Seeing solid surface in a new light

In the last 11 months I've been fortunate to attend nearly 20 trade venues in six countries and in each of those venues I've seen such things that I thought my eyes were deceiving me half the time. Due to my experiences in Europe in particular, I've come to see solid surface in a whole new way. This post is illustrated with sinks and vanities designed by Marike Andeweg  and her Netherlands-based studio, Not Only White. Not Only White's work is a great example of using solid surface in a new, and stunning way.

Throughout my design career, I'd been conditioned to turn up my nose at solid surface whenever and wherever I saw it. I'm old enough to remember when Corian hit the market and I still cringe at the thought of coral-colored Corian with white swirls.

When I started designing kitchens, the move to granite counters was just getting underway and anyone who was designing then pushed stone over solid surface in our quests to deliver high-end designs. My solid surface sample boxes sat unloved and unused for years.

My bias against solid surface seemed hard-wired.

But a funny thing happened as I was walking around at IMM in Cologne last January. There was solid surface everywhere. There were counters of course, but also furniture, sinks, vanities and more accessories than I could count.

A couple of weeks later in Spain I saw solid surface toilets and bathtubs. The stuff was all over Europe it seemed. I saw Not Only White's brilliant sinks and vanities at 100% Design in London's Earl's Court in September. I was in London as part of the inaugural Blog Tour and by then my knee-jerk, bad reaction to solid surface was but a memory and I could appreciate the beauty of Not Only White's products.

And they are beautiful. They use solid surface in a way that makes jaded design people like me stop and think, "Oooooh, what's that?" I love the idea that their hand washing sinks are so small, that their vanity sinks are so shallow and use interesting drains and I love the simplicity of all of it.

To see the rest of Not Only White's collections, check out their website and give some thought to what's possible with solid surface.

Game changing innovation from London

I saw more amazing things at the London Design Festival than I ever imagined I would. Being part of the first ever Blog Tour was a gift that keeps on giving, that's for sure. The London Design Festival is a nine-day, city-wide celebration of design and art with more than 280 scheduled events. One of the larger events this year was 100% Design.

Of the many venues we visited, 100% Design was by far my favorite. While I can get excited about furniture and textiles, after a while they all start to bleed into one another. I guess I'm a kitchen and bath guy at heart after all. 100% Design had the perfect mix of sofas and counters, draperies and flooring. I saw a lot of cool stuff and one thing in particular really blew me away.

The following images are from Pyrolave UK and they are photos of a kitchen designed by my friend Johnny Grey.

Notice anything unusual? That counter has an induction cooktop integrated into it. Pyrolave made from glazed, volcanic stone and it's the only material that can allow the electromagnetic energy of an induction coil pass through it without any loss of efficiency. There's no need for a typical glass cooking surface and being able to pop in an induction coil just about anywhere is an incredibly freeing thing from a design perspective. It's also a great opportunity to use induction outside of the kitchen. Imagine an induction-enabled sideboard or dining table. The mind reels.

Pyrolave UK had a booth at 100% Design and I was playing around with one of these induction-enabled cooktops while I was there. It was nothing short of amazing.

It's genius really and it makes perfect sense. Induction technology begs for innovation and I love that Pryolave has stepped up to the plate and delivered such a great idea. Induction-enabled Pyrolave counters aren't crossing the Atlantic any time soon unfortunately, but when they do get here I'll be the one applauding loudest.

100% Design was the 7th trade event I'd attended outside of the US in the last ten months. I'm getting on a plane for another one in Toronto in a few hours and my seeing innovations such as Pyrolave's induction counters have proved what I've long suspected. The US no longer leads the world in innovation. There. I said it. Much of the innovations I've seen this year will never make it to our market here and if they do, they'll be a dumbed down version of the original.

I hate to be one of those Americans who travels abroad and makes endless comparisons to life here as opposed to there. But the innovation thing is as obvious as it is troubling. How and when did that happen? What would it take to turn that around? These are some of the things I think about during long plane rides.

Anyhow, how about this induction idea? If you're a designer, how could you see this figuring into a design? If you're a homeowner, would you ever spring for a put-it-anywhere induction cooker?

Do you take cream and sugar with your solid surface?

This is a coffee shop in Portugal. It looks like a modern-ish coffee house anywhere in the world, so it's not its location that makes it interesting. No, what's interesting here are the brown surfaces on the back wall and behind the white lattice work. That material is called Çurface and it's made from spent coffee grounds mixed with recycled waste electronics. When used in a coffee house it pretty much defines the idea of a closed system, don't you think?

Çurface is the brain child of London-based industrial design firm Re-worked. Now that they have their formula perfected, Çurface is being used to make furniture and counters.

Çurface is available for sale as sheets from Re-worked directly and you can find out more information from the Çurface website here.

As a side note, a Ç makes an S sound in French so Çurface is pronounced "surface." May thanks to my brilliant cousin Tim for bringing this stuff to my attention.

K+BB and Cosentino are looking for winners

If you're a kitchen and bath designer and you're really good at what you do, K+BB wants to salute you. K+BB is running a design contest and three lucky winners will go to Spain for a week as the guests of Silestone's parent company, Cosentino.

The deadline for entries is June 10th, 2011, so don't put this off. There's no limit to the number of rooms you can enter either. There's no requirement that the designs you enter use Silestone either.

Follow this link and submit your project. Not only will the winners got to Spain, they'll be accompanied by the amazing Alice Liao, the editor of K+BB.

I took a cooking class with Alice in Germany last January and the chance to hang out with her alone should be the impetus anybody needs to enter this contest. As big a draw as Alice is, the country of Spain puts the S in spectacular.

Nowhere else I've been weaves the glory of a storied history in with the inglory of daily life as elegantly as Spain does. Everything in Spain is an occasion and wonders await at every turn. And through all of it, the Spanish people are there to explain  all of it and to humanize the whole experience.

An amazing country peopled with the most accommodating people on the planet awaits the lucky winners of this contest.

So if you've been doing great work, K+BB wants to know about it. Here's the link to the entry form again. Enter! And think about the wonders that await.

A Houzz-ian round up

Here's a re-cap of the stuff I've been writing over at Houzz.com. If you're not already a Houzz fan, poke around on that site, there's a lot to explore.

Straight From Spain: Amazing New Trends in Tile

Houzz- Kitchen Design, Bathroom Design and More»

Browse by Space and Style- For Example:

Modern Kitchen · Mediterranean Bathroom · Traditional Living Room · Mediterranean Bedroom · Eclectic Dining Room · Modern Homes · Modern Patio · Traditional Landscaping ·

Special Report: Bath Trends From Valencia

Houzz- Kitchen Design, Bathroom Design and More»

Browse by Space and Style- For Example:

Mediterranean Kitchen · Traditional Bathroom · Modern Living Room · Modern Bedroom · Traditional Dining Room · Modern Homes · Contemporary Patio · Modern Landscaping ·

Alternatives to Granite Countertops, Part III

Houzz- Kitchen Design, Bathroom Design and More»

Browse by Space and Style- For Example:

Mediterranean Kitchen · Tropical Bathroom · Modern Living Room · Tropical Bedroom · Eclectic Dining Room · Tropical Homes · Modern Patio · Eclectic Landscaping ·

Special Report: Design News from Toronto

Houzz- Kitchen Design, Bathroom Design and More»

Find Home Improvement Professionals- For Example:

New York Architect · New York Interior Designer · San Francisco Contractor · Chicago Landscaping ·

An interesting idea from Germany

Blanco sinks had me in Germany last month to attend Cologne's annual furniture show, the IMM. A big part of the IMM is the kitchen category and this year, it had its own name for the first time, The Living Kitchen.

The Living Kitchen was an extravaganza and its size and scope dwarfed its US equivalent, KBIS. My job at the Living Kitchen was to walk around, take photographs and report back the things I saw. It was a tough assignment but somebody had to do it.

I saw a lot of stuff in Cologne, too much almost. But there were a couple of overarching trends I have a feeling we'll start seeing in the US eventually. The most noticeable one I saw was a move away from fat, chunky counters.

The counters on fully half of the kitchens displayed in Cologne were a centimeter thick. At first I was jarred by how thin they were but the more I saw them, the more intrigued I became.

In the US, the desired counter thickness is 1-1/2" and you get close to that by using 3cm counter material. Sometimes, a given stone only comes in 2cm and when forced to use 2cm material, I'd always felt as if I were cheating my clients.

After seeing an entire trade show filled with 1cm counters I'm a convert.

What do you think? Could a 1cm counter ever make you happy?

Guess the counter material, the follow up

Yesterday I ran a series of photos with the challenge to identify the material used for counters in each photo. you guys are pretty slick because just about everybody got it right. Every one of those images showed a laminate counter from Formica's 180fx series. Remember that the category is properly called laminate and the brand name is Formica. Formica has a great website that's brimming with great photos and idea for how to make a room that features laminates look fantastic.

It's very vogue to look down on laminates but for a lot of people, they are the right option. They make a resilient, long-lasting kitchen surface. A properly installed and cared-for laminate counter will last for years and as I've mentioned here before, I think laminates are pretty cool.

A. Antique Mascarello

B. Blue Storm

C. Breccia Paradiso

D. Calacatta Marble

E. Espirito Santo

F. Golden Mascaello

G. Red Montana

H. Slate Sequoia

I. Slate Sequoia

I'm impressed with this latest collection form Formica laminates. While it's true these Formica laminates are a good way to get the appearance of a stone counter at home for a fraction of the price, I can see this being used really well in commercial settings. Sheathing walls in it or covering curved surfaces with these 180fx laminates would make for a spectacular lobby or restaurant space.

Check out Formica's website and take a look at what laminates look like these days.

So what do you guys think? Is there a place in your lives for laminates?

Let's play "Guess the Counter Material"

OK kids, here's a bit of a challenge. What follow are nine photographs of new kitchens in a variety of styles. Each photograph has a letter and the challenge is to identify the counter material used in each kitchen. There's no prize on the line other than the satisfaction of being right, should you get any of them right. Here goes:

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

F.

G.

H.

I.

So let's see how everybody does. Leave your best guesses in the comments and I'll write a follow up later with the answers.

Silestone sold me. Wow.

This is a new 60 second TV spot Silestone rolled out in Spain. Here's the video and audio without the voice over.



Holy cow, I think that's the best video I've ever seen in the whole kitchen and bath industry. Not only is it stunning, Silestone assures me that the entire thing is done in CGI, there's not a live image to be had anywhere in that video. That's doubly impressive.

It's the product of a Spanish videographer, Alex Roman, and his The Third and The Seventh Agency. I've seen Alex Roman's work before. This piece entranced me a year ago. It's nearly 13 minutes long, but watch it if you find a spare chunk of time.



The Third and The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

I absolutely love it when art and commerce combine.