ro style custom appliances panels are always the right answer.