Silestone Countertops

Don talks about the advantages to using Silestone Countertops.

Illustrated Cabinetmaking

Featuring each piece in highly-detailed, exploded drawings and applying time-honored dimension and ergonomic standards, this comprehensive visual sourcebook takes the guesswork out of furniture joinery, assembly, dimension, and style. Woodworkers of any skill level will benefit from more than 1,300 crisp and detailed drawings that explain classic solutions to age-old problems, such as hanging a drawer, attaching a tabletop, and pegging a mortise. Covering hundreds of pieces of furniture, including kitchen cabinets, dining tables, desks, bookcases, and chests, readers will unlock the mysteries of legs, moldings, separate braces, and dozens of other subassemblies.

Available at Amazon.com.

From Cabinets to Countertops – Creating a Kitchen on a Budget

It is the busiest room in the house and often needs the most improvement: the kitchen. A remodeled kitchen increases the value of the home and makes it more enjoyable to cook, live and dine in. However, many homeowners are left wondering how to create the culinary oasis of their dreams on a budget.

“Just about everyone has cost concerns when it comes to remodeling. Very few people have unlimited budgets, so doing research on various options will go a long way to stretching your dollars,” says Connie Edwards, certified kitchen and bathroom designer and director of design for Shenandoah Cabinetry. Edwards offers some valuable tips for controlling costs when remodeling the kitchen.

* Do as much of the work yourself as you can. Wallpaper removal, light demolition, and cleaning up after subcontractors require hard work as opposed to skill; there is no point in paying skilled contractors to clean up.

* Buy stock cabinets. Instead of having cabinets custom-made, find a line of stock cabinets that you like. Shenandoah Cabinetry, sold exclusively at Lowe’s, is a stock cabinet manufacturer that offers a wide range of premium construction features and accessories at a value price.

* Use alternative materials instead of costly marble or stone. Laminate countertops and vinyl flooring create rich-looking surfaces on a modest budget. When choosing faucets, brushed and polished chrome is vastly less expensive than more exotic finishes, and basic white fixtures are budget friendly and won’t look dated in a decade.

* “Wow” the island. The island is the first thing that people notice when they walk into the kitchen, so keep the main cabinets simple and put the emphasis on the island. Make the island pop by increasing the thickness of the countertop, using a premium finish or glaze on just the island cabinetry, or illuminating the island with inexpensive but attractive pendant lights.

* Work within your existing space. Annexing space from an adjacent room or removing a wall can be costly, so add storage and organization features to new cabinets to utilize space you already have. Many of these accessories are now factory installed, such as those offered in Shenandoah’s OrganizationOptions program, making things simpler for the consumer and easier on their wallet.

* Use moderately priced items in an interesting way. Small splurges in small spaces like a glass tile backsplash behind the oven range will spruce up the kitchen and is the best use of your dollars.

* Consult a design professional. A design professional can help you avoid costly mistakes and ensure the job is done efficiently.

Visit your local Lowe’s and talk to a kitchen design specialist about the options that are available to fit your lifestyle and your budget. For more information and to view an assortment of kitchen design ideas, visit www.ShenandoahCabinetry.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Kitchen Color Trends and Tips for 2008

Every homeowner knows that the kitchen is the perfect place to please the palate. But it can also be the perfect place to add character with the color palette. When remodeling the hub of your home, choosing the right colors is an important part of the decision making process. But how do you choose colors that are compatible with your space and your taste?

Connie Edwards, CKD, CBD and director of design for American Woodmark, offers some helpful tips for guiding your color choices to banish kitchen boredom.

Cabinetry Color vs. Wall Color

Painting your kitchen walls is an easy way to add color and personality to your space. Soft blue wall paints, which are calming and easy to live with, are also versatile as they work well with both light and dark cabinetry. The color can balance cabinetry with a darker finish, such as cherry spice, or accent cabinetry with a lighter finish like maple butterscotch.

Go Bold

If you prefer the colors in your home to be trendy, consider using dramatic hues to brighten up your kitchen walls. “Bold, ethnic colors such as red and gold, the colors of China, are expected to gain interest because of the upcoming Olympics, while botanical greens are strong partly because of the environmental movement,” says Edwards. If you are not quite ready to make such a bold commitment, buy a small container of paint and test it on an inconspicuous area of the wall to see how it works with your kitchen and your style.

Mixing Finishes and Countertops: How to Avoid a Color Trap

Another simple solution for taking a kitchen from drab to dazzling is to mix cabinetry finishes and/or countertop colors. Mixing finishes and countertops is a surefire way to avoid the common color mistake of matching everything. When everything in a room is the same color, it becomes either too intense or too bland.

To avoid this color trap, choose two finishes that balance one another. Combining a maple cream or natural maple finish on the main cabinetry with a cherry chocolate finish on the island adds depth and pulls the entire room together. Or, keep the finish the same on both and use contrasting countertops for the main kitchen and the island to achieve the same balance.

For another fool-proof solution, black countertops combined with white or cream cabinetry create a timeless look. The black and white trend has made a big comeback in the last year.

It’s the Little Things that Make a Big Difference

If you do not want to transform your entire kitchen into a colorful oasis, but still want to show off your style, a little bit can go a long way:

* Incorporate a backsplash in a patterned, multi-colored, or even metallic tile to easily add personality without committing to a full-on color renovation.

* Include glass front cabinetry, such as an open or mullion frame door, to create a dramatic backdrop for your vibrant glassware.

* For a quick and easy color pick-me-up, change your cabinet hardware; add colorful art prints; or invest in some bright appliances such as a toaster, food processor or mixer.

While a lot of thought and consideration should be put into the color choices of your kitchen, it does not have to be an overwhelming process. Once you know what style suits your kitchen color needs, head to your local Home Depot and speak with a design professional about how to add a kick of color to your kitchen. For other great kitchen design ideas, including cabinetry styles and finishes, visit www.woodmark-homedepot.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Craving Concrete Countertops? You Can Do it Yourself

Do you love the look of concrete countertops, which is the hottest trend in kitchen and bath design, but the cost of professional installation puts them beyond your budget, and you’re not sure if you’re up to the task of doing it yourself? Don’t despair. With planning, practice and a new crop of DIY-friendly materials, you can install your own concrete countertops.

“Concrete countertops are absolutely a do-able DIY project,” says Fu-Tung Cheng of CHENG Concrete, a top concrete designer. “In fact, you don’t even need a power tool.”

Concrete countertops are cropping up in high-end kitchens across the country. Designers love the beauty and warm profile of concrete. Consumers savor the durability and customization. The materials needed to make concrete countertops are relatively inexpensive compared with other high-end countertops like granite or natural stone. Until recently, however, labor costs of professional installation made concrete one of the most expensive types of countertops.

“Homeowners can really add to the beauty of their homes by designing and installing concrete countertops,” says Shawn King of Sakrete, a leading manufacturer of concrete mixes and masonry products since 1936. “Sakrete’s 5000 Plus eliminates many of the problems contractors have typically encountered when installing these countertops, such as cracking, warping and shrinking.”

As with any home improvement project undertaking, be sure to educate yourself before getting started. Here’s a primer on the basics you should know about concrete countertops:

1. Concrete countertops can either be poured in place, right on top of cabinets or cast elsewhere and then installed on the cabinets. With either method, the first step is to start with a sturdy frame into which the concrete is poured – the concrete form.

Start out by measuring your space to determine the size and shape of the form. To construct the form, many experts recommend a coated particle board that will not stick to the concrete after it has cured. Openings for sinks, faucets, cook tops, etc. may be required. This is accomplished by placing smaller, appropriately-sized molds to create voids for these fixtures or hardware.

2. Once the form is completed, it’s time to mix and pour the concrete. Common problems include getting the mixture just right, and cracks that develop as the concrete cures. Using a pre-mixed, consistent blend of concrete will yield the same visual results as more complicated mixtures, with the added benefit of less risk for errors. Sakrete 5000 Plus mixed with CHENG Pro-Formula concrete additive, virtually eliminates cracks, chipping and unevenness – both as the concrete cures and when it’s done, and only requires the addition of water.

3. To further enhance the strength of a custom countertop, reinforcing materials such as diamond lath or reinforcing rod can be used. Then, pour the concrete over the materials. This will further reduce cracking during curing and result in a stronger finished product.

4. Finishing is the final step, and a critical one; the ease of working with Sakrete 5000 Plus and the consistency of the mix simplifies this job. The skill used to tamp, screed and trowel to the finished appearance is the big pay-off.

5. Countertops should cure for at least 48 hours before removing the form. As with any job using concrete, the more slowly the water evaporates from the concrete, the stronger the finished product will be.

Finally, if you need more incentive to install a concrete countertop consider this: whether you hire a contractor or do-it-yourself, countertops are a “green” project. By installing your own countertop, you conserve the energy consumption and pollution associated with mass producing and shipping manufactured countertops. Also, you can boast a unique, one-of-a-kind product in your home.

To learn more about do-it-yourself concrete countertops and Sakrete 5000 Plus, visit www.sakrete.com or www.concreteexchange.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

How to Clean a Granite Countertop

With the proper care, your granite or marble countertop will stay new-looking for years. Stone is one of the easiest surfaces to maintain. And granite, being 7 on the Mohs hardness scale of 1 to 10, is virtually unscratchable. (A stainless steel knife blade is a 6 on the scale.)

The Seven Deadly Sins of Kitchen Design

Getting a new kitchen may seem like heaven, but if you commit some common kitchen-planning sins, you may spend your remodeling project in you-know-where.

Kitchen designers may be trained to help customers avoid mistakes, but they all have war stories of being brought into projects only after big problems arise. What are the kitchen-planning gaffes they see most often?

1. “Appliance Fever”-- This commonly occurs when clients insist on having a 72-inch Viking range in an 8- by 10-foot kitchen. They may have six burners, but nowhere to store a pan. This problem can usually be fixed by choosing appliance options like double oven ranges, dishwashers that are incorporated into the sink, counter-depth refrigerators, and even under-the-counter refrigerators. A kitchen’s cabinet space can be planned down to the square inch, as well, with products like Decora’s “superpantry,” which unfolds like a Swiss army knife to reveal layers of shelving.

2. “Door Smack Syndrome”-- Have you ever been in a kitchen where you’ve been working at the counter, only to get banged by someone trying to get into the pantry or coming in from an outside door? Consternations such as planning a dishwasher beside a corner sink, or placing the range right in a narrow walk throughway, can be corrected by allowing at least 3 feet of elbow room on either side of each primary work area, and putting key appliances in protected areas.

3. “Embellishment Mania” -- Corbels, columns, and decorative molding make a kitchen distinctive . . . unless you’ve overdone it. “I was in a kitchen recently that literally had fluted columns between every cabinet,” says award-winning Decora kitchen designer Neal Luck, owner of NHL Kitchen Designs in Long Beach, Calif. “Not only was it gaudy to look at, but they wasted a staggering amount of space.”

“Columns and corbels should only be used at the end of a run of cabinets, or to offset a major design piece, like an island or a farmhouse sink,” he says. “The same principle should be applied to molding. It can run around the top of the cabinets, or offset an important design feature.”

4. “Habitual Code Breaking” -- A surprising number of people plan kitchens with dangerous building code violations that can be very costly to fix. Common mistakes include poor or nonexistent venting above the cooktop, building cabinets less than 12 inches from the cooktop, using non-tempered glass in cabinets that require them and putting too many appliances on one circuit.

5. “Cabinet-Induced Claustrophobia” -- “It never fails to surprise me when I walk into an open kitchen, and a client has put upper cabinets over the top of an open counter,” says award-winning Decora cabinets designer, Tracy Foslein of Home Valu Interiors in Bloomington, Minn. “People are spending thousands of dollars to knock down the walls between their kitchens and dining areas, and they’ve just hemmed themselves in.”

“If you really need the storage space, it’s better to use Decora’s ACCESSories line to get more storage space out of your lower cabinets. Over the years, you won’t enjoy peeking underneath the cabinets all the time to talk to your family,” she adds.

6. “Wood Matching Disorder” -- Few things make customers crazier than trying to pick a wood for their cabinets, especially when they are trying to make an exact match with the furniture or the flooring.

“In a million years, you’ll never get an exact match, and you wouldn’t want to,” says Luck. “Having that much of an exact wood shade can be very tiring on the eyes. Instead, plan your kitchen cabinets to be two to three shades lighter or darker than the wood tone you’re trying to match. It will coordinate, without being too ‘matchy-matchy.’ ”

7. “Investment Dysfunction” -- Is your kitchen really ugly, or just not working for you, yet you refuse to admit it? “I see clients come in all the time who just hate their cabinets, and have a poor kitchen layout, yet they think they can fix all that by getting a new granite countertop,” Foslein says. “Or even worse, they’ve already ripped out the cabinets and only want to spend half what it would take to do the job properly. When you’re planning your kitchen, remember, it pays to get a good, well-made cabinet. They’re the one thing you can’t remove, and you can’t fix so easily later.”

For more information on kitchen design, and to see a gallery of “Design with Decora” contest winners, visit www.decoracabinets.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Make Sealing Your Kitchen and Bath Less of a Hassle

Hopefully you don’t notice it, but it can be found in everyone’s kitchen and bathroom. Problems and headaches for homeowners arise when it does become noticeable. Unsightly or missing caulk around the bathroom shower, tub, kitchen sink or countertop not only looks bad, but the real problems arise after years of water damage and neglect.

For homeowners with an active family and busy household, there isn’t really a “good” time to think about resealing tubs, showers, sinks and countertops. Traditional sealants require at least 24 hours to dry before water exposure, leaving bathrooms and kitchens unusable for at least that long and creating problems for the 53 percent of American homes with one or one and a half bathrooms.

Because most homeowners do not have the luxury of waiting 24 hours before using their tubs, showers, sinks and counters, they simply overlook this simple and inexpensive home maintenance project. Unfortunately, this can turn a small maintenance task into a major repair project.

The good news is, new technology such as Polyseamseal EST Speed Seal can cut the drying time significantly. The new fast-dry silicone system creates a durable, flexible and watertight seal that will withstand water contact only two hours after application, allowing you to shower in two hours, which is 12 times faster than traditional sealants.

The primary reason to recaulk is to create a watertight seal. Caulk is the sealant between a fixture and the wall that keeps water from penetrating behind the fixture and, in time, causing water damage or mold. Because bathroom and kitchen fixtures are used daily, the caulking between the fixture and the wall or countertop can crack or pull loose from constant water contact.

Caulking in the bathroom or kitchen is not only a necessary periodic home maintenance task, but it also needs to be done properly to prevent leakage or mold. When there is room for the water to seep into the opening, it damages the joint and the surrounding wall or underlayment. You may have seen stains on the ceiling under an upstairs bathroom – bad caulking, which allowed for water leakage behind the fixture, is one of the major causes of this issue.

Visually inspect, at least twice a month, the edge around the tub, shower door frame, shower handles/spigots, stall base, floor joint, toilet and sink – water most often enters through these vulnerable locations. If any of the caulking around these areas is cracked, shrunken, missing or moldy, it’s time to recaulk. Additionally, any holes or openings in shower walls should be attended to with caulk immediately.

Another reason to recaulk is to give an old tub, shower, sink or other fixture a fresh look. This is an inexpensive project that can give your bathroom or kitchen a major facelift. Old or severely discolored caulking should be completely removed and the area properly cleaned and dried before new caulk is applied. By caulking over soap scum, mold or mildew, discolorations can bleed through the caulk and, in time, the caulk will peel away from the surface.

Knowing how, when and why to recaulk can help busy homeowners quickly and easily update the seal around bathroom and kitchen fixtures. The key is to keep a well-maintained, clean and tight seal around water-prone areas to prevent big repair bills down the road.

For more information on caulking the kitchen and bathroom, or for product information, visit www.polyseamseal.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Cabinet Fixes

Don shows you how to perfom some simple fixes to common problems that you might have with some of the cabinets around your house.

Cleaning Your Cabinets

Don goes over a technique that you can use to properly clean your wood cabinets.

Marble Countertops

Marble countertops look beautiful in any style kitchen or bathroom. To help you make the most of your money, AsktheDecorator.com host Meghan Carter visits Vermont Marble Museum to discover how to select the right marble countertops for you and how to protect them for staining.

How to Install a Kitchen Faucet

AsktheBuilder.com host Tim Carter demonstrates how to install a kitchen faucet. Putting in your own kitchen faucet isn't as hard as you think. This video walks you through hooking up the waterlines and a veggie sprayer.

Install Kitchen Countertop Lighting

Brighten up dark countertop spaces with an under-cabinet light fixture. Watch how to install a light fixture and hide the cords.

The Seven Deadly Sins of Kitchen Design

Getting a new kitchen may seem like heaven, but if you commit some common kitchen-planning sins, you may spend your remodeling project in you-know-where.

Kitchen designers may be trained to help customers avoid mistakes, but they all have war stories of being brought into projects only after big problems arise. What are the kitchen-planning gaffes they see most often?


1. “Appliance Fever”-- This commonly occurs when clients insist on having a 72-inch Viking range in an 8- by 10-foot kitchen. They may have six burners, but nowhere to store a pan. This problem can usually be fixed by choosing appliance options like double oven ranges, dishwashers that are incorporated into the sink, counter-depth refrigerators, and even under-the-counter refrigerators. A kitchen’s cabinet space can be planned down to the square inch, as well, with products like Decora’s “superpantry,” which unfolds like a Swiss army knife to reveal layers of shelving.


2. “Door Smack Syndrome”-- Have you ever been in a kitchen where you’ve been working at the counter, only to get banged by someone trying to get into the pantry or coming in from an outside door? Consternations such as planning a dishwasher beside a corner sink, or placing the range right in a narrow walk throughway, can be corrected by allowing at least 3 feet of elbow room on either side of each primary work area, and putting key appliances in protected areas.


3. “Embellishment Mania” -- Corbels, columns, and decorative molding make a kitchen distinctive . . . unless you’ve overdone it. “I was in a kitchen recently that literally had fluted columns between every cabinet,” says award-winning Decora kitchen designer Neal Luck, owner of NHL Kitchen Designs in Long Beach, Calif. “Not only was it gaudy to look at, but they wasted a staggering amount of space.”

“Columns and corbels should only be used at the end of a run of cabinets, or to offset a major design piece, like an island or a farmhouse sink,” he says. “The same principle should be applied to molding. It can run around the top of the cabinets, or offset an important design feature.”


4. “Habitual Code Breaking” -- A surprising number of people plan kitchens with dangerous building code violations that can be very costly to fix. Common mistakes include poor or nonexistent venting above the cooktop, building cabinets less than 12 inches from the cooktop, using non-tempered glass in cabinets that require them and putting too many appliances on one circuit.


5. “Cabinet-Induced Claustrophobia” -- “It never fails to surprise me when I walk into an open kitchen, and a client has put upper cabinets over the top of an open counter,” says award-winning Decora cabinets designer, Tracy Foslein of Home Valu Interiors in Bloomington, Minn. “People are spending thousands of dollars to knock down the walls between their kitchens and dining areas, and they’ve just hemmed themselves in.”

“If you really need the storage space, it’s better to use Decora’s ACCESSories line to get more storage space out of your lower cabinets. Over the years, you won’t enjoy peeking underneath the cabinets all the time to talk to your family,” she adds.


6. “Wood Matching Disorder” -- Few things make customers crazier than trying to pick a wood for their cabinets, especially when they are trying to make an exact match with the furniture or the flooring.

“In a million years, you’ll never get an exact match, and you wouldn’t want to,” says Luck. “Having that much of an exact wood shade can be very tiring on the eyes. Instead, plan your kitchen cabinets to be two to three shades lighter or darker than the wood tone you’re trying to match. It will coordinate, without being too ‘matchy-matchy.’ ”


7. “Investment Dysfunction” -- Is your kitchen really ugly, or just not working for you, yet you refuse to admit it? “I see clients come in all the time who just hate their cabinets, and have a poor kitchen layout, yet they think they can fix all that by getting a new granite countertop,” Foslein says. “Or even worse, they’ve already ripped out the cabinets and only want to spend half what it would take to do the job properly. When you’re planning your kitchen, remember, it pays to get a good, well-made cabinet. They’re the one thing you can’t remove, and you can’t fix so easily later.”


For more information on kitchen design, and to see a gallery of “Design with Decora” contest winners, visit http://www.decoracabinets.com/.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Fix a Loose Kitchen Cabinet Door

Learn some simple hinge adjustment techniques to fix loose kitchen or bathroom cabinet doors.

Painting Kitchen Cabinets

Painting kitchen cabinets is an inexpensive way to make your kitchen cabinets look like new. Tim Carter from AsktheBuilder.com shares some tips for kitchen cabinet refinishing to save you frustration and give you professional results.

Choosing a Kitchen Sink

Don walks you through what to consider when shopping for a new kitchen sink.

Building Kitchen Cabinets

Building instead of buying cabinets means not only cost savings but also better materials and a truly custom kitchen. This book shows anyone how to build a complete set of kitchen cabinets. Professional cabinetmaker Udo Schmidt covers the entire process, from preparing materials and selecting the right tools to finishing and installing hardware. 350 color photos and black-and-white illustrations are included.

Available at Amazon.com.

Concrete Countertops: Design, Form, and Finishes for the New Kitchen and Bath

At first, the idea of using concrete for kitchen countertops has the same appeal as using cardboard boxes for cabinetry or dining on the floor. Naysayers are in for a surprise as architect Cheng elevates this pedestrian building material to a new level, using it to create beautiful and functional countertops. They are a far cry from rough sidewalks, having polished surfaces that can be colored or have interesting objects cast into them. Cheng shows the entire process: design considerations, mold-making, concrete selection, installation, and maintenance, all using straightforward instructions supplemented by excellent illustrations. Showing an innovative use of a common and inexpensive material, this title should be part of comprehensive public library home improvement collections.

Available at Amazon.com.

Building Concrete Countertops

A step by step guide to fabricating beautiful concrete countertops by hand.