kitchen

Reply to: @Jeff Grenz Thanks for the input on Kraftmaid cabinetry. I had heard of issues in the past with tolerances, but your recent experience is a good warning. @helaurin93 Your post caught my attention because of "Plato" in the title. Though I'm not a customer of theirs at this time, I've done extensive research of all available online reviews, thoroughly explored the company's website and social media pages, and communicated multiple times with a sales manager at the headquarters in Plato, Minnesota, as well as 4 dealers of this brand around the United States. Here are some things to know about Plato: Quality & Customer Service = Their customer service is basically unbeatable. They are going to deliver a quality product, and if you have any issues, they should in the vast majority of cases be immediately resolved to your satisfaction. The cabinet boxes will be square, and the finishes are durable. There are a few reviews of people complaining about finish durability particularly in the stained or natural wood finishes, but Plato has as durable of a finishing process as any large manufacturer in the business right now, so how the cabinets are used and maintained is probably playing the largest role in people's experiences of longevity. Pricing = The price for the core Plato line is high. It's higher than a lot of people in online reviews think the product is actually worth, but that's a judgement call each consumer must make. You can get a discount if you'll shop around and find an out-of-state Plato dealer who will work with you on a very detailed cabinetry plan, but it takes a special dealer to do this, because most places want to measure your kitchen themselves. Unless you're an expert, you'll need to work with someone to come up with a precise cabinetry layout. For example, my local dealer who would provide design services for "free" wanted to charge outrageously for Plato cabinetry, but I found 2 out-of-state dealers who were willing to give me a price break on my existing layout which is precise to the 1/16" of measurements on all dimensions. Another Plato dealer out of state refused to work with me because they only accept local business. You can also get a price break using cabinetry outside of the core Plato line, as I'll explain in the next point. Lines Within Plato = The core "Personalized Custom" line is fully custom and comes at a premium price, quite high relative to other large manufacturer brands that offer similar customization. To save money, you can go with the Prelude line which is semi-custom, so you must work within a framework of certain pre-set measurement selections with minimal customization options. Some dealers will let you mix up to 6 pieces of custom Plato with the semi-custom Prelude line to save money. Both these lines are framed. Inovae is Plato's frameless line, and just this year they have released a second frameless line called The Collection. They also have another line just for closet cabinetry. You'll experience different prices based on what line and material you choose. Not all Plato dealers are familiar with all the company's options, so you may be stuck doing your own research and even talking to the sales department at the company's headquarters to get the total picture. Shipping = Part of your expense is going to be shipping this cabinetry, and Plato has its own air-ride trucks for this purpose. I had originally considered the possibility of picking up my own cabinetry to save shipping costs, but that would be a risk you'd have to be willing to negotiate with the company as far as safety for the product during transport if they would allow you to rent and drive your own truck. This might be an option to investigate if you're a do-it-yourself person who planned to do your own installation as well and if you lived far enough from the factory to make it worthwhile. One Possible Fault = There is one thing that Plato doesn't do too well based on multiple customer reviews backed up by photos of their cabinetry on social media, and that is color and grain match their natural and stained wood products. It's hard to do this in practice because of the variability within each lot of lumber, but for as much as Plato charges, I think they could do a better job culling and matching. In early 2019, I asked a sales manager at the headquarters if he had seen many problems with this, and he denied knowing about it, but the reviews and photos on the internet from years past up through recently speak for themselves. Because we're wanting cherry wood in a natural finish (clear topcoat only) we decided to cross off Plato at this time for this one issue, the lack of a good track record with adequately culling and matching the wood used for the natural and stained finishes. That said, many other large manufacturers out there probably deal with this issue, and my hope would be that Plato would one day step up standards in this area to be as outstanding here as they are in other areas of manufacturing. Hope this helps you. You'll see the advice often to check into a local custom cabinet maker for the best deals, and I resisted that idea for a long time, thinking a larger manufacturer would offer the best quality, but after receiving higher quotes than I wanted from two other lines from a company that is similar to Plato in quality, Harmoni (semi-custom frameless) and Bentwood (full custom), I have researched cabinet makers in my area and found 4 that do outstanding work, so we're moving forward with getting quotes from them. Based on your cabinet list, it sounds like you do have quite a few cabinets to consider, so working with a local cabinet maker might offer you more value per dollar to make the budget stretch.

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Reply to: Many shops in California have moved to a water born finish -- technically not a conversion varnish, but still catalyzed. These products provide an excellent finish too. Cabinet factories are all about production, and the techniques and finishes they use are geared to this. They need a finish that will allow handling and often assembly very soon after the finish has been applied. Thus the baked on finish -- simply a way of speeding up the drying process. As Al mentioned above, there are finishes that cure when exposed to ultra violet light, which is another way to speed up the process. I would insist on a post catalyzed, as opposed to pre-catalyzed, finish. A local company should tell you exactly what finish they are using, where a manufacturer rarely will. Most (maybe all) of these catalyzed finishes produce a very hard finish, and are designed for a single coat application. That hardness is what makes them difficult to recoat/refinish. Succeeding coats do not bond well, if at all, to previous coats. They are high solid coatings, designed so multiple coats are not necessary.

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Reply to: @P C I too originally considered Omega early in my kitchen renovation research, primarily because I saw so many archived posts here at Houzz, particuarly posts from the old Garden Web contributors, praising Omega's quality. Then I went on various other websites and review boards around the internet and saw that Omega and its sister brands such as Kemper have had some recent issues with finish quality and lack of backup on warranty fulfillment for other problems. It is no surprise to me at all that you've seen color discrepancies with Omega given other customers' recent reviews. It is sad that a company once known for great quality has fallen off on quality control. Perhaps the finish problems are something that will be fixed in time, but I wasn't willing to risk my precious, one-time budget on that chance, so I crossed them off. You should really look at the Harmoni cabinetry line. It is excellent quality, though not in the budget price range, but if you have a good dealer that will work with you, it could be a great option with a reasonable value for you. They've been around a couple of decades, originally as the fully custom Bentwood line, but they haven't gotten much widespread notoriety until the demise of the original Wood-Mode/Brookhaven at which time a number of distributors switched over to being Bentwood/Harmoni dealers to fill the gap. Another great line is Plato Woodworking. Their products are on the expensive side for sure, but they back up every single customer service issue with finesse. Their entry-level Prelude collection offers some great options, and they are continuing to innovate with new frameless lines to add to their stable of offerings. Jay Rambo is a little company in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that does outstanding work. Their finishes are very durable. They have people on staff who will work with you if you don't have a dealer in your area. William Ohs is based in Colorado and is on the upper end of pricing, but dollar-for-dollar would way exceed the finish quality you would get from Christopher Peacock. Kennebec cabinetry company located in Maine is another winner. They specialize in quartersawn woods which are very stable in the presence of moisture and also in inset cabinetry. If you are going for a specific look that they offer, they would be oustanding. Signature cabinety company and also Shiloh are more budget-friendly choices that are worth your time to investigate. I believe Aspect is a subsidiary of Shiloh, and a lot of people seem to like the Shiloh quality and service for the price. You won't get the same level of quality with either of those lines, Aspect or Shiloh, as you would with Kennebec if you are doing inset, but once again, budget plays a role. Waypoint doesn't compare to any of Shiloh's lines in my opinion. I've seen a display of Waypoint in person, and there is so much lacking in the way of quality with that. If you were flipping a home and wanted something on the cheap, then maybe consider Waypoint. IKEA is an option you shouldn't cross off, especially if you wanted to do custom doors from a place like Semihandmade or TaylorCraft. There are a number of dealers in these forums who comment on the Dura Supreme line. It's not a budget choice, and there are some people who have had quality issues to be dealt with, but there are some extremely reputable desginers who particpate in the Houzz forums who use Dura Supreme regularly for their clients. I don't know enough about the other brands you brought up to say much on them. As with any brand, you would want to get online and research several sources for recent reviews. You can search the Houzz discussion archives to find tips, and you can also look at Google reviews for each brand. There is a nice website called Kitchen Cabinet Reviews or something like that which hosts a lot of reviews about several of the larger brands. Then, you'll find individual articles or blog posts as well to help. If I had to recommend something for starters, it would be Harmoni, then Plato's Prelude line, then maybe Signature, then Shiloh. If you are on a budget, take a look at IKEA with custom-made doors. Also check into the finish your custom local guy offers and see if it would be durable, as I described above.

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Reply to: We went with as many drawers as possible, but we couldn't install drawers beneath our island cooktop. So, we fashioned a crossbar that holds all our most used pots and pans. Just LOVE this.

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Reply to: Supra AT is going to last you a lifetime, though, while regular Supra won't. I have the semi-gloss Supra AT, and it has grip to it in my opinion, though I can see how that with dress shoes you might be able to get some slip on it, especially with any water spilled. I wouldn't add whitener. The EasyPrime with Supra AT is going to preserve the original color of the white oak well without any yellowing over time. If you do select matte, use it only for the top coat or it may appear cloudy. EasyPrime with Supra AT is an incredibly durable finish that you won't even have to think twice about for the rest of the time you live on those floors. It really is an investment in your future and in preserving the wood you have selected.

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Reply to: I just tried looking up a few reviews for you @annemoldovan28 of World Coppersmith, and it seems this company outsources production to Mexico and China and has had some quality and customer service issues as of recently. If I were you, I might expand my search a bit wider. I have personally ordered from Havens Metal and been highly impressed with quality and customer service from this Made-in-the-USA company. Ask for Alex Havens who can do anything for you in a copper hood that you desire. This company uses unrecycled, pure metal for all its products and stands behind the products with active customer service. They do fabricate hoods, although most of what you will see on the website are sinks. Read some recent negative reviews of World Coppersmith here: https://www.houzz.com/pro/coppersmithco/world-coppersmith

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Reply to: What do you guys think about open shelves in the same oak as my island, 12", perhaps with a bronze sconce above? Then reduce the cabinets to 18"? Below is my crude photoshop and inspiration pics. This pic is low res, but it's my color palette. I thought the living room beams look similar to mine, and my floors are the same medium brown. This is also my cabinet door profile.

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Reply to: My parents custom-built their house, and included some features useful to them,including: Hidden storage in the dining room for table linens, china, crystal, silverware, and accessories. They entertained a lot and it was invaluable storage. There was also a small passthru to the kitchen...I know, passthrus are so "dated", but it was behind the hidden doors, and had a little door of its own. They also sized the room to accommodate a particular rug and the table with all its leaves. The wet bar in the family room is discreet, not huge, but a boon for parties and even everyday. When we would eat in the family room, no one had to go into the kitchen for beverages, or rinse out a glass. The laundry/utility room has a 2-section hamper drawer, and a cabinet sized for dishpans, one for each child, where our clean laundry waited for us to put it away, until we started doing our own. It also had a drip closet with a drain in the tiled floor for the bucket, mop, and for hanging drip-dry clothes and wet bathing suits. Afterwards, mom wished she'd put in a louvered door for ventilation instead of having to keep it ajar. In the kitchen and hall, shallow pantries for food, and such, so nothing gets lost behind other things (actually, two shallow pantries that back up to one another), and a deeper one for big or long stuff. A peninsula with access to storage on both sides, including the corner. Deep eaves, so they paint only every 20 years or so. The garage I referenced up thread with heat and drains. Also, you can have two cars in the garage and open the doors on both without dinging the other car. Raised area around the perimeter keeps dust and debris away from items stored on the sides, and away from the door to the house. This was also helpful when they started using walkers, as they could step up once to the ledge, move towards the door, then once more into the house. The ledge accommodates walker, user, and caregiver. Paid attention to sun movement (but not enough to seasonal sun movement) and to views (but the view changed, and the rooms weren't sited to take full advantage of the new feature). All this is to say that they thought through how they lived, and what they needed. They measured for storage. They accommodated items they wanted to use. Not everything worked out: Mom is petite and loves to cook, so her kitchen counters are an inch or two lower than standard. That would be okay except that the dishwasher has to sit below the level of the floor. Think about that: how do you move it for repair or replacement? Thank goodness that it lasted 47 years and that we had a stellar repairman, until the thing just couldn't be repaired anymore and now serves as a dishdrainer.

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Reply to: Some things I’ve thought about since we moved to our new house a year ago: 1) Incorporate a mudroom - have it go from the garage or side door into the kitchen. Our old mudroom was off the family room, and it didn’t feel efficient 2) toekick lighting in kitchen and en suite bathrooms - super nice to have on at night 3) If you have a kitchen island with a sink on it, use one of the drawers (we used the one above the trash pullout) as a paper towel holder so you don’t have to have a paper towel holder on your island. Ours pulls out and then there is room to store extra rolls behind the roll that is in use. 4) If you have little kids - we built a pullout stool in front of the kitchen prep sink so the kids could easily access the sink to wash their hands and fill up their glasses of water. They also stand on it when they help me cook. 5) water filtration - consider what level of filtration you will need for your water supply and locate any filters appropriately. Our Reverse Osmosis filter is too big to put under our sink in the kitchen, so we are locating it in the basement below the kitchen. 6) Consider the depths of your window frames if you want to mount any shades inside the window frame - it looks nicer if they don’t stick out and are enclosed by the framing. If you want any automated shades, make sure you run electrical wires there 7) Lighting - if you go with LED lights, particularly for recessed lights, make sure you get lights that are dim-to-warm (whiter at high brightness and get warmer and less white when dimmed). Also make sure that they actually dim properly - many LED lights don’t dim very much 8) dimmer switches everywhere 9) run gas lines to your fireplaces even if you’re going with wood burning just so the option is there to convert in the future. We have a mix of gas log sets in some fireplaces that we use often and regular woodburning fireplaces in other places that aren’t used as frequently 10) radiant heat flooring 11) bench in master shower 12) get high ceilings in your basement if you can - we have some workout equipment that my husband couldn’t use at our old house with 7foot basement ceilings. High ceilings make it feel like a much more usable space 13) agree with earlier post about trying to get your main entertaining spaces with some south light. Evening entertainment spaces (such as a living room) should get south/west light, morning spaces (such as a kitchen) should get south/east light. Rooms that you don’t use frequently should get the worst light. 14) video camera doorbells 15) get a garage door opener that can be controlled from app on your phone - comes in very handy 16) have at least one keypad or smart lock on your house that can be controlled by your phone or by entering a code on your keypad. Really nice if you forget your keys. The ones with smartphone access are good for allowing people to enter your house if you’re not home. They don’t always look great, so maybe put on a side door instead of main front door. 17) either a whole-house generator, or a generator that only powers specific electric panel(s) - but know this in advance so you can wire the panels properly and have the essentials all on a single panel 18) if you have an in-ground pool, an automatic safety cover is amazing. Safer, keeps pool clean, keeps pool warm. 19) consider running the wiring for an electric car charger to your garage so that you can easily add one in the future if needed. 20) consider the WiFi coverage in your house and make sure you have a sufficient number of access points to provide coverage. Include your outdoor spaces as well so you have WiFi when you’re in your backyard 21) Nest thermostats or something similar that can be controlled remotely

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Reply to: @Stephanie, Heather N has eloquently described a the uses of a convection steam oven. I had also never heard of it as I redid my main kitchen 16 years ago and returned to Houzz/gardenweb to research another kitchen. After reading all about it here ( do a search on combi convection steam oven posts) and visiting a MIele experience center to watch a demo, I am sold. With MIele, the oven describes exactly what to do and when to do it so your children as they get older, will be able to cook meals on their own. Also research induction cooktops and you may want to look at that instead of gas. It's safer with kids as the cooktop does not get hot. if you look at a 36 induction cooktop that should cope with the needs of a large family.

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Reply to: I use my steam oven for almost everything. It is much better at reheating food than a microwave or regular oven. For example, I had some leftover chinese food yesterday - microwaved rice is usually kind of hard. I put everything in the convection steam oven in the plastic and waxed paper takeout containers, set the oven to 220 degrees at 50% steam for 15 minutes - when it comes out, everything tastes great like it is fresh. If you keep the oven temperature below 220 or so, you can use plastic containers or your regular dining plates because they won’t melt - it’s the same temperature as putting them in the dishwasher. I could reheat the same food more quickly (in about 10 min) if I put it in an oven-safe container and turned up the heat. The food stays moist because of the steam. They’re really good for roasting chicken or broiling fish because the outside gets crispy, but the inside doesn’t dry out. Anything that you’d cook in boiling water on the stove can also be cooked in it - pasta, rice, quinoa, oatmeal, etc. You can stick an egg in there and make a hard boiled egg in 6-7 min. You can steam veggies, fish, lobster. and lots of people use it to get a chewy crust on bread. many people get rid of their microwaves when they have a steam oven, but I still like having a microwave for my kids’ food or some frozen meals. My oven has preprogrammed recipes - for example, you can tell it that you want to cook salmon, broccoli, and rice, and have everything ready by 6pm. It will then tell you what time to put everything in so that it is all ready at the same time - the flavors don’t mix in a steam oven so you can cook fish and broccoli in the same oven without a problem. You can also use it for sous vide cooking because it has very low precise temperatures. So basically it can be used as a regular oven without stream, a pure steamer, a sous vide cooker, or a combination for anything that you want to bake/heat but keep moist. The Miele oven that I have has a plumbed water line so I don’t have to refill the tank. I’ve also used it as an extra warming spot when my warming drawer gets full because you can turn the temperature on very low.

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Reply to: Dear Tamster1328, This may be too late but if you haven’t committed to either yet you might give this a try. It always works and I’ve used this process successfully hundreds of times to help clients create the perfect kitchen for them, within the spaces they have to work with. Start with your existing kitchen layout, hopefully your architect has already drawn it. This is your starting point. Why? Because when you moved into this home you adapted to the kitchen you inherited when you bought this home. If you’ve spent any time working and living in it you know, if you’re asked the right questions, what works for you and what doesn’t, because you know this kitchen intimately from your own experience of living and working in it. Make a list of your kitchen’s performance benefits and performance problems, esthetically and functionally. Now you know what benefits you want to keep and what performance problems you have that need to be resolved, fixed, or eliminated, to deliver the perfect kitchen solution for you. If you do this thoroughly you now know what your new kitchen has to have and deliver in performance in order to be your perfect kitchen solution. This is your destination. The way you get from your existing kitchen to your perfect kitchen is exhaustive space planning. You do this by rearranging the appliances you want with the cabinetry that serves those appliances, to fill in the gaps between appliances. And you have produced every possible new kitchen layout, combination of appliances and cabinetry, for you to compare and consider. That keeps the performance benefits and resolves, fixes, or eliminates your kitchen’s performance problems. Do not except being shown two or three similar options and asked to pick one. This may be how you got into the situation you find yourself in. The only way to eliminate your doubt and uncertainty about your new kitchen project is to see and experience every possible new kitchen layout. This makes complete sense but almost no one does this type of exhaustive space planning. I don’t understand why because it always works in providing the best possible solutions. You should get to see at least 5 very different new kitchen layout possibilities but as many as 10, 15, or more to directly compare and analyze. You can see examples of what I mean by following this link. https://www.kitchendesignco.com/layout-laboratory/ So you can, by the process of elimination, consider all of your new kitchen options. And decide for yourself which unique layout will produce the perfect kitchen for you and the space you have to work with, to use as the foundation to build your new kitchen on. Once you have your perfect plan the rest (interior elevations and perspective drawings) is easy to produce. But the best part in doing this, this way, is you realize peace of mind that you doing this right. And will actually get what you really want and expect your new kitchen project to deliver. Your new, different, better, easier, more satisfying life you currently don’t have access to in your current kitchen. Hope this has been helpful. Joe Brandao Kitchen Design Company

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Reply to: Love my Rachiele sinks!! We bought two of them. I wanted polished stainless, but the owner Dino convinced me to get the Rustic Matte finish which doesn’t show scratches as much, and you can buff out scratches with steel wool. You can place the drain anywhere you want - I didn’t want my drain in the center. The sizes are completely customizable - height, width, depth. I’m not sure about the corners, but ours aren’t hard to clean out. He also makes sinks without the ledge if you don’t want to use accessories with it, but I love the ledge in mine. The second pic below shows how scratched it gets after 8 months of heavy use. We haven’t tried buffing out the scratches because they don’t bother me too much. I think if you click on each picture you can get a better view.

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