Thursday, October 7, 2010

My Address is Changing

Hi -- Please note my new blog address.  You can now find me at http://blog.osbornewood.com/besttaste where I will continue my observations on quality and good taste.  Thanks, Tim

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Trends -- A Great Kitchen Design


Another of my favorite sources for discerning trends is VERANDA magazine.  The October issue is so full of trends and ideas that I have had a difficult time settling on just one.  It would be worth getting a copy of this issue just to read the World of Vanities article.  This is a great review of the best current designs for bathroom vanity sink cabinets.  But the pictures I keep going back to are the pictures from the Wood-Mode cabinetry ad on page twenty-one.  This shows a nice alternative to the stripped-bare aesthetic for twenty-first century kitchens, and it really reflects my personal taste to perfection.
  Somewhere between the polar extremes of a kitchen that looks like a rococo ballroom and a space that resembles a moonscape must lie a place that is at once comfortable, inviting and clearly of our own time.  I think the room in this ad does this perfectly.  It follows the current trend in avoiding overly integrated cabinetwork by presenting a combination of finished wood contrasted with painted wood.  The tall cabinet on the center of the back wall has the essence of a Louis XIII armoire as seen through the eyes of the twenty-first century.  The glass fronted cabinet doors make reference to Directoire styling.  The exaggerated chamfered corners on the island are reinforced with clean, straight legs that finish on inverted tapers.  I am particularly fascinated with the thoughtful introduction of the breakfast nook into this kitchen.  The nook – a 1920s innovation that has been sadly overlooked for the past three or four decades – is a really attractive way to incorporate informal dining adjacent to a working kitchen without having a negative impact on the work flow.  It is a tucked-in space – and in this design the nook itself is set off with a really attractive wood arch that is supported by clean corbels on the left and right.
I am also intrigued with the use of the demilune console with the very smart looking tapered legs; the coloration ties it into the cabinet work and trim but the shape is unexpected and provides relief and contrast from the abundance of linear shapes.  All of this resting on a wide plank light wood floor that is NOT using a high luster finish really combines to create an ideal kitchen for 2010.