The Buzz About the Archtiectural Digest Home Design Show 2011

As I came into the showroom this morning and the @$%&!!!  Sunday morning  time of 8:30am... I was immediately bombarded by the sound of saws...it's nearly show-time in NY,and it's getting exciting. The 2011 Architectural Digest Home Design Show begins this Thursday March 17th, auspiciously sharing it's debut with another New York favorite, Saint Patrick's Day...when the everyone becomes Irish for a day.

MCK+B will be back to show after a couple of years away, and the preparation for the arrival of our show displays is well under way. We will be showing a Rutt Contemporary Kitchen with fully automated doors and drawers, all on electronic touch censors, full of great ideas for the Baby Boomers and mindful of the latest in Aging in Place Technology. The appliances are supplied courtesy of Sub Zero/Wolf and the counter top is natural stone.

 My friend and colleague Susan Serra will be  debuting her own line of cabinetry called Bornholm Kitchen. A unique line of Scandinavian inspired cabinetry. Having heard so much about it I can say I am very excited to see and touch the material for the first time! I wish her the very best of luck.

And blowing into town with great excitement will be several members of the Blogger19, a diverse group of designers/writers/ advisers who travel, investigate, and blog about changes, innovations, and everything design/home related. Among us that I know of will be Andie Day, Paul Ananter, Susan Serra, Cheryl Kees Clendenon and Saxon Henry.



If you are in New York between the 17th-20th, make sure to stop in at Pier 94 at 55th Street and the West Side Highway to see the latest and greatest in design innovation. Nominal admission gain you access to the show for the entire four days and includes admission to the Artist Project -New York exhibit at Pier 92, and there will be events sponsored all weekend by manufacturers. MCK+B is proudly attending the DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS) event on opening night. Come join the fun and learn something new. For the industry there are designated portals for registering with free admission, please contact me if you are intrested and qualify.

Looking Forward to Designing in 2011

Happy New Year to all…2011 is off to an excellent start…we have seen a big surge in showroom traffic and several of the pre-new year project commitments have already been realized.

On January 6th Gales Steve’s noted speaker, author of Right-Sizing Your Home as well as other books, and expert on home organization and space utilization visited MCK+B and met with my colleague, Hany Gerges and me to discuss trends in kitchen design with a focus on aging in place technology. Researching the very relevant topic for her latest upcoming book, she chose MCK+B particularly to reacquaint herself with the product offerings from Rutt Cabinetry, a company we love for their quality and style, that Gale is familiar with and says she has turned to in the past for storage solutions.

We were happy to report to her that the change in the real estate market and subsequent drop in “flip renovating” has led to nicer better equipped kitchens that folks plan to live in long term. For us that equals more client input, and more requests for extras in the way of LED under cabinet lighting, Drawer inserts to pre-dedicate storage, and additional storage areas in the home that tie in to the kitchen such a wall units, desks, and mud room storage etc.

Specifically relating to aging place, we are seeing a commitment to full access storage, where every cabinet has a roll out function, or other purpose, and upper cabinets which are equipped with pull-down shelving, so nothing is lost. Additionally these kitchens will have function in their toe kicks space, everything from platter storage to the step ladder needed to retrieve anything that is beyond easy reach, or to clean taller cabinets and the kitchen window. If you are looking for more information on aging in place there are designers who specialize in it, some are certified, one knowledgeable person in our industry who is a  great resource, and a Certified Aging in Place Specialist or CAPS is Andie Day,  talented Interior Designer who runs her company out of Boston.

Our urban easy living attitude has again seen a further drop in use of granite and a rise in the use of quarts, particularly Caesarstone, counter surfaces. Clients asking for the differences are thrilled to learn of the anti-microbial properties of the Caesarstone, and the fact that it requires no sealing for the lifetime of the product.

The irony is that my best selling granite right now is a stone that looks more like marble; it seems everyone is willing to try something new these days. That said, our line of engineered veneers has captured a lion’s share of our contemporary slab business, everything from deepest Ebony, to Rift Cut White Oak, to Quartered Zebrano, to Ribbon Sappele, the natural color palette is intriguing and inviting at once. With the advantages of using material from managed forests, knowing that you are doing something that is natural, beautiful and Green it has been an easy choice for many.

We have added new displays for 2011 and I am thrilled for the public reaction I’ve been getting. We have one more new display going in this first quarter, and it promises to cause a lot of excitement!

House Beautiful Magazine Takes New York with "Warm Contemporary"

http://www.reflectart.com/m/_general/default.asp

      Today in Rockefeller Center House Beautiful Magazine opens its third annual "Kitchen of the Year" to the public; and yesterday I was among a fortunate few to preview the handiwork of Jeff Lewis, this year's guest designer and star of Bravo TV's "Flipping Out" and his talented team. Supported by powerhouses in the industry such as Masco, Kravet and Mohawk they have brought to life design possibilities that will have small town USA putting away their raised panel door ideas and going slab!

     The kitchen sits perched above the Rockefeller Centers famous Sea Grill and is flooded with light under a glass ceiling. It's very "New York" in its styling; with strict use of clean lines and decisive finishes...there wasn't an ogee edge or a glaze hang up in sight!

     This was such a pleasure to see, since 4 out of 5 city kitchens we do at Manhattan Center for Kitchen & Bath  are contemporary. Repeatedly we heard yesterday from the representatives of House Beautiful that the magazine will be spotlighting more of what they referred to as "warm contemporary" in upcoming issues, a new bold direction for a magazine that has mass appeal in areas of the country that are known for being very traditional. Their commitment was obvious in this years show kitchen.

     The Quarter Sawn Cherry Slab door from Kraftmaid in their deeply rich Peppercorn finish offers a strong look not too dissimilar from the Dark Ebony and finely grained Wenge we feature in our showroom in Manhattan. The Caesarstone "Pure White" countertop with waterfall legs is a rich beautiful compliment and in strong contrast to the dark wood cabinetry. Quartz surface is the highest rated for lasting beauty and function in a kitchen. We find at MCKB that our clients request Caesarstone by name and are often somewhat educated on the benefits of the product before coming in to begin the design process; additionally New Yorkers seem to prefer the design palette offered for its quiet earthen toned colors over any other surface, including granite. In addition to showing many samples from the standard Caesarstone line, MCKB has just become an exclusive Concetto showroom, displaying this unique highly distinctive Caesarstone product which can be seen on display backlit for increased aesthetic effect.

     Other highly notable contributors to the show kitchen include Mohawk Industries, with their Reclaimed Elm 5" Plank  Floor in the "Zanzibar" finish, this material provided a beautiful stage for the kitchen in addition to being a "Green" material, also highly notable and a favorite design element for me personally was the peninsula created from reclaimed wood from the old Vanderbilt family estate polo pony stables. The wood was incredibly grained and worn with a deep cognac color and supported by a stunning chrome pedestal, the combined design effort of Jeff Soderbergh and Jeff Lewis. Right down to the Kohler Karbon Faucet, it is hard to find fault in all this functional beauty, and I feel confident that it's "New York" chic style makes it worth the trip. Visit and be inspired by the designers and contributors whose blod ideas are brought to life, and perhaps you will find yourself ready begin the remodeling process!

     Don't miss the opportunity to tour the House beautiful Kitchen of the Year and view some of the  demos they will be running each day this week, and remember Friday when the curtain comes down, the kitchen will be converted into "Bar 30" and run by the Sea Grill.

Thanks for the tour!

Some Photography courtesy of House Beautiful Magazine.