Wood Hoods Can Be a Beautiful Focal Point

Remember when the range hood in the kitchen was a “necessary evil”? They were ugly and never really worked right. If you burned something or you were cooking fish, they did little to nothing to evaporate the odors like they were supposed to do. 

Today the hood over the range or cooktop can be a focal point that makes a kitchen stand out above and beyond the others in the neighborhood. There are several different types. At Kitchen Associates, there are five wood hoods to see on display, as well as an interesting plastered hood with wood trim. Some were built by the skilled craftsmen in our woodshop. They certainly make a kitchen look unique and special. However, there are some things to consider if a wood or plastered hood will work for your kitchen. 

Do you have room for one?  They generally will take more room than a conventional hood, so make sure a professional kitchen designer has shown you how much space it will take.  

Make sure you get an adequate blower for the cooking surface you are using. Generally, a blower that takes 600 CFMs (cubic feet per minute or the blower's ability to move air) is sufficient in residential cooking, but if you have a commercial cooktop or range, it may require more.

Make sure whoever is designing your kitchen guides you on the size blower you are getting. Some hoods look deceiving and the blower you purchased will not fit into the hood you get. 

Keeping these points in mind and working with a professional designer will be of benefit if you want to have that beautiful focal point in your kitchen. We invite you to see the wood hoods and other beautiful products at  Kitchen Associates.

-Jay Sponenberg

Television Kitchens

 

Most baby boomers grew up watching "Leave it to Beaver" or some other famous sitcom and felt like  their home was your home. Watching June Cleaver bake cookies or prepare dinner for Ward and the boys while wearing a dress and hardly breaking a sweat brings back fond memories for me. After I began installing and designing kitchens myself I noticed that every time I watched a sitcom or even a commercial I began to wonder how the design and layout of these TV kitchens could be improved.What would happen if we gave June Cleaver more counter space between the stove and refrigerator?

Or let’s knock down the wall of Archie and Edith’s kitchen on "All in the Family" and put in a nice big island, but we would lose hours of laughter watching Archie get hit by that infamous swinging door. 

How about the open concept kitchen that was shown on the "Brady Bunch" featuring that bright orange Formica on the walls? We laugh at it now but that was “state of the art” for its time. I remember seeing Wood Mode brochures from that time period and those types of colors and layouts were what was primarily featured. 

We look at the kitchens on our favorite TV shows and some we love but some we can't imagine how anyone could possibly boil water in. If you can remember “The Honeymooners” kitchen you'll recall it was nothing more than a sink, an ice box and a stove. Zero counter space!

What are some of your all time favorite (or not so favorite) TV kitchens? What would you like to see improved in the  kitchen designs on your favorite shows?  We would love to hear your comments.

 - Jay Sponenberg

Should I Put New Granite Countertops on Old Cabinets?

Many people recognize that remodeling their kitchen can increase their home's value tremendously. I wonder, though, if in their desire to make an upgrade many people are making hasty decisions and doing a "half job" on their kitchens. This may well result in making it much more costly if they decide to do a bigger kitchen remodeling job in the future.

For example, some people decide to install brand new granite counters on cabinets that are either very old and poorly made and/or have a poor design. Many have fallen into the trap of thinking that those new granite tops are going to totally transform their "blah" kitchen into something they have seen pictured in  high-end design magazines. This can result in the disappointment of investing $3,500-$5,000 only to realize they are stuck with the same old cabinets and kitchen design for many years to come.

Some people have tried to re-use their counters when they have their cabinets replaced. This in itself can be a very expensive project. I am working with someone who wanted to save their counters but change their cabinets. Fortunately, they liked the kitchen design so there were no modifications needed for the countertops. However, the cost to remove, set aside, and return to re-install was around $1,400 and it couldn't be guaranteed that there would be no damage to the tops during removal.

So what does this mean? Should nobody get new granite countertops on their cabinets? No, but homeowners need to avoid making a quick decision and end up doing the kitchen backwards. Give some real thought to how well the layout of your kitchen is working for you. Are the appliances in the best location? Will they need to be replaced soon? Then, look at the cabinets. Do you like the finish? Are the drawers and hinges working correctly? Basically, see what it would cost to do a modest kitchen renovation. You may be surprised that, all in all, it will end up being a much better investment and save you major aggravation later on. It has the added benefit of greatly increasing the value of your home!

Kitchen Associates Live Interview on 96.9!

On August 8  Jay Sponenberg of Kitchen Associates was interviewed live on the very popular radio show Hire it Done with Adam Helfman on 96.9.

 

If you're thinking of doing a Kitchen Remodel soon then you'll find the information Jay discussed very interesting.

 

New Website and First Kitchen Associates Blog!

Welcome and thanks for visiting our new website! Since 1972, Kitchen Associates has been designing beautiful Kitchens that are tailored to your individual needs and style. We hope that with the launch of our new website, we can bring useful information to you that will help make your decision to work with Kitchen Associates an easy one for your next project.

As you look around the website, we have various useful features. Starting with our blog page, the goal is to keep you updated. As we keep pace with the ever changing design world, we will provide new and exciting information that you may find useful, such as new products, styles, colors, trends. Let our professional kitchen designers help take your ideas and incorporate them into your dream kitchen. The ideas are endless. We encourage you to take advantage of the RSS feature so you’ll always be updated when a new blog is posted.

We’re also happy to introduce our design portfolio and make it available to you online in our gallery. It contains real photos of kitchens designed and installed by us. We feel it’s important that you see first hand what you can expect from a Kitchen Associates kitchen versus a gallery of factory posted kitchen pictures. As the days and months progress, the gallery page will only get larger as we add more exciting photo’s of our kitchens.

Take a look at the job location. You’ll see that we install all over New England, from Boston to the Berkshires, even down east to the Maine coast. After over 50 years in the kitchen business, we’ve covered just about any town you can think of!

You may ask, “Why use Kitchen Associates?” Visit our showroom and talk with one of our designers and you will know why some travel great distances to see our showroom and shop!  

We will also be utilizing social networking sites such as Facebook, an interactive way to communicate. There will be plenty of projects posted that show how a kitchen installation happens. Shop photos of different projects will be posted, such as cool one-of-a-kind cabinets, to seeing how a Corian solid surface top is made. Feel free to join the discussions, ask questions! Share your thoughts! We can’t wait share what we know!

We hope the website will be a place you go to learn. We love to help. That's why we're so excited about our new website and we hope you are as well.