I have just been on a web trip to New Zealand to view the work of a groundbreaking kitchen designer, Mal Corboy, who won the 2009 Australian Kitchen Designer of the Year award for the kitchen below.
I am blown away by his deft integration of materials and lighting, and use of Corian and stone in unexpected ways (yes, that is stone UNDER the counter/table in the kitchen below).
Take a look.
Peggy
Philips Electronics has submitted the first entry into the Department of Energy L Prize Competition for a replacement for the ubiquitous 60 watt incandescent lightbulb. And here it is!
This is an LED entry.
The criteria to win the coveted prize are:
* Efficacy > 90 lumens/Watt (pretty bright)
* Power draw < 10W (very low power consumption)
* Output > 900 lumens (pretty bright)
* CRI (color rendering index)> 90 (tomatoes will look like tomatoes)
* Color temperature 2700-3000K (warm white)
More entries are expected by DOE, which will award up to three winners in the 60W category.
The first to meet all competition requirements will receive the cash prize; all three winners will be eligible for federal purchasing opportunities and promotions and incentives offered by the L Prize partners.
Peggy
I always like to support the Bay Area school district parent organizations that make real efforts to raise funds for their schools. An outstanding one is the annual Belevedere-Hawthorne Kitchen Tour coming up on February 9th in Tiburon and Belvedere. Buy a ticket and get chauffeured around to tour a stunning group of homes with incredible views and top architecture and interior design features.
What better way to spend a day?
Call a friend or two and really have fun.
Peggy 
There is a spirited discussion about particleboard cabinetry going on right now on LinkedIn among kitchen designers. I thought I would share my perspective on the subject with you:
I have had particleboard cabinets (65 lb. industrial board is the proper designation and what all better manufacturers use) in my own kitchen for 20 years. They were made by Fieldstone back in 1989 when the Leuwerke Brothers owned the company and Fieldstone was a top brand.
One would never know they are particleboard boxes because every exposed surface is covered with veneer...But they are.
They have held up just the way I tell my clients they will. Absolutely no difference between 65 lb. industrial board and plywood, except weight. They are heavier, but once installed they perform the same. Plywood shelves are actually more likely to warp than 65 lb. industrial board and, if they are 3/4" thick, they won't sag either (as long as the shelves are not wider than 42", or up to 48" with a center stile for support).
Interiors and shelves may be covered with vinyl or veneer - no difference in performance.
I was sold when I went to the Wood-Mode factory in 1983 (when Wood-Mode sold nothing but particleboard boxes) and they told me that the entire showroom had been flooded for days the previous year when the Susquehanna River overflowed its banks. They replaced the base moldings (solid wood) and put the showroom back in operation. The 65 lb. industrial board is so dense with solids that it doesn't absorb water like the cheap particleboard used in furniture.
Formaldehyde is also a dead issue. All US cabinet manufacturers stopped using any products that contain more than a minuscule amount of formaldehyde years ago after consumers kicked up a fuss back in the 80's. California outlawed all cabinet (changed from "building" which I used in error) materials containing more than a smidgen of formaldehyde last year (2009).
I see absolutely no reason to pay 15-20% premium for plywood and counsel my clients to save the money and spend it elsewhere in the kitchen. Most listen and some don't. Either way they have no complaints.
Particleboard cabinets are greener too, because the material is made from waste wood.
For further details on my criteria for judging cabinet quality see the CABINETRY page on my web site.
Peggy
P.S.
Dear readers,
I have been ROUNDLY corrected in one of my statements by "Richard" in 'comments'. Unfortunately he included his email address in his comment so I couldn't (in good conscience) post it.
I made the correction in my text above and emailed Richard asking him to re-post his comment without the email address. He has not responded, so I am posting his comment below.
Thank you for pointing out my error Richard.
I DO, however, stand by my statements that particleboard in cabinets made in the USA now has very minimal formaldehyde content and off-gassing.
Peggy
Ms. Deras,
I doubt this will be posted, but I didn't see an email to communicate privately with you. If you have questions, you can reach me at xxxxxxxxx.
Remove this paragraph should you decide to post. You do owe your readers a correction after doing your research.
I would request that you do just a little homework prior to writing things like:
"California outlawed all building materials containing more than a smidgen of formaldehyde last year (2009)."
Being a Californian, I assure you this statement is incorrect in many aspects. I assume you are referring to the CARB regulation. If not, I'd love to learn what regulation/law you are discussing.
CARB only addresses wood products. This leaves items like wall insulation unregulated. This is one of the biggest sources of formaldehyde in residential homes.
CARB also fails to address items like bamboo because it is a grass and not a wood.
CARB also specifies a temperature of 73 degrees. Formaldehyde off gassing doubles for every 10 degree increase in temperature. So a cool 83 summer day yields twice as much formaldehyde. For the folks that live in Indio, Palm Springs, etc., they can see 103 degrees regularly. That means they get 8 times as much formaldehyde.
Then there is the air exchange rate. CARB requires one air exchange every two hours in their testing. This is 50% more ventilation than required starting in 2010 and three times more than the typical California home based on CARB funded research released December 15, 2009. The lower ventilation rates allow formaldehyde to concentrate.
CARB is also designed for each individual building component. There are many different building components in a typical home allowing formaldehyde to be several times higher than the standard.
Since CARB formaldehyde regulation was written, California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessments evaluated the health effects of formaldehyde and reduced the recommended amount of formaldehyde by a factor of 4 in November 2008.
The CARB standard was designed for commercial, office and school settings. CARB advises against using the standard for residential settings until they develop a residential standard. This still has not happened. Homes are designed to have 1/3 the ventilation of commercial settings.
The phase-in periods of CARB's formaldehyde regulation continue to be extended. Phase 1 was established based on what the industry was then producing. Phase 2 which is at least 2 years away from having any effect simply cut those level in half.
Industry supported CARB because it was in reality no change to how they were doing business and many people incorrectly think they are protected.
Richard.
Update 05/30/11
Here's a link to a great comparison Cabinets: Plywood or Particle Board? Which is better?
Peggy
I just came across a lighting blog that is new to me, though it appears they have been operating for years. It's Arcadian Lighting's Lighting Fixtures & Lamps Blog. They use it for your questions and their answers on all things lighting.
A great resource and a place to get a free answer from another pro on your lighting questions.
Peggy
There have been many changes in the manufactured cabinet industry over the thirty years or so I have been involved.
I first discovered manufactured cabinets back in the 1970's when I was building, finishing and installing my own cabinets; first in my own home, and later in the homes of clients.
I was always impressed by the look of the finishes because I had such difficulty achieving beautiful and durable finishes myself.
Back in those days there were few choices in cabinet finishes for a small shop like mine. There was lacquer; which was easy to apply, but fragile and brittle in use. Then there were urethane and varathane finishes, which seemed to create a durable result; but ultimately would soften and go gummy with exposure to the oils in your hands and the kitchen environment. I never experimented with oil finishes because they were more often used for furniture and not thought to hold up well to the harsh kitchen setting.
I only learned about catalyzed varnish finishes when I took steps to move out of the cabinetmaker role to become a kitchen designer marketing factory built cabinets.
My first employer was a Wood-Mode dealer who sent me to Wood-Mode's week-long training program at the factory in Kreamer, PA. I was blown away by the huge factory and showroom and the beautiful cabinets they turned out there. I was especially impressed by the demonstrations of the durability of Wood-Mode's catalyzed varnish finishes.
Since then I have seen that durability in reality year after year with most every sizable cabinet manufacturer in the country.
The finish is what separates permeable wood from the harsh kitchen environment. These cabinets really hold up! For that reason I have remained committed to manufactured cabinets over local custom, especially here in California where it was illegal to apply catalyzed varnish because of the toxicity of the process for workers.
Some years ago the toxicity issue became problematic even in the Mid-West and East, where most quality cabinet manufacturers are located; and the manufacturers pushed their finish suppliers to create non-toxic catalyzed varnishes. Now California shops are adopting non-toxic catalyzed varnishes and the reasons to prefer manufactured cabinets are becoming blurred.
There have always been distinct advantages to working with a local cabinet shop: They build the cabinets to fit from their own measurements, so there is not the concern that a mistake could ruin a designer. There are also occasionally conditions hidden behind the walls or cabinets that even an experienced designer cannot anticipate. Having cabinets locally built can save everyone's necks...designer, contractor and homeowner...in a situation like that.
Homeowners also have a different perception about local vs. manufactured cabinets: Consumers see manufactured cabinets as a finished product with consistency that rivals plastic (an incorrect perception). Local custom is seen as more a sum of its parts. There is a sense that individual pieces of wood are assembled to make the cabinets and that stains and finishes can be easily modified to achieve a desired result.
Uniformity in wood cabinet doors and panels is NEVER an accident, but instead a system of examination of the wood at every step in the process to make sure that like pieces of wood end up in the same doors and ultimately in the same kitchens. Such examination is an expensive way to produce cabinets, especially since cabinet quality wood is becoming more and more dear and harder to come by all the time.
When I first started in this business, cabinet doors with solid raised panels from upper-end manufacturers had one, two or three pieces of wood, edge-glued together to make up the solid wood panel (depending on the width of the door). Today the same manufacturers are gluing up panels for a single door made from five to ten strips of wood.
The reason for the change is that old-growth timber is not available from which to cut the larger pieces of wood the way it used to be. In other words...Our demand for wood products means the forests can't keep growing at the pace we are cutting them down. Therefore, we are cutting younger trees to meet our demand for cabinet quality woods..
Not only are there more pieces of wood in a cabinet door, but they are also more variable in their color, pattern and grain.
This variability makes it harder for a cabinet manufacturer to build a door in which all of the pieces match.
Manufacturers are able to build better cabinets for less due to these factors:
1. They locate their factories close to plentiful supplies of their raw materials and in areas where labor is cheaper.
2. They develop economies of scale by building many of the same items over and over.
3. They depend on suppliers of their raw materials to provide consistent product to their written and negotiated specifications.
4. They computerize their processes to reduce the number of employees required.
5. They develop a comprehensive catalog to help designers work with their products.
6. They hire factory representatives who develop and train a system of dealers to market their products over wide geographical areas of the country.
7. They maintain a fleet of trucks and drivers to safely and efficiently deliver their products to their dealers and/or end users.
8. They warranty and stand behind their products, some better manufacturers for a lifetime.
As soon as you add the task of eyeball matching pieces of wood to such a factory setting, you increase the need for storage space to store pieces of wood that are unmatched to date. You increase the waste factor to deal with the pieces of wood that are bought from suppliers but don't ever match well enough to make it into a door. You also increase the time the order takes from submission until it leaves the factory. Just in Time Manufacturing goes out the window. These factors increase the price of the cabinets to the ultra-high-end, making them unaffordable to the broad middle where most sales of custom manufactured cabinets go.
This brings us to my problem: Custom manufactured cabinets don't LOOK as good as they used to look. Consumers have expectations based upon what they have seen or purchased themselves in the past. Those expectations are no longer being met. The process getting here has been slow, but inexorable.
I recently did a kitchen where most of the (medium stained cherry) doors that were delivered on the cabinets were unacceptable to the client. She had done several kitchens over her lifetime and had what she thought were reasonable expectations of uniformity. The manufacturer took a bath trying to make her happy, and ultimately she was, but there was certainly a lot of headache and heartache for the client, the cabinet dealer, the contractor, the manufacturer, and me.
That's trouble with a capital T.
Peggy
Over the top consumerism. Who ARE these people?
An Italian mosaic manufacturer SICIS Art Mosaic Factory, presents a bathtub for the shoe obsessed.
Audrey is a luxury shoe-shaped bathtub designed by Italian designer Massimiliano Della Monaca and decorated with precious glass mosaic tiles.
The shape of the bath – an elegant pump shoe with a sky-scraper heel – allows the water to cascade down from the heel like a waterfall. These bathtubs are objects of great personality, created as a tribute to the woman's world. And at 165cm tall they will certainly be the talking point of any bathroom.
Happy New Year!
Peggy
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