My secret love of laminate

Well, it's not really a secret. Done well, laminates are an important and too-easily-overlooked option when it comes to covering surfaces. At least they're easily overlooked in homes. Every time you walk into a Starbuck's, or a Panera, or a Gap or any other store or chain restaurant you can think of, you're surrounded by them.

Laminate was invented by two engineers at the Westinghouse Corporation in 1912. Back then, the mineral mica was used as an electric insulator. Daniel O'Connor and Herbert Faber set out to invent a substitute material for mica. They figured out a way to impregnate layers of kraft paper with melamine resins and then cure it under heat and pressure. Since they'd invented a replacement for mica, they called their invention Formica. O'Connor and Herbert left Westinghouse and formed the Formica Company in 1913. Their product found widespread use as a counter surface and they pretty much owned the surfaces world until DuPont rolled Corian in 1967.

I can't remember the last time I put a laminate counter in someone's home, but it's not anything I'd reject out of hand. Laminate has a place in both homes and in commercial spaces, but that place is best served when laminates are allowed to be laminates. The secret to their versatility is on how they're made. Laminates are still made from layers of kraft paper, but the top layer can be any image someone can imagine. If someone can reproduce a pattern, it can end up as a sheet of laminate.

I've used it for wall cladding, for ceiling tiles, as cabinet inserts, you name it. But the kinds of laminate patterns that interest me aren't hanging on a chip rack at Lowe's. My interest in laminate surfaces is around three years old. Three years ago, a rep walked into my office with a sample book from Arpa, an Italian laminate manufacturer.

In that sample book were some of the wildest patterns I'd ever seen. I swear, I went out and found reasons to use some of their stuff. Here's some of what I saw in that pattern book. Careful though, you'll never be the same after you see these.

Ball

Cream Charisma

Frame

Moebius

Frequency

Profile

Black and White

Romance

Texture

Tribe

Slate

Wave

I've fallen in love. With a movie theater.

So I went to  he movies last night. There's nothing unusual about that, but where I went to the movies was incredibly and wonderfully unusual. My friend Mike and I went to Tampa's brand new CineBistro theater.

CineBistro got its start over the summer in Miami. The new one in the Hyde Park neighborhood in Tampa is the second CineBistro in this market and the third in the chain. CineBistro is a venture of Cobb Theaters and there are plans underway to open additional locations in Daytona Beach, Atlanta, Savannah, suburban DC and Vail, Colorado.

CineBistro is a movie theater unlike any I've ever been in. For starters, they are a full-service and full-menu restaurant and you have to buy your tickets in advance. Your movie ticket is also your dinner reservation. The shows start later than usual, and the idea is that you should arrive a half an hour before showtime. Once you're shown to your seat, a waiter comes along and reviews the chef's specials, answers questions and takes a drink order. They have a full bar and an extensive wine list. A separate bar runner brings your drinks while the server takes your order.

As my server explained to me last night, they do not serve courses. The goal is to get all of your food in front of you before the movie starts. The menu was adventurous and very regional. By that I mean it was very Florida-specific. Churrasco, plantain fries and yellow rice are very common foods here but I wonder how they'll play in DC or Atlanta. Hmm. Anyhow, my dinner was fantastic. Any place that puts whole anchovies on a Caesar salad is A-OK in my book.

I mentioned that their goal is to have your dinner served before the movie starts and that goes for paying the bill too. The servers have handheld registers and they place your order from where they're standing. The servers have a small printer hanging from their aprons, so they swipe your credit card and print the receipt as they're standing in front of you and I thought that was pretty cool.

The theaters only accommodate around 50 people and there's an over-21 age restriction in place at all times. The seats are very wide and have two arm rests per seat. Now more arm rest wrestling. Hurray! No screaming kids. Hurray!

The public areas of the theater are beautifully done. I noticed that the chairs in  the bar were all Philippe Starck and all of the lighting was by Tech. Somebody spent a lot of money...

Anyhow, it's a fantastic idea and I can't believe no one's thought of it before. A movie theater for grown ups. What a concept. Thanks CineBistro!

Reader question: Should I get granite tile counters?

Help! Is granite tile really less expensive than slab granite? I really want to redo my countertops with granite but cannot afford it. Is this a good option?

To answer your first question; yes, granite tile costs less than slab granite. So far as the second question goes, the answer is as resounding a no as I can muster.

Granite tile looks like crap on a counter and there's nothing you can do to make it look good. Worse, there's nothing you can do to perform well. Granite tile counters may look like a good option because they're relatively cheap. But believe me, it's a short term gain.

I don't like to think in terms of resale value and I realize I'm alone in that. So with that said, think about this. Installing them will add nothing to the value of your home and may even detract from it.

Functionally, they stink too. It is impossible to fully seal grout. It will always discolor and it will always harbor the residue of whatever's been prepared on it. Remember too that where there's food residue, there's also bacteria and mold. Ugh. Bacteria and molds are fascinating when they're in a petri dish or on a microscope slide, but I don't want them colonizing my kitchen counters.

Seriously, when an alternative is drastically cheaper than what you really want, think twice before you act. Just as with everything else in life and not just kitchen counters, unusually low prices are a warning sign. Or they should be at any rate. If somebody offered you a new 700-series BMW for $10,000 what would you think?

Not everybody wants to spend a couple thousand dollars on new counters and that's OK. There is nothing wrong with having other priorities for your money. So rather than wasting it on granite tile counters, why not look to laminates?

Laminates are the whipping boy of the counter world and it's unfair. They get maligned by purveyors of such things as solid surface, but I'd put laminate counters in my house before I thought of anything else were I in your position. Laminates are workhorses and they're available in more colors and patterns than you can imagine. When you approach something like laminate, let it look like laminate and don't go for patterns that imitate other materials. Just as granite tile looks cheesy when it's made into a counter, so too do laminates that pretend to be granite. Here are a handful of laminate patterns from Formica, probably the best-known laminate manufacturer out there.

Chin up man, and remember it's not that you can't afford granite. Rather, it's that you'd rather spend your money another way. Semantics? Sure it is, but you create your life every time you open your mouth.

Falling over myself at Fallingwater

The talented and gracious Pam Rodriguez from Pam Designs posted this video on her Facebook page yesterday and I think I've watched it five times since it first appeared there.



Fallingwater from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo.

Pam's a kitchen and bath designer who can crank out a photo realistic architectural rendering like nobody I've ever seen, so when she's impressed with someone else's work I pay attention. This depiction of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater is one of the best virtual walk throughs I've ever seen.

This Fallingwater animation is the handiwork of Cristóbal Vila. Geneva-born Vila is an artist based in Zaragosa in the Aragon region of Spain. Vila's Etérea Studios has an amazing website with a number of examples of his work as an animator. Check it out and thanks again Pam!

Outdoor kitchens by Danver

I have been researching sources for cabinetry and range hoods for an outdoor kitchen I'm working on and recently, I came across an innovative outdoor grill hood from Danver.

The outdoor kitchen in question is going to sit under an overhanging roof and not venting it is definitely not an option. One problem though. Outdoor grills are 30 inches deep and most range hoods are 24 inches deep. The add in the annoying fact that most decent range hoods aren't rated for outdoor use.

Well, my new pals at Danver have come to the rescue with an industry-first 32-inch deep outdoor range hood. That may seem inconsequential, but believe me there is nothing worse than grill smoke backing into your house.

So my hood problem gets me part of the way there. Appliances are easy but where it gets difficult again is finding decent cabinetry I can use outside. I won't do something half way. If I can't be proud of a finished project, I'll resign it before it starts. That's part of the reason I've done so few outdoor kitchens. For a while, there were outdoor cabinets being made with marine-grade plywood. But marine-grade plywood is still not element-proof. It may work in some parts of the country, but in my part of the country marine-grade plywood starts to fall apart after a couple of years.

Well, Danver has a solution for that dilemma too. They make some of the most beautiful, element-proof, stainless steel cabinetry I've ever seen. They have a variety of not just door styles, but finishes too. Wow. I'm glad I found these guys.