Down On The Farm

Ah, the farm sink....a beautiful adaptation to what must have been on a farm back in the day. Whereas most sinks are undermounted or hidden under granite, this sink is pronounced and in your face.

Have a look...

Big tip: If you want one of these, you must plan it early. The design of this sink impacts cabinets....But this is a really unique (and expensive starting at $1,000) sink.

More Sinks

As we have posted before, more people have stopped installing double sinks like so:

But people have opted for single sinks for bigger pots and pans. It is hard, however, to find a single sink within the most common 30 inch sink base.

Until now....The M30. This is the largest sink within those dimensions. At 17 gauge (the amount of nickel within the sink), it is a better composition than the standard 18 gauge sink.

Whats to a Sink?

I love sinks. There dont leak and require little service. A few posts ago, I posted about my mothers rusty sink, and thought today would be a good chance to review.

Couple of Points:

Undermounts: The sink is mounted under the solid surface. I like this adaptation. It looks better and its seamless design is easier to clean.

Apron Front: Basically a sink finished in the front.

Gauge: My mothers sink is rusty, beacuse it is an inferior gauge. Gauge refers to the amount of nickel within the sink itself. 18 gauge is considered good, with lower numbers being better. This is the Franke Orca, which is a 18 gauge.

My Favorites:

The Majestic M30 is the largest sink that fits within the standard 30 inch cabinet.

Majestic A: Nice look for under $1000

Kitchen Of The Year...Part 2

Welcome to Monday

Part 2 of our renovation of the House Beautiful "Kitchen of The Year" (video below). In part 1, we specified the best. In part 2, we deliver a very nice kitchen on budget.

Have a Look:

Refrigeration
House Beautiful: JennAir JB36NXRW
Yale Beautiful: Bosch B22CS30

Ok, its a side by side...but the Bosch B22 is attractive, counter depth and stainless. At $1700+ after rebates, this unit is around 5-6,000 cheaper than the JennAir.

Wall Oven
House Beautiful: JennAir JJW2830
Yale Beautiful: Bosch HBL3550

Bosch does not have gadgets, just stainless steel and convection. At $2300, it is also $3,000 cheaper than HB.

Cooktop:
House Beautiful: JennAir JED3536
Yale Beautiful: Frigidaire FPCC3085

Lets see, ours is 2 burner induction...Theirs is not. Our vent is easier to clean and way more powerful.

Sinks:
House Beautiful: No idea
Yale Beautiful: Majestic M24 and Franke NAX110

Simple, popular D-shape sinks...If I had to guess, you would save probably $3,000-5,000 between this and the HB.

Lights:
House Beautiful: German import
Yale Beautiful: Tech Lighting canopy with your choice of pendants...

I have been thinking about this one all weekend. Ok, part of the weekend. Look at the canopy and combine it with any pendant to customize your own light.

House Beautiful video



Well, we are at least $15-20,000 less expensive than House Beautiful.

What do you think?

Kitchen of The Year Part 1

At the bottom is the video for House Beautifuls "Kitchen of the Year" which is being shown outside Rockefeller Square.

How about a nice long post on how to do this differently?

Appliances...

Refrigerator:
House Beautiful: JennAir JDB36NXFXRW
Yale Beautiful: SubZero Bi-36

The House Beautiful (HB) is a one-compressor bottom mount. The Yale choice has two compressors and vacuum seal for evenness of temperature. SubZero also has an air scrubber, which scrubs the air keeping food fresher for a longer period of time. It is available in stainless or panelized as shown

Wall Oven:
House Beautiful: JennAir JJW2830
Yale Beautiful: Miele MasterChef

Both have computers, but the Miele has multiple, advanced settings for almost every food imaginable, and is very simple to use.

Cooktop:
House Beautiful: JennAir JED3536
Yale Beautiful: Thermador(or any induction cooktop) with a componentary downdraft unit

This is no contest. JennAir is a radiant with downdraft in the unit. We employ induction technology(faster, less heat retention, child safe, etc) with a more powerful and separate downdraft unit...You can almost pick any induction. I like the Thermador or Bosch with the powerful burner in the middle.

Sink:
House beautiful: No idea
Yale Beautiful: Majestic M33, M2433

Have to admit the island one with the flushing system was cool. Ok very cool, but spend your money elsewher. Island sinks are for veggies, etc...You dont need a flusher. Majestic is big, square with a 17 gauge and cheap.

Decorative Lighting:
House beautiful: The German thing you can not buy in the US
Yale Beautiful: Holtkotter

Kind of torn between a whimsical shaded light and an adjustable LED light...so why not both? BTW, ours are German as well, only you can buy them...here

Overall, the Yale Beautiful has a better, more functional set of appliances, sinks and lighting. Yet it is also more expensive.



How did we do?

Part 2, we will do it again only for way less money.

Everything...About The Kitchen Sink

My folks have a small guest house...In said house, there is a sink, fridge, etc., but the sink has rusted.

I never heard of a rusty sink, but then again only certain types of sinks actually rust. Buy a sink rated 18 gauge or less, and it will never happen to you. Sinks with high levels of nickel (indicated by a low gauge) do not rust.

We typically sell sinks 17 gauge or better than the standard...

5 Renovation Musts

Following are a few compulsory ideas for your project...in no particular order.

Shallow Depth Refrigerator: does not protrude into the kitchen, and looks way better than a standard depth(which can stick out 8 inches beyond the cabinet).

Undermount Sink: Easier to clean, but an undermount accentuates the countertop, because it is hidden.

Pendants: Colorful, personal and unique.

Matching handles: Then again, maybe its just noticeable to me.

Smaller Recessed Lights: Recessed is available in 3-6 inches. On a normal ceiling 4-5 inch is adequate. Larger recessed just detracts from the ceiling and the overall look of the kitchen.

One Sink is Better Than Two

I don't post much about plumbing, but it's an integral part of our store. It's also easy to buy. You buy a sink based on gauge, which is the nickel content composition within the sink. Lower is better, and the minimum should be 18...

The next requirements are a bit more obvious....Depth (deeper will hold bigger pans) and width. Sinks will match the base cabinets of 24, 30, 33 and 38 inches.

10 years ago, this sink was extremely popular...





I never understood the reason. Dividing a sink in this way is inefficient for washing bigger pots. It was popular, probably because the manufacturers didn't market a large single. Franke was the first, but at $1200 it wasn't exactly a bargain.
Now you can buy these styles under $600...

Have a look:

The Kitchen Sink

Sinks are fairly innocuous. They stay under your cabinet...catch and dispose water. Before you buy a cheap one, understand that replacing a sink involves re-plumbing faucets, disposers and possibly the dishwasher.

Couple of easy solutions:

1. Sizing: Sinks, like appliances, follow cabinets. Cabinet sizes are predominantly 25,33 and 38 inches. Sinks are 22, 30 and 36 inches.

2. Gauge: Refers to the amount of nickel in the sink. 18 Gauge is considered decent, but there is more nickel in a 17 gauge product. More nickel means a more scratch resistant sink.

3. Shape: Never understood the double bowl, big single bowls have become more popular.

Have a look at some new 17 gauge sinks...

Dishwashers and Blanco Sinks

Congratulations, you bought a quiet dishwasher. So quiet in fact, it is noiseless.

So when does it shut off?

Electrolux and Bosch has solved this eternal riddle with a LED light when the cycle ends.



As of last week, we are selling the Blanco line of sinks. Blancos specialty is larger single sinks, and onsumers seem to be purchasing these sinks instead of doubles. Bigger pots are perhaps the reason, but larger singles seem to be a better utilization of space (in my opinion). Either way, you can now choose Blanco or Franke.

Marthas Vineyard...Final

Following is the last of the Vineyard pics from last week. For newcomers, I spent the weekend at a friend/business associates house. He is in the granite business, and we trade granite for appliances..With the tremendous amount of granite at Yale, it buys a ton of appliances...as I discovered.

Lets look at the kitchen.



Consists of a Wolf 48 inch professional oven, 2 Bosch integrated dishwashers, 2 Shaw sinks with Perrin and Rowe faucets(ouch), Visual Comfort pendants and 2 SubZeros. We settled on a smaller 30 inch SubZero and placed a set of refrigerator drawers in the island...

And the rest of this appliance laden domicile (time to order more granite.)



This is actually a great house 2 minutes off the ferry in Vineyard Haven.

The Kitchen Sink

Haven't blogged about sinks in a bit. About 15 years ago, the major trend in sinks was under mounting or placing the sink under the counter without a seam. Although sinks still follow cabinet sizes(25,33,38), the new trend is larger single bowls to accommodate the large dishes.

When buying a sink, check the gauge or amount of nickel in the product. This is usually demarcated by a number, 18 is decent and 16 is the best. Finish and undercoating are also important as well as the depth. Franke, Perrin & Rowe, Shaw and KWC are decent brands available at Yale, but so is Blanco and Elkay, which are not.

Have a look at a few:

Post Number 401

The Yale Blog is actually 400 posts old as of yesterday. I have tried to start tagging each post(except this one), so you can access your interests quicker. Unfortunately, I have to tag the older posts....which I have not done. You can still do an old fashioned search


Thank you for reading and thank you to Shawn and Pat, who provide the pictures, slideshows and surveys....

Dream Kitchen

If you ever visualized a dream kitchen, this picture would probably be in your mind. This kitchen is the work of Erika Mcpherson Powell from Urban Grace Interiors of Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.







This is a beautiful application of appliances,lighting and plumbing. You are looking at 2 SubZero 650 36 inch bottom freezers with glass fronts. We have a Wolf dual fuel range with professional hood. Look at the baffle filters in the hood. It allows smoke and grease to be vented faster than regular charcoal. The dishwasher is the integrated double drawer from Fisher-Paykel. You are looking right at the piece in the lower right hand side.


I really love the utilzation of plumbing in this kitchen. Erika places 2 farm sinks back to back from Shaw with matching Rohl faucets. I like this combination, because farm sinks are supposedly traditional yet they are remarkable in a modern kitchen. Look at the potfiller on the wall. When her client wants to fill a lobster pot or pasta bowl, the spigot is right at point of use.

Very nicely done, great utilzation of many design elements traditional, comtemporary, professional and integrated, Erika is at www.urbangrace.com

Snow Day

We are off today due to inclement weather. Hard to believe since it was such a stellar weekend and last week the weather was 70 degrees. With Shawn absent, it seems like a good time for a little recalibration

For new people to the blog, this rather pallid post is a reminder of our mission to simplify a rather important purchase of appliances and lighting. We do respond to requests and will actually have an advice column on our web starting in February

Tomorrow, we will be posting and describing a state of the art kitchen, which will hopefully and most certianly offset this dismal offering

Detergents and Other Cleaning Powders

Late start today: Our internet connection was down and Shawn is not here. We have 3 requests for discussion on cleaning agents for dishwashers and laundry. I went to Shaws yesterday and was astounded with the lack of suitable products for these new machines. We sell the Persil from Europe(which I love and use), but I realize that shopping at Yale for detergents is not top of the mind.

A few Pointers:


Washers: Has to be HE or high energy on the box. Only a few tablespoons is needed






Dishwashers: Water does not condensate on stainless steel interiors, so you need Jet-Dry or Sidol. Dishes will be drier and you can shut off the heated dry option on your dishwasher to save energy






Fabric Softner: Most front loaders spin at 1000-1600 RPM. For comparason, top loaders spin at 400, so clothes can become wrinkled. Certain types of softners work act as wrinkle releasers. We sell Vernel from Europe, but others are available






If anyone would like sample of Vernel, Persil or Sidol, send me an email. We will have pictures tomorrow

Ventilation

Shawn is not around until 12, so the plan is to explain ventilation/ducting this morning and show a few new Franke hoods later. Hoods have become important especially with the BTU increases in cooktops. You do not want your house smelling like the last item you cooked.

Venting a hood is certainly preferable than a non vented application, because you now exhaust the heat to the exterior.

The best ways to vent to the outside are: vertical (or straight up) then horizontal or straight back. Venting becomes less effective when you bend it or you vent beyond 10-15 feet

Facebook, Towels And The Energy Tip of The Day

I truly adore Facebook, and encourage everyone to join up. Sure roll your eyes but its good fun and surprisingly informative. You can review books, music, travel and throw a sheep at your friends. I feel so young yet so hip. Try it. Send me an email if you need help.

So Shawn sent me a Green award, and I threw a potted plant at him in return(virtually of course). Because Facebook allows outside applications, they have cool edits. This one was on Green specifically critiques on your lifestyle and ways to improve your footprint.

They asked about towels...and I started thinking about towels. Paper towels and cotton towels, what if I stopped using paper towels in bathrooms and reused my towels after I showered. Well, I would use less paper, and less drying time which would lessen my footprint.

Some of these posts may sound a little earthy crunchy, but it is not an inconvenience. Most of these tips save money and require no real effort. If the 150 or so people reading this could convince 10 people, it would be a good start

New Sinks And Faucets

Appliances are amongst the most important products in your home from a resale perspective. But lets face it: 80% of the buying public is purchasing either stainless steel or integrated(panels) kitchens.



The real intriguing stuff to buy is lighting and plumbing. Lets look at some new products, so your house does not look like your neighbors.



Rohl Faucet reminds me of the retro Chicago faucets that are popular...Except Rohl can actually ship it. The sink is a KBX Franke. It is squared and cleaner than regular undermounts





Manor House faucet by Rohl has a nice traditional style to it





Franke stainless farm sink: Lets just pretend that farm sinks which are popular in traditional kitchens were never actually manufactured in stainless.





99% of undermounts are stainless. Now you can try porcelain





Farm sinks are a boomerang trend. They seem to be popular and then disappear for no conceivable reason. Then again, they do have to be planned in the kitchen much earlier





Nice faucet....You will be the envy of your basic pull out faucet buying neighbors

The Chain Bridge in Budapest

Shawn is a little behind in the last 2 posts, so lets look at some bad vacation pictures. The Chain Bridge in Budapest is famous in Europe. It connects the Buda and Pest sections of the city and offers breathtaking view of Capitol Hill...Fantastic.

But what kind of bulb do they use? This next shot can only be from someone as truly as unbalanced as myself as it is a PL bulb. There has to be at least 500 of these on this bridge at a savings of 30,000 watts