Freshen Up
If existing cabinets are of good quality, are in excellent working condition and the layout functions well, the most affordable option is to freshen them up by restaining or painting. Another alternative, refacing, involves installing a new veneer on the exterior of the cabinet box and replacing the doors and drawer fronts, and should be handled by a professional. The process is much faster than installing new cabinets because the cabinets remain intact and the work is done onsite. However, be forewarned that when it comes to cabinets, doors and drawer fronts account for the greatest expense.

“Sixty to 70 percent of the cost of the cabinet is the door,” says Jeff Cannata, past president of the National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA) and president of Designer’s Showcase Kitchens & Baths Inc. in Carol Stream, Ill. “So, if you’re paying for someone to put a new door or a new drawer in … it might be more affordable to shop new.”

And with new cabinets, there’s an added bonus: the freedom to explore different layout possibilities.

New and Improved
The decision has been made to install new cabinets, but there are other choices ahead. Are custom cabinets required, or will stock cabinets fit the bill? Custom cabinets are built to exact specifications and offer endless options with regard to materials, designs, finishes and accessories. Choosing custom cabinets requires the longest lead time and is the most expensive route.

Semicustom cabinets are just that: semicustom. While the cabinets are made to the homeowner’s size requirements, the manufacturer produces them in predetermined increments. Often a spacer may be needed to conceal unused wall space, and that sacrifices storage. The range of materials, designs, finishes and accessories will not be as broad with semicustom cabinets, but they cost less than fully custom cabinets.

Stock cabinets, which are the least expensive of new cabinet options, are premade and come in standard sizes. Though stock cabinets often get a bad rap in terms of quality of construction, there are many on the market that are made of solid wood.

“I will say that eight out of 10 kitchens could probably be done with stock cabinetry. And what I mean by that is a good designer can design with any line,” Jeff says. “Anyone can say, `Oh, I need this cabinet to be 21 ½ inches.’ But a good designer should be able to design using a 21-inch cabinet.”

No matter what type of cabinet is selected, it’s important to evaluate the quality of hinges, doors, drawer systems and finish. Homeowners should choose cabinets that offer at least a five-year warranty, according to Al Pattison, president of NKBA.

Construction and Style
Next, consider the construction type and door style. Framed cabinets, which are popular in traditional kitchens, have a front frame around the cabinet opening. The door attaches to the frame. Frameless, or European-style cabinets, have no front frame. The door attaches directly to the side of the cabinet. Frameless cabinets, which are often used in contemporary kitchens, offer an advantage over framed cabinets. Because there is no front frame, there is open access to the cabinet interior.

When it comes to door styles, there are several choices. Traditional-overlay doors cover some of the frame, full-overlay doors cover the entire cabinet frame and inset doors sit inside the cabinet frame.

Accessorize
After giving thought to the cabinets’ exterior, turn some attention to their intended use and interior features.

“It used to be that we would place cabinetry in the room and make it functional,” says Al. “(Now) every cabinet has a purpose.” Pullout drawers for pots and pans, oversized drawers for baking sheets and designated cabinets for trash and recycling are some examples. Accessories like lazy Susans, built-in spice racks, drawer organizers and other cabinet extras make the kitchen a much more efficient and enjoyable place.

Hardware
As a finishing touch, add pulls, knobs and handles to cabinets. Hardware comes in a wide variety of styles at all price points and contributes to a truly customized look.

This large, 23-story condominium occupies the Broadway blockfront between 83rd and 84th Streets.

Designed by Costas Kondylis of Philip Birnbaum & Associates, this red-brick, 308-unit building is most notable for its oculi–circular openings and motifs—on its top five floors and around much of its base above the retail spaces and in the middle of a three-story, white-colored base.

The red-brick façade is very rhythmic with relatively deep recesses that provide many corner windows even in the middle of the building below the terraced top floors.

The building is on the former site of the Loew’s 83rd Street theater, designed in 1921 by Thomas W. Lamb, and it now contains the Loew’s 84th Street Sixplex, designed by Heid & Rubin. The sixplex, one of the first major multiplexes on the West Side, contains about 2,975 seats and is one of the more popular ones in Manhattan.

The building, which was completed in 1986 and developed by William L. Haines and Haseko, Inc., has a health club and pool, a garage, and room service.

In their definitive “A.I.A. Guide to New York City, Third Edition,” (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988), Elliot Willensky and Norval White remark that this building is “a chunky filler of Broadway’s belly,” adding that “Post Modern green glazing with limestone gives a graceful edge to West 83rd Street and a serrated neo-Dutch profile.”

The building has an impressive presence and the abundance of oculi is quite remarkable.

The building is across Broadway from Ollie’s, a very popular Chinese restaurant and there is good public transportation in the area, which also has a Barnes & Noble bookstore and Zabar’s, the famous food store nearby.

The building has a garage, a doorman, a concierge, a roof deck, and a bicycle room. It has many terraces.

Courtesy: CR

KOHLER waterless urinals conserve thousands of gallons of water per fixture per year, and:

• significantly reduce sewage and maintenance costs
• provide outstanding performance
• feature innovative, stylish characteristics that integrate a natural ellipse with an architectural feel

Call us for a free estimate on installing one in your home or remodeling your bathroom.

The result is a fresh, sleek design not found in traditional urinals.

The round shape is beautiful to look at, but this spread offers much more. I love the floor to ceiling windows that envelope you in nature and light. The core of the home and its central spiral staircase are stationary; the rest of the house spins. It takes about 48 minutes for one complete rotation, so imagine stepping off the stairs and walking directly into your bedroom one day and into your living room the next. The same variety applies to the outdoors views. Start breakfast overlooking a massive pond and finish breakfast overlooking a serene garden. The round motif continues throughout the house, from the fireplace to the limestone sink in the powder room. There are 3 bedrooms and 2 ½ baths. It sits on 4 acres and has a guest-house and an inground pool. The house is made of steel, glass and cedar shingles. Designed by famed architect Richard T. Foster in 1968 (as a collaboration with Philip Johnson), the home is on the market right now with an asking price of $1,750,000.00.

The “buzz” about color is usually called “color psychology.” But the effects of color are subtle and significant; physical and psychological. Color use is not something that results in a definitive equation between “color and our moods,” as is a currently popular expression. Wherever we go we respond to color, but the importance of color is often underestimated. Color use is important to us personally in our homes and in the places where we work.

1. Start Small
   If you’re not sure where to begin with color, experiment in a powder room or bathroom, a small hall or area between rooms, or an accent wall. If you’re doing your own painting, pick an area that’s quick to do so you can see your results sooner, and be happy with it or change it. Look at the process as an adventure.To get started, select a favorite color drawn from artwork, a rug, dishes and an accessory or furniture piece as a main color or accent.
2. Think About Your Mood
   When selecting a color, consider the mood of a room. In a bedroom do you want the feeling to be restful and soothing or dramatic and intimate? Soft, cool colors and neutrals usually create a quieter feeling while stronger colors are for drama.Do you want a dining area to feel sociable and stimulating or appear formal and quiet? Warmer, contrasting and somewhat brighter colors add to a sociable atmosphere; deeper blue-greens and neutrals will give a more formal ambiance.

   Do you want kid’s rooms to create an active and exciting energy or an orderly and restful feeling? Be careful not to overstimulate your children with intensely bright hues. You may not know it, but some brighter colors can lead to unrest and irritability.

3. Pay Attention to Lighting
   The reason why paint stores have light boxes for you to test paint chips:
   • Natural daylight shows the truest color;
   • Incandescent lighting brings out warm tones and yellows;
   • Fluorescent lighting casts a sharp blue tone.

   So, a strong color might be too bright and overpowering when used on all walls or next to a large window, but it might be effective when used as an accent wall with indirect light.

4. Learn the Color Terms
   It helps to understand the terminology used to describe color.
   • Hue is what we call a color. Red is the hue; blue is the hue.
   • The value of the hue is how light or dark it is.
   • Saturation refers to how dominant the hue is. As we go from red to pink, the red hue becomes less dominant.
   • Intensity is the brilliance of the color. The pure colors such as red are more intense than the combined colors such as yellow-green. A stronger intense color usually has a more dominant hue.

   If you want a more active space, consider introducing stronger, more intense color. Even if you want a light-colored room, choose colors that are slightly more saturated than off-white or light pastel. Very light color can feel bright and stark when it appears on all surfaces in a room. However, two or more medium-light, closely related pastel colors can create a luminous effect when used in the same room.

5. Test Your Color Choice
   Boost your confidence by testing colors on poster board or large areas of a wall. Don’t be afraid to go beyond your comfort zone: Consider strong, vivid colors or soft, deep neutrals like chocolate brown or olive green as main or accent colors. Or add drama with a stronger color on the ceiling. Tinted ceilings can dramatically change the whole look of a room.
6. Add Depth With Decorative Finishes
   Transform flat, dull walls into interesting and personal spaces with subtle or dramatic visual texture and broken color. Burnished mineral/metal finishes and layered colored glazes add depth. Some examples of softly reflective metals are mica, copper, pewter, bronze and, of course, antiqued silver and gold.
7. Walk Into Another Room
   Consider walls as planes of color, and see how they interact when viewing one next to the other in adjacent rooms. Approach it like a composition: You’re in one room, but you’re going to see a piece of another room through it. So as you’re choosing colors, consider how they will flow from room to room to create your picture.
8. Follow the Color Wheel
   A small color wheel is a great reference tool for modifying and intensifying two or more colors. For example, red and green, which are complementary (opposite) colors, are most intense when used together. You may be surprised at how many combinations function beautifully together, and you may even become attracted to entirely new color palettes. The color wheel also illustrates the visual temperature of a color. Draw a line from the yellow-green mark on the color wheel all the way down to the red-violet; you’ll see that all the colors on the left are warm and the colors on the right are cool.
9. Play Up Monochromatic Schemes
   Think one color is boring? Create bold or subtle variations within one color group with contrasting paint finishes. For example, use closely related colors, or try a single color in different finishes, for walls and trim in one space.For an accent color, select a warmer (more toward reds) or cooler (more toward blues) color to complement your main color group. For a quieter ambience, make sure your colors are not extremely bright. White or an off-white tint can be a striking accent when used as trim with a monochromatic color group.
10. Choose Different Paint Finishes
    A single color used on walls and trim takes on new significance when applied in different finishes. For example, wall and trim colors can remain the same hue, but use an eggshell (matte and less reflective) finish on walls and a satin or semigloss on trim. The color will appear slightly different on each surface. It’s a good way to create a cohesive look in rooms with many windows and doors, and relatively little wall area.

Finally, when you’re arrived at selecting your colors and you’re ready to call Manhattan painters for an estimate, simply click on the CONTACT US tab on the top of the page and reach out to to us. We’ll be happy to provide you with tips, and a free estimate of what it would cost to paint your co-op, condo or townhouse!

Brought to you by Dexterity Craft – serving Manhattan & Brooklyn

Fortunately, kitchen designers and manufacturers haven’t given up, offering us ever newer products for organizing everything from glasses to groceries. Here are some products that will clean up your kitchen and disarm your frazzle.

Overhaul Your Drawers

Bertch Cabinets is thinking outside the cabinet, offering a dish drawer called the Pegged Dish Organizer. The pegs can be rearranged to fit plates, bowls, cups, saucers, you name it. Try the cut-to-fit spice drawer insert, for instance, that keeps spices easy to see without wasting space. Or consider the slanted sides sliding shelf. Its low front clears the view of what’s inside. Or spring for a bread drawer; its sliding top keeps critters out.

When in Doubt, Roll It Out

Tired of gazing into the dim recesses of your cabinets? Kitchen designer Kathleen Poer, owner of Spatial Design-Sonoma in Sonoma, Calif., views rollouts as the most essential kitchen tool: Every item (shelves and drawers) should pull out to meet you and not just halfway. She recommends Rev-A-Shelf, a Kentucky manufacturer that offers pullouts for everything from waste containers to cookware organizers, from wire to wicker. Bertch’s lines also offers full-extension roll trays with wire pullouts and lots of shelving, even on swing-out doors.

Go Upside Down

If you’re overhauling your kitchen, consider turning it on its head. Designers are increasingly building pullout garbage drawers even with the countertop lip and setting a shallower drawer at the bottom, reversing traditional positions. One sweep of the sponge and all counter crud falls into the garbage, instead of on your tea towels.

Hide It

An island isn’t just an island but an opportunity to stash more stuff. Bertch builds islands with curved end shelves, wine racks and even built-in French-style china cabinets. It also offers shelving with pullout wicker baskets, an idea that makes organizing both useful and artful.

Spin It

To banish the usual scatter of mismatched lids and containers, try Smart Spin Storage System. The 12-inch-square spinning base holds 24 containers and lids of varying sizes. “You can put it in cabinets or on a lazy Susan,” says Kathleen. “I want to get another set and throw all my other containers away.”

Let It Hang

Hidden isn’t always synonymous with organized. Consider taking advantage of wasted airspace by hanging a pot rack – a kind of culinary chandelier. Ira Wood & Son, a Kentucky wholesaler, offers scads of pot racks from Cuisinart, John Boos, Enclume and others. John Boos’ PotTrak, for example, is a sleek set of three rectangular maple frames with aluminum hangers and spacers to hang pots, utensils or even baskets. Kathleen’s solution is even simpler: She hangs ladles, strainers and long-handled forks in her window, interspersed with hanging bunches of herbs and peppers – a curtain that still lets the sun in, she says.

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When one of her clients approached her about doing a minimalist kitchen, he exuded confidence and a natural affinity for materials and approaches unlike anything other homeowners would be drawn to. “He knew just what he wanted and his ideas were a study in some things a lot of homeowners find hard to do, like doing without wall cabinets or caring for a white limestone counter,” she says. “At the same time, he was willing to entertain ideas for alternative materials and to rethink how he stored things to achieve his goals.”

Such decisive thinking made for a beautiful and unusual kitchen, but it also created challenges in installation and a few elements that Rebekah couldn’t see working for anyone else. Here, she shares some solutions that made the design live up to its potential, as well as advice for developing your own design taste and confidence.

“The client wanted something minimal and modern, but at the same time warm, not cold or austere.” One material that fulfilled both needs: maple with a charcoal stain. “You get the warmth of the wood grain, but the coolness of the color adds to the modern ambiance,” says Rebekah. “It was almost a fluke the way the bottom layer of maple with its yellow undertone and the top coat of charcoal blended into something like a new color, a blue, greenish-gray.”

White limestone
First, Rebekah emphasizes, “the stone is absolutely gorgeous.” That said, white limestone is not the type of counter she would ever recommend to a homeowner. “But my client was convinced that’s what he had to have and so we used it, even though limestone is very porous and has to be treated very, very carefully or it gets stained or chipped.” The French Vanilla slab came from Belstone; Rebekah engaged local fabricators to turn it into an island top that’s modern and sleek but still looks natural.

For a similar look that’s not so tough to maintain, she would advise using marble or limestone, but in a beige color.

Be careful with ceramic tile in a retrofit
One of the hallmarks of Rebekah’s design is handmade ceramic tile that goes clear to the ceiling. “It’s beautiful and easy to care for as long as you seal the grout — a great modern kitchen surface,” she says. “But it’s tricky to install in a remodel unless you’re gutting the walls. It’s tough to get the tiles to line up in a straight stacked pattern and the existing wall itself might not be even.”

For this design to succeed, Rebekah hired a very talented tile installer who had to mud a bit to make the walls suitable for tiling. “Anytime you’re dealing with tile on the wall in a grid pattern, mistakes are very obvious,” she says. “That’s why I recommend smaller, handmade tiles, where any flaws are part of the appeal. I would also hire an artisan to install, someone who will give extra special thought to the layout.”

One thing that won’t help is the carved moldings or caps that do-it-yourselfers traditionally use to hide flaws in the tilework. “In a modern application of tile, the traditional details are a big no-no — they’d just look awful,” says Rebekah.

“My advice for anyone embarking on a kitchen design is to be honest with yourself about your goals and your budget, not just look around at what you think you might want,” she says. “You don’t have to share it with anyone else at first, but you should really know what your spending comfort level is before it comes to making a lot of decisions.”

If you’re concerned with sticking to a strict budget, the surest way to save money is to get comfortable with your preferences before bringing in the professionals, says Rebekah. “If it’s in your budget, though, you may want the enjoyment of going through and choosing together. And even the most decisive clients will benefit from a back and forth with the designer later in the process, to get the benefit of their resources and information.”

Meet the designer
In what Rebekah Zaveloff calls her “designesque” career, she’s worked in painting and sculpture, and as a set designer for films. She’s also worked in the restaurant industry as a server and says that her seven-year stint as the principal designer for KitchenLab, a small firm she co-owns with her husband in Chicago, is a nice culmination of many of these jobs. “It’s my passions for food, wine and design coming together,” she says.

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