Jenn-Air's new finish, Oiled Bronze

OK, back to KBIS. The largest appliance manufacturer who showed at KBIS 2010 was Jenn-Air, and they meant business. Their exhibit was huge and featured a kitchen designed by Ellen Cheever and she used cabinetry by Scavolini. Other trade folks out there will agree that Jenn-Air isn't the appliance brand that comes to mind when I think of a Scavolini kitchen or Ellen Cheever.

But this is the new Jenn-Air. Jenn-Air's owned by Whirlpool and for a long time, all of Whirlpool's energy and money went into attempting to make KitchenAid competitive with some of the higher end appliances out there.

Well apparently, all of that's changed now with the rebirth of Jenn-Air.

That's not what I want to talk about though. Jenn-Air had several full kitchens in their KBIS booth and one of them featured their new-ish finish, Oiled Bronze. Here's a close-up.

It seems to be a surface patina applied to stainless steel. That Jenn-Air sells small containers of of Oiled Bronze touch up paint for it tells me it is. It tells me too that it doesn't handle scratches very well.

It's being touted as an "instant classic" and of course, everyone with a dog in the race is repeating that phrase. Well, I wonder. It's certainly different but it reminded me of something and I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

I was poking around on Pam Kueber's terrific website, Retro Renovation and I found what it is about Oiled Bronze that strikes me.

I think it's the old appliance color Coppertone, revisted.

I wish Jenn-Air well in this push toward the upper end of the market, but the folks already sitting in that spot aren't exactly worried. It's not enough to charge a premium price, you also need to build a premium appliance to justify that cost.

What do you guys think? Is Oiled Bronze an instant classic? Is there such a thing to begin with? Is this a finish you'd buy?

Do Blogland Zombies raise urban chickens?

It's at once a simple quandary and at the same time a question for the ages. Do Blogland Zombies (here and here)  raise urban chickens (here, here and here)?

And if they did, would it look like this?

Credit for this post goes to reader Cham, who continues to egg me on.

All the way from Argentina, it's Fango handmade sinks

Last fall, I started being followed on Twitter by Fango Sink Design. Fango is an Argentine company with one production facility in suburban Buenos Aires. They make a truly unique lavatory sink and before I knew it I was their fan on Facebook and I added their link to my idea file for the next time I get called on to source an interesting sink.

Well imagine my surprise when I turned a corner at Coverings last week and saw that they were exhibiting. I walked right up and introduced myself, "Hey, we tweet together!" It's always fun to meet someone I've come to know 140 characters at a time. That's either a sign that Twitter truly knits the world together or it's a sign that I need to turn off my laptop from time to time. In any case, I was struck by how beautiful their sinks are in person.

The person on the other side of those Fango tweets is Joanna Smink, Fango's export manager. We talked for a while and she told me the story of Fango and why they decided to show at Coverings. Fango had come up from Argentina for the show on a quest for US distributors. Joanna handed me a cost sheet and I thought about changing careers for a moment. Fango sinks are not only beautiful, they are shockingly affordable. If anybody out there's interested in carrying a line of beautiful, handmade sinks let me know and I'll put you in touch.

There's a simplicity to these sinks that borders on the primitive and the effect is stunning. Fango manages to walk a line between substance and delicacy that these photographs fail to convey.

Fango's sinks come in three shapes, round, conical and cylindrical. Each of those shapes is available in three sizes and they can be either vessel-style or they can be semi-recessed. There are nine stock colors for the exterior and 15 patterns available for the interior.

Exterior colors

Interior patterns

if you find yourself looking for something new and original when it comes to bath design, look to Argentina and Fango's handmade sinks.

My first cork floor is in

I have been on a cork floor kick all year and the first of the three cork floors I have in the works is in as of last week.

There are about six seams in this photo and I bet you can't find one.

The material in question is from the Earth and Classics palette from US Floors' Natural Cork Collection. US Floors' Natural Cork Collection is a series of glueless, engineered, floating floors. The interlocking planks are each 11-5/8" by 35-5/8" and they are 15/32" thick. The underlayment's already built into each plank and the installation's a snap.

US Floors' Natural Cork Floors carry a limited lifetime warranty for residential use and maintenance consists of dry mopping when needed. My homeowners are as ecstatic about their floor as I am. I knew it would be beautiful and easy to live with and being right is a lot of fun sometimes. This is not the first cork floor I've ever encountered, this is however the first cork floor I've ever convinced someone to install in her home. I was a little nervous about how she'd like it once it was installed and it's good to know that my worry was for naught.

The kitchen where this floors is in a transitional contemporary style but I think this floor could have worked in a kitchen of any style.

US Floors makes a terrific product and anybody who makes something that makes me look good gets a thumbs up from me.

Oh since I know you're wondering. This floor cost around $9 a square foot. Check out cork floors from US Floors.

Bon Ton handmade tile

If you took this 1914 illustration by George Barbier from the pages of La Gazette du Bon Ton and reinterpreted it as handmade tile nearly 100 years later, the result would be something like Bon Ton Designs in Minneapolis.

I first saw Bon Ton Designs at the trade show Coverings two years ago and these poppies have haunted me ever since.

Mary Anderson is a tile artist. Kurt Anderson is her husband and business manager. Together, they operate the studio Bon Ton Designs. Mary's designs are original as are her glazes. All of her work is made to order from an extensive catalog and she embraces the opportunity to create truly custom, one-of-a-kind work as well.

You can see the Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Arts and Crafts and Modernist influences on her work, but each of those influences is just that, an influence. Mary's work is clearly a product of now and she pays respectful homage to the great designers of the past. Call it what you will, but I call it art.

You can see the rest of Mary's catalog and installation photos on her website, Bon Ton Designs. Go!