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Entries in Kitchens (10)
Another Kitchen Weekend For Me
And, so this is another weekend of total kitchen immersion for me...lots of work to do!!! And, here I sit, with the music cranked WAY up. For a moment, there, we almost got crazy and booked a flight to the jazzfest, but can you imagine, coming back on Monday, leaving at 11 am (the only flight) and arriving at jfk (an hour from home) after 6 pm for a typical 3 hour flight, if that? Not even I am that crazy!
But, turn it on and crank it up, that's what I recommend...
JAZZFEST LIVE THIS WEEKEND ON WWOZ
Oh, and if the music cuts in and out...that's sort of how it goes down there, stuff happens, you get what you get (hmmm, sort of like kitchens!) No, I'm kidding, really, no one get nervous now! I'm loving this music, enjoy your weekend!
The song now is something about needing eyes behind your head. :)
Fun At KBIS
Fun first, and then products and all the rest of KBIS stuff, ok? Here are some images from my first day at KBIS...as I think of the images, there's not a whole lot that I need to say, the images will say it all! Oh, the first image is the same image from yesterday...only finished!
Susan Serra, CKD
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I'm here in Chicago for KBIS
Hello kitchen fans! Had a great flight yesterday on JetBlue. JetBlue is either fantastic or horrible. Yesterday, on a week's old plane, it was great.
Today, I attended two half day seminars. The first was on kitchen ventilation (use your hood or else all these little particulates will get over everything...heat, vapors, and food particulates, yuck.) Just use it. But, a lot more on this later, I'll expand on what was covered in the seminar (I know you're on the very edge of your seats for this but you'll have to be patient.) ;)
And, I attended a seminar on green residential design. As things, products, and philosophies change fairly quickly, it's important to keep up to date. Took tons of notes and will expand on that too.
Then, off to a GE press event (LOVE those press events!) More on THAT too. Meanwhile, here's a photo I took of a small spot of the show floor, but trust me, this is what the whole show floor looked like this afternoon, and this was less than 24 hours before the show starts! This is typical, and somehow miraculously, the displays get constructed, wall to wall carpeting goes down on the entire show floor, and the show begins! I REALLY need my sleep now, more soon!
Going to KBIS in Chicago!
One of my most favorite things to do year after year is to go to KBIS. My husband usually comes with me, I see old friends, attend fabulously fabulous press events (massage event, anyone? IMAC event?) and just love the whole thing. I've been inundated with pre-KBIS emailings, postcards and other good stuff, and I look at everything.
I will be spotting trends, perusing kitchen design both good and yawn-worthy, extricating myself from nonstop talking marketing people, and watching those super-bending dancers at the hourly show at the Kohler booth. Please, kitchen Gods, don't bring back the Maxewll smart schtick at a booth I can't remember the name of, I can't deal with that again...
I am SO ready to go...leaving Wednesday and coming back on Sunday. I'll be blogging for Glam...more soon!Kitchen Blog Anniversary
Talking about kitchens...does it ever end? It's been a year since I wrote my first post on this blog. I started with a little hesitancy, a bit unsure of where this was going. Somehow I just kept thinking of kitchen related issues to talk about. At this moment, I have so many kitchen focused things to talk about, I don't know what to talk about first!
This is such a natural process for me...just to toss out ideas, stir up the pot a bit, and lots more. I love this process. I've also met so many amazing bloggers who have welcomed me into the design blogging community from the very start. I actually didn't know about this whole, well, underworld isn't the best word, but universe of blogging, until I started blogging, and then, what a surprise I found! Cool people, great ideas, interactivity at its best.
So, I'm feeling good at this one year mark. I also feel I'm at my prime in life and in my career. I've actually never been more happy, more confident, fully engaged with life in a positive way, than right now, and I'm looking forward to more good things to come, including my TOP SECRET project, soon to be unveiled!
I LOVE reading your comments. Say whatever you want. Disagree with me or challenge anything I say at anytime. Maybe I'll learn something. Maybe you will. Maybe we both will!
I may be gone from this blog for days at a time, it just happens, but I'm here in spirit. Kitchens are the soul of the home, where all five senses come together. They're special. I love thinking about kitchens. I love cooking with my husband and cooking when my kids come to visit. I love the glass of wine that my husband pours for me while we're cooking. I love the sofa as part of my kitchen table. Good stuff happens in the kitchen. My husband just yelled down the stairs "Hey!" which is sort of our word to say hello. Gotta run and get that glass of wine, as I'm sure he's preparing dinner now....
More good things to blog about later...just wait! Thanks for your participation...it would really not be the same without you.
Susan Serra, CKD
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More With Martha Stewart
There's more that comes to mind today, as I think about last evening's New York Times' event with Martha Stewart, and I'd like to share it with you!
Interesting bits and pieces...
As Martha sets out for the drive to the city each morning with her hot water and lemon, she carries the beverage in a paper cup, which she reuses. Martha spoke passionately about sustainable living, wanting her products to last. She talked about towels, or was it sheets, that are from her collections, that have lasted 17 years!
In regard to food, Martha was a very early advocate (early 80s) of the locally grown produce movement, a la Alice Waters and Jeremiah Tower, notable chefs of that period. Martha encourages everyone to grow their own produce. As a child, Martha had to do many chores in the garden, on her relatives' farms, where she spent time, and her parents believed in self sufficiency in a big way, teaching tasks to Martha and her siblings with expectations that they would be done properly, instilling confidence and a DIY sort of philosophy in the home. Martha, in later years, raised pigs, sheep, goats, and encouraged her own daughter to do chores outside the house for the animals. She also said that if she didn't do what she was doing now (managing an empire) she'd be a veterinarian. It all makes sense!
Cooking with fresh, preferably, home grown, produce and other fresh foods, is very high on Martha's priorities.
Martha was friendly, quite outgoing, and surprisingly relaxed. It was a very intimate feeling, at least we thought so!
Susan Serra, CKD
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Kitchen Design - A Brief Pause
Update: I'm watching what you want, thank you for the feedback! More emphasis on kitchen images to come. I'm relieved you like the Scandinavian kitchens...just wait till you see what I have to show you! More of what you are asking for, keep voting...
Susan Serra, CKD
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An Amish Kitchen - Via Quality Custom Cabinetry
I had lunch in an Amish home on Tuesday.
What a privilege that was. I have yet to write about it, (more about the event and what I learned soon) but, one of my major cabinet suppliers, Quality Custom Cabinetry, invited all of their representative kitchen design firms around the country, to celebrate their 40 years of business in this two day event, Monday and Tuesday of this week, in Lancaster Country, PA. For the second day of the event, three types of recreation were offered, at no charge. I ALWAYS rush back to the office, and when I heard that an Amish tour was offered, I decided to slow it down a bit and take advantage of this particular tour.
We toured the area, saw the horse drawn buggies, saw the corn being cut by men and horses, and entered this beautiful, different world of farms, one room school houses (many) and lovely people with strong values.
I had one of the best lunches in quite awhile, with some of the best food ever. Since the Amish do not have electricity, food is prepared in simple, traditional, ways. They cook with gas, and they may use battery power. There were no lights on of any sort in the kitchen where we had our lunch.
I wish I had taken a picture of all the food on the table, it just kept coming. Here's what was served:
Here is an image of three generations of women in an Amish kitchen, that I took. They have lovely homes, the Amish. The women grow their hair and put it in a bun. They have a quiet elegance, which perhaps you can see here. No dishwasher, only their hands to wash dishes, serving dishes, glasses, and pots, from a group of 20. Afterward, little recipe books came out, selling for $3.50 each. I bought one.
- several types of preserved vegetables, previously home grown
preserved apricots in syrup in a bowl- applesauce
- fresh beans
- fresh potatoes, roughly mashed
- noodles
- fried chicken
- ham loaf
- white, sliced bread
- homemade jam
- pumpkin pie (best I ever tasted)
- shoofly pie
- iced tea
- coffee
I must mention this too...after lunch, we went to a large Amish gift/food shop. As I was lingering outside, I glanced over at the ramp and spotted a woman being pushed in a wheelchair by another woman, with a man accompanying them. These people were my husband's relatives, also from Pennsylvania! I had not seen them since 2003, and shouting, hugging, and more ensued.
They live 3 hours away from the gift store we were at, and were in the area for a doctor's appointment for my husband's aunt. How could that happen? What if lunch were 5 minutes delayed? What if I went back to the bus 5 minutes earlier or to the restroom around the corner...that was a real WOW for me! Serendipity!
This is an image of the open kitchen just beyond the sales counter in the Amish store we stopped at.
Susan Serra, CKD
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blogging terramia
Take a look at the post from this cool blog, Terramia, on some fresh, spring, kitchens. I'll leave it to Terramia to provide the sources and credits. This image is from the book: Home Cheap Home. She has a bunch more fun kitchen images. Posted today's date. For later dates, the category on the blog is: "kitchens" Happy Spring!
Doing the editor's kitchen
All of a sudden I realized, "hold everything!", I have something out there in a magazine, right now, that I should tell the world about before it's gone. Why I didn't think of this a month ago, who knows, but it will probably be on the newsstands for another few weeks or so, so go, run, grab the sleeping baby, take off early from work, cancel your date, whatever you need to do, and get a copy before they're gone!
This is a project that was brought to me by the regional southern New England/New York metro area Better Homes & Gardens editor, Cynthia Bogart, who has submitted my work to Meredith Corp. for years.
I'm particularly honored that Cindy asked me to do her kitchen in Rhode Island because she personally handles all design submissions for a large territory.
Here is the general plan, not the final plan but it shows the thought process. At the end of the island, at one point, we were going to put a separate piece, facing the table, which didn't happen, unfortunately. With several doorways, and large appliances, you can see the challenge.
The project was very interesting. Cindy and her husband purchased a modular addition and joined it to their house, across the street from the bay in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. At first, when we started planning the kitchen, I was blown away at all that Cindy wanted to include, in terms of appliances. The separate refrigerator and separate freezer, alone, took over one whole side of the space, and her kitchen was not all that large to handle all these appliances. But, creative thinking soon began, and, bottom line, it all worked out well in the end. Here are some images, and tomorrow, other images from other parts of the house.
Questions, comments, let me know...more tomorrow.One area that did not read well in the shots is the area of which I am most proud. Cindy had a very short wall but wanted a large range. Had all the cabinetry on the adjacent wall been the standard depth, the range would have been proportionately too large for that short wall with little room to move around and cook.
So, what I did was to break up the adjacent walls into two separate areas by virtue of the black, tall, pantry, and since the pantry was much more shallow than the cabinetry to the left of it, it gave Cindy much needed room both aesthetically and functionally, to the left of the range on the adjacent wall. Unfortunately, you can't really see that, it almost looks like the range is jammed into the cabinetry at the left, but it really isn't.
