Reader question: Why is my Ikea butcher block splitting?

Help! Exactly one month ago, my husband and I installed a Numerär oak countertop from Ikea. We brought it home, installed it and then sealed it with Ikea's Behandla wood sealer. I thought we were doing everything right, but last night I noticed a split in the wood on the end. Now what? Will it get worse? Should I get a new one?

Oh Lord. I just looked up Numerär on Ikea's website and you paid $89 for that counter. I have to ask, but what were you expecting for $89? Now yes, you spent $89 on a wooden counter and yes it should deliver as promised. But are you really surprised that it didn't? This certainly doesn't get Ikea off the hook. They have a warranty on that counter I'm sure and I would make it my life's work to have them deal with it. After all, $89 is $89. But still, the Numerär costs $89. A similar counter, made from real oak, from Boos will set you back somewhere around $500. Price disparities as wide as that ought to be enough to make anybody look twice.

I got smacked down here a couple of weeks ago for disparaging Ikea's cabinetry. Just ask Becky at Eco-Modernism. Hah! I'll admit, everything Ikea sells isn't automatically crap. So even though it's not crap, it's also not a substitute for the premium products Ikea's imitating either. Wood counters that cost $89 are a case in point.

So the answer your question, you need to look up the warranty on the counter you have and Ikea needs to replace it. They may be a little hesitant to do so if you've attached it to the cabinetry its sitting on, so be prepared to make your case.

If they won't replace it, your crack can be repaired, probably. If it were me, I'd shoot some wood glue into the crack and then get a band clamp and put the squeeze on for a day or so. Then oil that top and keep it oiled. Wood splits when it dries out, so don't let it dry out.

Then I'd think long and hard about what low prices really get you. I love saving a buck as much as anybody, believe me. But you'll end up a happier customer if you start looking for value instead of prices. Sometimes, the value is in a lower-priced product. Sometimes, it's not.

Oh Leonardo, did you influence this table?

I was scrolling through Trendir yesterday. It's the first place I turn when I want to read the uncritical repetition of the furniture industry's press releases. I swear, these people couldn't register an opinion of their lives depended on it. Anyhow, I found this table.

I have two things to day. The first is "ouch."

The second is "Leonardo, is that you?"

In case you're wondering, that's the Abachus table by Extremis.

Have you seen Unhappy Hipsters?

Over the last week or so the design blog world has exploded with the excited chatter that can only accompany a new find. Well, two or three weeks ago two women launched Unhappy Hipsters from an undisclosed location somewhere in the US.

The authors have so far remained anonymous but ought to have landed a book deal by mid next week. What is Unhappy Hipsters? In a word, delicious.

The take photographs from Dwell magazine and then caption them. Hilarity ensues. Here are a few of their gems.

The octopus was full of judgment.

(Photo: Mark Compton; Dwell, October 2009)

Everyone always leaves.

(Dwell, April 2009)

Trapped by the tawny palette, he struggled through yet another brown knit scarf.

(Photo: Randi Berez; Dwell, September 2005)

It became their routine. And so the evenings stretched out before him: still, gray, and gravel-strewn.

(Photo: Dean Kaufman; Dwell, November 2006)

You can come out when you can properly explain the differences between Modernist architecture and postmodern ornamentation.

(Photo: Craig Cutler; Dwell, February/March 2006)

I think this is a scream of course. But what say ye? Is Unhappy Hipsters a hit or a miss?

Who's old enough...

To remember this?

From Tower B to Stone Forest

In 1983, I lived in the building in the center of this photo. That's Tower B of the Litchfield Towers complex on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. I lived on the seventh floor and it was my first experience living on my own.

The Tower B was 22 stories tall and it was home to nearly 900 freshman. There were 40 of us to a floor and all 40 of us shared a single bathroom. As I remember it, there were ten sinks, ten toilets, eight showers and eight urinals. Oh such times were they.

A great friend I made in those early days of the fall of 1983, was Jerry. Jerry lived down the hall and together we figured out a thing or two about what it meant to be out on our own for the first time. Through the years, Jerry and I drifted apart and I hadn't heard from him in about 20 years when Facebook landed on my lap about a year-and-a-half ago. As is true for a whole lot of people from my age group, Facebook has been a real boon to reestablishing contact with friends for way back when. Jerry and I found each other a couple of months after I joined up and it's been a real pleasure to reestablish contact. I love reading about his daughters and he seems to get a kick out of what I do here.

The other day, he wrote me a note that was prompted by something I'd written about bath design. He told me that he and his wife had designed their master bath around a pair of Stone Forest vanity sinks. They'd fallen in love with those sinks and made a room to accommodate them. Now that's my kind of people! He hasn't told me which Stone Forest sink it was that they love so much but there are certainly enough to choose from.

Stone Forest makes contemporary, sculptural sinks, vanities and bathtubs from stone, bronze, bamboo, copper, iron and hardwoods. It's their stone projects that really capture my imagination. Each of these pieces is carved from a single piece of granite, marble, onyx, basalt, sandstone, travertine and what ever other stone they can get their hands on. The work the do is amazing. Here's some of what I'm talking about.

The sinks are a real achievement, but check out these tubs. Man!

I'd be curious to know how well these bamboo sinks hold up over time. I don't have any first hand experience with them. I think they're really beautiful. What do you think gang? Would you use a bamboo sink?

Jerry, you've done really well for yourself over the years but I have to tell you, I envy you your sinks. It's quite a distance from that awful bathroom in Tower B, but it's been a pretty cool journey.

You can see the rest of the Stone Forest collection on their website.