gourmet kitchen design

Gourmet Kitchen Design Styles

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gourmet kitchen design

Gourmet kitchens can make cooking meals feel luxurious.

The kitchen is a home within your home, especially if you’re a chef. But even if you’re not earning a living cooking memorable meals for others, a gourmet kitchen can transform your ordinary culinary cave into a luxurious lair. Here’s what you can expect when opting to go gourmet when designing your kitchen.

Since there are many moving parts to a gourmet kitchen, it’s important that you carefully consider every detail when designing its layout. Remember, every inch of your kitchen space matters. Although kitchen peninsulas were popular in the past, many people today are choosing to design their gourmet kitchen with an island. A kitchen island layout opens your kitchen space and makes it feel bigger.

Appliances in a Gourmet Kitchen

Of course, the most important tool in your kitchen is the range top. That’s why you should invest in a range that’ll meet your demands – forget the cheap models. When purchasing your range top, remember that bigger is better. Although 36 inches wide is the minimum standard, there are 48-inch and 60-inch models that make a big difference when maneuvering around your cooking surface. Don’t forget to choose a range hood that exhausts at least 600 cubic feet per minute to help with ventilation.

If you want to transform your kitchen and show off your culinary skills, consider a gourmet kitchen design. It’ll add life to a living space that has a hand in fueling yours.

HarrisWoodFloors

Manufacturer Spotlight: Harris Wood Floors

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Beautiful, economic, and eco-friendly flooring.

When choosing an ideal product, consumers tend to weigh options and make selections based on factors such as product quality or reliability, and company reputation. Harris Wood Floors, the distinguished flooring manufacturer,
makes it very simple to understand why their products are unparalleled through seven distinguishing features:

Aesthetically Pleasing: Aesthetics is the name of the game in interior decoration, and it’s evident from their product profiles that Harris produces indisputably beautiful flooring. From hickory wood to cork, Harris offers beautiful flooring choices fit for any interior style.

Environmentally Friendly: Harris harvests all of its flooring from sustained forests and proves to do so without generating toxic waste. Their products are entirely biodegradable and capable of refinishing, which reduces the need for replacement flooring.

Hypo-allergenic: Harris produces hypo-allergenic products by implementing authentic wood materials and avoiding adhesives with the potential to cause harmful reactions.

Low maintenance: With FinishLoc, a revolutionary finishing product, worrying about damaging your flooring is a thing of the past. Harris Wood Floors utilizes the latest finishing technology, ensuring their products resist scuffs, repel stains, and maintain their gloss for years.

Easy to install: Harris has made the bulk of laying down wood and cork floors extremely simple. Through a repeated pattern of grooves and notches, installing a Harris product is as easy as completing a jigsaw puzzle.

Economical: Quality doesn’t always necessitate costliness. Even though Harris Wood Floors are unparalleled in their quality, many of their options are priced affordably. Hesitant buyers can rest at night knowing Harris offers warranties for products, too.

Made in the USA since 1898: If longevity and trustworthiness are characteristics you value in a company, consider that Harris Wood Floors has been in service for well over a century. And, what’s more, Harris manufactures its products right here in the US!

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Schluter ® Kerdi Board Floors Go Great in Any Bathroom

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A substrate that can replace materials like fiberboard, green board, and Dura rock.

Are you thinking of renovating your bathroom? Bathrooms can provide unique tiling challenges because the substrate needs to be flat, waterproof, and not cause the tile to rest above any adjoining surfaces. Often, during construction or renovation in wet areas, the surface to be tiled is completely unacceptable for tiling. Luckily, Schluter Systems has created Kerdi-Board.

Kerdi-Board is a substrate that can replace materials like fiberboard, green board, and Dura rock on shower walls and bathroom floors. Paired with our tile and mortar solutions, you have a complete, waterproof bathroom solution that is beautiful and functional.

Kerdi-Board is comprised of a lightweight polystyrene foam interior, with fleece webbing on either side to ensure tight bonding to any surface. Additionally, the surface has convenient gridlines for precise tile alignment and cutting. Speaking of cutting, Kerdi-Board can be chopped and shaped easily with a utility knife, no need for big, messy saws.

Kerdi-Board can also be used as a building material to create free-standing structures that will be covered with tile. It is easy to move around and the boards are completely waterproof, temperature resistant, and anti-microbial. Kerdi-board comes in a number of thicknesses, in order to meet your needs for adjoining surfaces. Choose Schluter Kerdi-Board for your next bathroom renovation project.

Schluter has provided innovative stone and ceramic tile installation solutions for over 40 years. What began as a simple tile installation company has since grown to an international firm with over 40 product lines and a reputation unmatched in the industry.

This post was written by Thais Sousa. Follow Thais on Google.

Vinyl-living

Hot Flooring Trends for 2014

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Flooring trends are increasingly more diverse, exciting and, innovative than ever before.

Renovating or installing new floors can completely change the look of your home and the way you feel about it.  2014 trends not only promise stylish new selections, but also promise super durable flooring every bit as attractive as they are practical.  Here’s just a sampler of the hottest flooring trends for 2014

Bamboo

When it comes to wood floors, bamboo is shaking things up! Though technically a fast-growing grass, bamboo is just as tough as traditional hardwood and to boot, bamboo floors are offered in wide-plank styles that make it virtually impossible to tell the two apart.

Cork

Defying tradition and bringing entirely new dimensions of comfort, Cork is the latest and among the most exciting new eruptions in flooring trends.  Much more comfortable than hardwood and tile, cork is now available in limitless colors and is more durable than ever.  Another growing trend is to go green and make your floors from recycled or reclaimed materials.  The Vintage Barrel Collection, for example, is entirely made up of reclaimed-wood from old white-oak wine barrels and is every bit as beautiful as you’d think.

Vinyl

Another trend climbing the charts is Vinyl flooring.  Increasingly popular and among the top choices for durable and vibrant floor designs well-suited to traditionally damage-prone spaces such as bathrooms and kitchens, vinyl is more resilient and varied than ever and is available in a wide range of colors, textures and patterns.  Best of all, Vinyl’s true value is its impeccable ability to imitate first-rate products such as hardwood and even tumbled marble, giving you just the look you want at a fraction of the price.

New Frontiers

As homeowners wishing to up their home’s chic factor look to 2014, flooring trends are increasingly more diverse, exciting and innovative than ever before.  From vinyl to bamboo to cork to cut-and-loop carpeting, 2014 trends promise a parade of environmentally friendly, highly fashionable and amazingly cost-effective flooring options.  Whichever style you choose, it’s sure to make walking around your home a joy and is sure to wow all your guests.

This post was written by Thais Sousa. Follow Thais on Google.

Ceramic flooring

Get to Know Your Flooring Series: Ceramic Tile

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Ceramic Flooring

Highly durable and practical, ceramic tile can also add value to your home.

Ceramic tile is among the most popular decorative products available and when it comes to flooring, nothing enhances the look of a home like a sleek, new tile floor!  Ceramic tile doesn’t just have the potential to make your home dynamic and striking; it is highly durable, practical and adds value to your home.

While size, style, color and patterns are important details to consider, there is more to tile than meets the eye.  Whether tiling your entire home or just a single room, there are a few critical things to consider before choosing your tile.  All tiles are not created equal and the key to telling the difference is reading the labels.

Each type of tile has a specific use, and which one you choose depends entirely on the way in which you will use it; this is referred to as the grade.  The grade determines whether the tile is fit for heavy duty use such as commercial floors, residential homes or wall décor.  When choosing ceramic tiles for your floors, be sure to use only tiles graded one or two.

Another important detail to note is the water-absorption rate or W.A. of your tiles.  Pay particular attention to the W.A. rating if you’re using tiles for outdoor projects or when choosing tiling for higher-traffic, moisture-prone rooms such as bathrooms and kitchens.

Wear rating is also very important as you’ll want your tile to be tough and last a very long time.  The wear rating of a tile is known as PEI and will be rated between I and V.  A rating of III or IV is good enough for residential use while tiles with a rating of V are better suited for heavy-duty commercial use.

Other things to consider are the frost, tone and slip resistance of your tile.  The frost will determine whether your outdoor tile will bode well in often changing weather patterns; while the tone determines the natural, stone-like look of the tile.  Slip resistance or C.O.F. (a given tile’s coefficient of friction) is important as well; a higher C.O.F generally means a safer floor.

Paying attention to these particulars will ensure that your ceramic tile floors are not just awesome to look at, but they are exactly what you wish them to be: perfect.

This post was written by Thais Sousa. Follow Thais on Google.

bathroom-renovation

How Often Should You Update the Flooring in Your Home?

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Having elegant, long-lasting quality flooring does not have to break the bank.

When it comes to renovations, nothing spruces up a home quite like a shiny, new floor.  But how long will it last?  How often should you update the flooring in your home?  Well that’s simply a matter of floor and budget.  While high quality flooring may last a lifetime, many homeowners looking to give their floors a facelift feel it’s beyond their reach as traditional high quality flooring is often significantly expensive.  But having elegant, long-lasting quality flooring does not in fact have to break the bank.  With the right type of flooring, not only can your floors reflect your personality, they can be elegant and chic without compromising practicality and with proper care can last upwards of 30 years.

A Floor for Every Home

How often you update your floors will depend entirely on your home’s flooring, but most floors can use a touch up every 10 years, on average.  That said, not all floors are created equal.  Older, more traditional flooring such as genuine stone, hardwood, ceramic or other natural materials are among the most expensive options available as these can virtually last forever and each one carries a unique aesthetic with the potential to transform any space into a dream home.  But bear in mind that the rarer your floors, the more difficult and expensive the replacement.

Which Floor are You?

Top quality Hardwood flooring, for example, is among the most expensive and most popular; it can also last a lifetime.  However, hardwood requires regular weather-proofing and upkeep, which means an update every 7-10 years.  Ceramic tile, on the other hand is extremely durable and it requires minimal maintenance while installation can be laborious and expensive.

Laminate flooring is among the most cost-effective selections available although, unlike more the traditional flooring schemes it requires full replacement with greater frequency.  Nonetheless, laminate flooring can be just as captivating as traditional flooring and with proper maintenance you will be in no hurry to update your floors for at least 15 years.  Quality laminate flooring can be as beautiful and robust as the day you installed it for as long as 30 years, which ultimately means more bang for your buck!

This post was written by Thais Sousa. Follow Thais on Google.

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Monthly Manufacturer Spotlight: Schluter® Systems

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Tested for quality, everything at Schluter® undergoes rigorous testing.

Schluter® Systems began as a simple tile installation company in 1966. However, due to the vision and innovation demonstrated by the company staff and leadership, Schluter® has grown into one of the premier ceramic and tile installation solution providers in the world. With over 40 product lines and numerous awards and accolades, Schluter® Systems has grown astonishingly since its modest beginnings.

Schluter’s® Systems first major innovation was the Schluter®-SCHIENE, a metal L-angle installed before the tile was put down that would protect the edge of the tile from chipping and also serve as a transition to other surfaces. In the nearly 40 years since that game-changer, Schluter Systems have become the largest and most consistently creative tile installation solution provider in the industry.

It does not matter if it is the Schluter®-SCHIENE or one of the company’s other profiles or systems, everything at Schluter® undergoes rigorous testing. By qualifying the products both in-house as well as in third-party laboratories, customers can be assured that each piece bearing the Schluter® name is of the utmost quality and will stand up to years of use and abuse.

Schluter’s® commitment to excellence is reflected in the company’s employees as well. Innovation and improvement are the watchwords at Schluter®. The company demonstrates this commitment by providing the time and opportunities for its employees to receive continuing education on new techniques and technologies in the industry. Additionally, Schluter® employees are encouraged to share information outside of the company, speaking at conferences and other events. This culture of creativity, innovation, and learning has been crucial to the company’s success since Werner Schluter® laid his first piece of tile.

This post was written by Thais Sousa. Follow Thais on Google.

Brazilian-smooth-peacan

Some Things to Consider When Updating Your Floors

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A flooring update can have significant impact on your home’s property value.

Updating your flooring isn’t just exciting; it will breathe new life into your home! But any type of home renovation, exciting as they may be, can come at high cost and cause considerable stress. When it comes to floor updates, carefully weighing your options and knowing what you want will ensure that your flooring update is a positive and satisfying experience. Here are just a few things to  consider when updating your floors.

Know what you want!

Flooring updates are among the most costly and impactful home renovations out there, so the first thing you’ll want to do is determine your flooring and your budget. Though new flooring doesn’t always have to break the bank, which flooring you choose certainly becomes a permanent fixture in your home and the choice will be with you for years. Additionally, a flooring update can have significant impact on your home’s property value so don’t hold back unless absolutely necessary. Remember, there’s no shame in being fussy and ensuring that you’re getting exactly what you want with your investment.

Split Personality

Another important flooring concern is the “sight line,” meaning an onlooker’s perspective or line of view from any position in the house. While some transitions are natural (from wood in the common room to tile in the kitchen, for example), having divergent materials can make the line of view seem cluttered and make the space seem small and uneven, so keep material changes to a minimum whenever possible. Well-thought-out flooring plans use synergetic materials and colors that wed and open the space in your home. Choosing your flooring materials wisely and carefully assessing what’s right for your home and what works with your budget will help you save time and avoid costly regrets.

This post was written by Thais Sousa. Follow Thais on Google.

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Schluter®-KERDI Waterproofing Systems

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KERDI offers a complete line of waterproofing products that ensure ultimate protection.

When it comes to protecting your shower from the damaging effects of water, Schluter®-KERDI Waterproofing systems offer only superior performance, delivering innovative, low-maintenance products that promise structural integrity over the long term.

The Schluter®-KERDI waterproofing membrane and Schluter®-KERDI -DRAIN form the principal foundation for the Schluter Shower System: a fully waterproof and vapor-tight enclosure that guarantees resistance to hydrostatic pressure in any above grade, shower application. The Schluter®-KERDI-DS is a bonded waterproofing membrane and vapor-retarder highly effective in continuous use steam rooms and similar applications. The KERDI-BAND can be used to seal corner joints, while KERDI-FLEX can be used to seal expansion joints or flexible edge joints.

The Schluter®-KERDI waterproof membrane has unmatched flexibility, seamlessly adapting for difficult-to-reach places, joints and thermal movement. KERDI effectively allows for the direct application of tile and meets the requirements of ANSI A118.10, offering superior protection for solid backing on walls while effectively retarding the penetration of water and moisture to keep your tiled showers, steam showers and bathtub surrounds fully functional and looking great.

KERDI offers a complete line of waterproofing products that ensure ultimate protection, including pre-formed sections for inside and outside corner applications, as well as pipe protrusions and mixing valve openings. With the Schluter®-KERDI waterproofing system you can count on a product that offers quick and safe installation while delivering superior quality and durability.

This post was written by Thais Sousa. Follow Thais on Google.

heated bathroom

Heated Flooring in Your Bathroom This Winter

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heated bathroom

There are two kinds of bathroom floor heating systems, electric radiant heat and Hydronic heating.

 

During winter months, it is almost impossible to escape the season’s chills. Bare feet on a cold bathroom floor are a rude awakening to each and every day. There is, however, an alternative. This year, consider adding heated flooring to your bathroom.

There are two kinds of bathroom floor heating systems. Electric radiant heat, which utilizes electricity and is ideal for single bathrooms; and Hydronic heating, which utilizes heated water through a system of tubes and is ideal for wiring an entire house. The use of these heating styles is ideal under tile, ceramic or porcelain floors, for they are strong conductors. Wood floors, however, are relatively inefficient because of their delayed heating time. Both styles require small wiring, meaning that the height of your bathroom’s flooring will not make a noticeable difference.

The advantages of heated flooring in your bathroom are plentiful. Many floors are hooked up to a wall thermostat—and believe it or not, the use of this floor may result in a decrease in your electric bill. Floors that are heated in the morning often stay warm throughout the day. This means you can cut down on your use of other thermostats without having to compromise your comfort. In addition, heated floors are a luxury that once you experience; you will not be able to live without. As a result, such flooring can come in handy when selling your home, for it may give your house the extra appeal to trump its competition. Keep warm this season—and every season after. Install heated flooring in your home’s bathroom.

This post was written by Thais Sousa. Follow Thais on Google.