Mother’s Day $15,000 Kitchen Giveaway!
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Spring Cleaning: Eliminate Kitchen Counter Clutter
Birds are chirping, flowers are blooming and the ever-daunting spring cleaning checklist is looming. As you take on tasks this year, make the kitchen a top priority.
In addition to a little extra deep cleaning, it could be time to rethink its organization. With a few inspired solutions, counters can be freed from clutter, allowing more space for food preparation and cooking.
Cast Off and Get Creative
The easiest way to make room in the kitchen is to clean out excess. Go through dishes, pots, pans, appliances and utensils. Consider giving away anything you haven’t touched in the past year or simply don’t like.
Find creative ways to clear the counter. Use a Lazy Susan to store supplies in hard-to-reach corners. Reimagine a cake stand as a shelf to elevate favorite spices, salt, pepper and olive oil, while leaving an area around the base for additional storage.
Rethink nooks and crannies, such as the top of the fridge, which could house a decorative display of cookbooks, bowls or baking canisters. Tops of kitchen cabinets can hold stainless steel or copper pots and pans, allowing for easy access when needed.
Arrange by Use
When choosing appliances to occupy prime countertop real estate, think about how often they are used. Everyday multi-tasking tools deserve a spot on the counter.
Save space with versatile appliances like a personal blender with four convenient pre-programmed settings that can prepare everything from smoothies and whole-food juices to soups, sauces, vinaigrettes, frozen desserts and more. Plus, because of its compact size, it leaves plenty of room for other kitchen tasks.
You can also arrange serving ware according to how often it reaches the table. Store items such as holiday dishes and platters in the back of cabinets or open shelving. Place everyday items like bowls and salad plates in easy-to-reach cabinets and drawers. Cooking utensils should be housed in a holder close to the stove.
Work With Your Walls
The usual kitchen organization employs drawers, cabinets, shelves and countertops. However, you can also work with your walls to make your kitchen more efficient. Apply hooks to hang pot holders and aprons, ensuring they are a safe distance from the stove. Install a pot rack, which will make room in cabinets for appliances that are not used often — just make sure your walls or ceiling are strong enough to support the extra weight.
To squeeze extra space out of your kitchen, hang magnetic strips for items like knives and kitchen scissors, freeing up drawers and removing the knife block from the counter. Spices can also be hung on the strips with the use of magnetic canisters.
If you simply minimize what’s kept on countertops and reimagine everyday items, you can optimize the functionality of your kitchen, making it a more user- and guest-friendly destination.
Michael Padin from West Haven, CT shares his Express Kitchens experience!
Jan Tirinzonie from Wethersfield, CT shares her Express Kitchens experience!
Carmelo Longo from Terryville, CT shares his Express Kitchens experience!
6 Design Tips To Make Tiny Kitchens Look Larger
Having a large kitchen space could be a luxury for many homeowners because most kitchens are cramped and tiny. However, you can do some changes to your small kitchen by incorporating some of these designer tricks:
1. Keep it all white.
White reflects light best, making the kitchen space look bigger. Paint the countertops and cabinetry in white so that it will look seamless with the walls and ceilings. For some depth and shadows, use recessed-panel cabinets with crown moldings.
2. Keep color contrasts in the same color value.
If you do have to add some color, maintain similar hues of the color scheme. This way, the sudden “pop” of color won’t let the eyes see the shifts and breaks in the room. Like white, using similar hues can bring an expansive effect.
3. Go for a mirrored backsplash.
Using mirrors is an old designer’s trick that can help open up the space and add more light. Mirrors are especially useful when there is no, or minimal, natural light in a kitchen.
4. Flood the space with lights.
Use little window treatments so that natural light is not blocked off. Add additional lighting fixtures on walls, backsplashes and countertops to open up the space.
5. Use slender furnishing.
Pick counter or bar chairs that have slim legs, or if you have a working table to use as an island, it should be long and narrow with clean lines. Ditch furnishings with thick basses, as they will make the room visually bulky.
6. Maximize storage space.
9 Kitchen Trends To Watch For In 2016
If you’re anticipating next year’s hottest kitchen trends, we’re right there with you. So what might the quintessential 2016 kitchen look like? We asked two interior designers for a sneak peek at what’s to come. Hi-tech workstations, ’80s glam and muted color schemes are just a few of the looks they say will lead the pack. Without further ado, here are nine trends they predict will define kitchen design in the new year.
1. Soft, muted color palettes. Good news if you’re already thinking about switching up your color scheme: Kitchen colors are changing, according to interior designer Jane Lockhart. Though white motifs will still dominate, everything from cabinets to backsplashes will be done in less saturated tones. “Charcoal, grays and even neutral pastels like pale blue, pale green gray and tinted whites are the new alternative to the standard white,” she says. She also foresees kitchens sporting lighter wood tones, including walnuts, whitewashed woods and white oak in rift grain.
Bold primary colors, on the other hand, will be placed on the back burner. Interior designer Gail Drury says they’re definitely out as accent colors. “Drier colors will become popular,” she says. “Muted blues and greens and pale yellow pastel will be used as accent colors.”
2. Smart spaces. Get ready for a hi-tech makeover. Both Lockhart and Drury predict more kitchens will have designated spots for smart devices next year. “Look for areas with hidden charging stations to store devices like phones and tablets so that they are always operable, at hand and charged,” Lockhart says.
Drury says the quintessential 2016 kitchen will focus on convenience for families on the go via accessible smart appliances. “I expect kitchens full of state-of-the-art appliances, from steam ovens to built-in coffee machines to wine coolers.”
3. An ’80s reboot. “The ’80s are back,” Lockhart says. Mirrored backsplashes, brass accessories and high-gloss surfaces aren’t dead by a long shot, but they’re more elegant and refined this time around. “An elegance not seen in the ’80s will be an incorporation of a variety of natural materials to remove the ‘plastic’ look of that great hair decade,” Lockhart says. Drury adds that homeowners will opt for brass with satin rather than shiny finishes.
4. Metal range hoods. One of last year’s biggest trends was metallic finishes, be it copper, brass or bronze. However, homeowners went with small helpings of metal, primarily using faucets, pendant lights and cabinet pulls to incorporate this raw texture.
In 2016, metal will assume a more dominant role in kitchen aesthetics and trump wood as the range hood of choice. “Wood mantle hoods are being replaced with metal hoods or ones that are a combination of wood and metal,” Drury says. If you’re planning to follow suit with next year’s fixation on neutral color tones, a metal hood can introduce a burst of contrast into your kitchen.
5. Integrated kitchen-living spaces. Maybe your kitchen feels disconnected from the rest of your home. Maybe you want your cooking space to feel more accommodating. Either way, this trend could be for you. Lockhart anticipates more streamlined kitchen designs in which the kitchen converges with the home’s primary living space. “It will become part of the main living space even further,” she says. Designers will merge kitchens and living rooms by including hidden and integrated appliances.
6. A new kind of tradition. While it’s no surprise that present-day kitchens are embracing simple design, Lockhart expects traditional spaces to hop on board too. “Even traditional kitchens may experience a slightly cleaner feel with bold lines and less fussy details,” she says.
But Lockhart says it isn’t the end of traditional design as we know it. It just means homeowners will opt for fewer frills and more calculated, strategically placed details. “Traditional designs will always remain popular, but future renditions will be more deliberate with an emphasis on key elements like hoods, islands, cabinet crowns and so on,” she says.
7. Texture-on-texture contrast. It’s time to reimagine contrast in 2016. Drury says variations in texture will rule, rather than traditional methods of contrast. “Strong contrasting designs are being replaced with more texture-on-texture designs,” she says.
It won’t be about mixing and matching textures, though. Instead, designers will reposition the same texture in different patterns throughout the kitchen. “The same exact stone can be finished three ways and combined in the same space,” Drury says. “The difference is very subtle but at the same time makes a statement about attention to detail.”
8. A nod to midcentury mod. Lockhart credits this trend to the popularity of midcentury modern furniture and says the period design will trickle down to kitchens. “To some extent, this is already occurring with the increasing use of walnut in islands and cabinet doors,” she says. “But look for more kitchen styles that offer a nod to ’60s modern style, also called Nordic style.” You can get in on this minimalist movement by choosing predominantly white color palettes, designing with light wood textures and clearing away unnecessary clutter. Nordic design is all about simplicity and functionality.
9. Well-lit cabinetry. Homeowners won’t settle for just ceiling lights and table lamps to illuminate their kitchens. The two designers say extensive cabinet lighting is a trend to watch. “Low-voltage light tape strips are used as accent pieces below cabinets, above cabinets, inside cabinets and below countertop overhangs,” Drury says. “LED lights are the norm.” These features will be grouped with recessed can lights to offer better mood-setting capabilities.
9 rules to guide cooks in the kitchen
No one is really “born” a cook or a baker or a candymaker. Not even the world’s culinary stars.
The road to becoming comfortable in the kitchen, a cook will tell you, is rarely straight or smooth. It is riddled with scorched pans, oversalted soups, scars, underseasoned stews, burns and flops.
So promise yourself, perhaps as a belated New Year’s resolution, to get into the kitchen and cook or bake or make candy or pickles or … you get the idea. Maybe it will be a solo creative pursuit, and the steady chop of a knife against a cutting board will become a focused meditation. Or maybe it will be a weekend shared-cooking feast with friends. Or a family affair with children helping prepare a meal.
No matter what, let the power of cooking work its magic. Flops and all.
And when flops happen, quote Ray Bradbury: “Life is trying things to see if they work.” With a little help from some friends, of course:
Fix the flops: “Anyone who does a lot of cooking has flops, and each one teaches you something. … If you’ve had a great flop, take a ‘what-the-hell’ attitude, and pull the dish through with flair,” the late Julia Child told us 30-plus years ago. Recalling a deflated chocolate souffle she decorated with whipped cream, dubbed “chocolate torte” and served to guests, she added, “Keep in mind that your audience doesn’t know what you’re aiming for, so don’t let on.”
Know where you went wrong: Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer, co-founder of the French Pastry School in Chicago, tells students, “It’s very possible that a recipe will not work out right away. Sometimes very simple things, like you don’t let your ingredients come to room temperature, might make the recipe fail. … It’s more important to know how a screwed-up recipe looks, and it’s even more crucial to know how to fix it, than to make the perfect pastry.”
Don’t overdepend on gadgets: “My favorite kitchen tool is my hands,” said Connecticut cookbook author Pam Anderson. “When you go in the kitchen, wash your hands and touch, smell, taste, look – freely. … There’s nothing like pulling pizza dough or bread dough out of the food processor, pouring it onto the countertop and giving it that final 30 seconds to a minute kneading to pull it into that baby’s-butt smooth texture.”
Learn how foods feel: “You can’t just follow a recipe and have it turn out,” said Paula Haney of Hoosier Mama Pie Co. in Chicago. “The recipe for a pie crust is going to be variable depending on the weather and humidity, so you kind of have to have a feel for it. … You only have flour, butter and cold water. So I think it takes on this sort of magical thing.”
Plan but be flexible: When chef Stephanie Izard (Girl & the Goat, Little Goat) plans a multicourse meal, “You want to have a little acidity; you want a little sweetness, a little spice or a little salty,” she told us. “With each dish, I’m always trying to make the whole mouth happy.” How do you start? “Pick the proteins first, (then) be flexible because you definitely want to base it on what’s looking good at the market.”
Don’t overdo it: “People try to do too much,” said legendary chef and cookbook author Jacques Pepin. “They take a cooking class, learn seven desserts and try to do all of them. It’s better to do one well.”
Simplify: “Almost everybody who is cooking dinner on a weeknight is doing a (‘Top Chef’) Quickfire Challenge,” said chef and cookbook author Rick Bayless (Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, Xoco, etc. “You don’t have very much time. You just have to get dinner on the table, but you want it to be delicious.” Understand how a recipe works, then “go into the kitchen and make something that’s just exactly right for you.” Improvise, he said, balancing flavors and textures.
Memorize these secret ingredients: Lauren Braun Costello, in “Notes on Cooking: A Short Guide to an Essential Craft,” explained that sweetness (a touch of sugar, agave syrup or balsamic vinegar) can boost a dull tomato sauce. Vinegars and lemon can “add brightness” to nearly everything. And a pinch of salt? “It makes everything brighter and stronger, (but) that doesn’t mean that things should taste salty,” she said. Foods such as Parmesan, capers and anchovies can add saltiness to dishes.
Rethink recipes: When chef Art Smith had to lose weight for health reasons, he worked on his favorite recipes. “Roasting is probably the healthiest way to cook,” he said. “I don’t think anything blanched or boiled has any flavor. Roasting intensifies the color and the flavor of food.”
