Kitchen Trends 2010 (NKBA)

Design trends ebb and flow. The popularity of kitchen styles isn't subject to sudden, dynamic shifts, so when the National Kitchen and Bath Association reveals the results of its annual Design Trend Survey we designers don't expect to fall off of our swivel chairs in amazement. But we do pay attention.

Fieldstone Cabinetry featuring Shaker doorstyle inset into traditional face-frame. Hardwood floors and dishwasher drawers are riding a wave of popularity also. 

This is a national survey of Kitchen Designers, so allowance has to be made for regional tastes. What most appeals to folks on the East Coast often differs from what is desired in the Pacific Northwest. Architectural styles vary from one place to another. Vacation homes may require a different aesthetic appropriate to their settings.

Overall trends are useful to track, if only to reassure timid homeowners that the choices they favor will maintain value for the foreseeable future. Here are some of the NKBA's expectations for 2010:

Traditional cabinetry styles will continue to be most popular;  Contemporary style will be a close second.

Shaker is making a strong resurgence in popularity.

Cherry is the most favored wood species;  next is Maple;  Alder is trending upward on the list.

Medium to Dark stains and glazes are prevailing over lighter, natural finishes.

White and Off-White shades are still the major fave in painted cabinetry. Aside from beige and brown tones, other colors are on the decline, as are distressed finishes.

Hardwood is, more than ever, the lead flooring choice, followed by ceramic, porcelain and natural stone tile.

Granite is still in highest favor for countertops, but (and this excites me enough to do a happy spin in my swivel chair!) quartz is expected to "nearly catch up" in popularity. Backsplashes will mostly be adorned in tile, including ceramic, porcelain and glass.

Cambria Quartz countertops with a glass tile backsplash. Medium stain on cabinetry.

See what national trends the NKBA survey predicts for faucets and appliances in Part 2. Then I will report on how the Pacific Northwest is trending by comparison.

We just wrapped up a Give-Away Contest for a $65 gift certificate to All Modern.

Now to reveal the lucky winner ...

By the way thanks for all your entries...

Also by the way, glad you enjoyed visiting the All Modern website. Isn't it great?!

Oh, right, and the winner, by random integer selection, is...

Alycia Wicker

CONGRATULATIONS!

Alycia is an Interior Designer from Eastvale CA. Visit her cool site Casa Moxie here.

All Modern Give-Away

As I mentioned the other day, I'd like a new citrus zester. It's not that I can't get by without one. I can and I have. I just feel more competent with good tools.

How would you like to win some new kitchen stuff for free?! Here's your chance.

All Modern is a colossal and cool online resource, part of the vast CSN network of stores. The website is arranged by room spaces. In their Kitchen section you'll find an emphasis on form and function; the Alessi product line features modern designers from Phillipe Starck to Michael Graves. Check out their Dining Room section for linens by DwellStudio and dinnerware from iittala and Working Class Studio.

All Modern wants to give one lucky High Desert Home Companion reader a $65 shopping spree! Be sure to enter by midnight on Sunday, Jan. 31. The winner will be announced Monday, February 1st, 2010. Here's how to enter (Each option gains you another entry):

*Visit the All Modern site and window shop a little then post a comment below, telling me about an item or two that you like.
* And/Or, become a fan of Cocina Designs on Facebook here.
*And/Or, Twitter about this contest, including a link to the site.

Have fun, but don't forget to come back and leave a comment here!

Giada and The Case of The Contraband Oranges

I confess that sometimes while cooking I imagine myself a winsome celebrity chef like Giada De Laurentiis. Skillfully I prepare Capellini Piedmontese while impressed onlookers take notes and smile appreciatively. My charismatic alter-ego vanishes, however, as I rummage ungracefully through drawers for the right whisk, peeler or pastry brush to put to task. So it seems that until I invest in a few stylish kitchen gadgets or some new Rachel Ray Cookware, the celebrity chef gig is kind of on hold.

Last month I was preparing Savory & Sweet Spiced Walnuts to give as Christmas gifts. The recipe called for orange zest and my blessed husband made a special trip to the store for the two navel oranges I required. I don’t own one of those slick zesting tools, but I managed well enough with my all-purpose grater. When I was through assaulting them, the oranges looked, well, sort of forlorn (I will hereafter refer to them as for-lor-anges) but I slipped them each into a plastic baggy for later snacking.

While packing a cooler the next day for a family trip to California, I grabbed those disfigured forloranges thinking one of us might enjoy them on the road. Just past the Oregon-California border on Highway 97 is a sometimes-mandatory Agricultural Checkpoint that is notorious to my children. It was here that a full, two-pound, clamshell box of juicy Costco cherries was surrendered last summer. The kids have not yet extended grace to the officers who took those cherries and in fact, they are convinced that the officers confiscate fruit randomly, according to their own personal cravings.


So this time, as our car approached the official in the khaki uniform, three voices from the backseat pleaded “No! Don’t tell them we have fruit! They’ll take it!” My husband politely greeted the female officer who, of course, asked if we were carrying any fruit with us. Hubby turned to me for the answer. “Bananas, apples and, um, oranges,” said I, seizing the opportunity to model honesty isn’t always convenient for the children.

“May I see the oranges?” asked the officer. From the cooler I hesitantly produced one of those pitiful forloranges in its plastic sandwich bag. She looked as surprised as if I’d handed her a dirty diaper but she inspected it dutifully.

Awkward silence. I said, “I zested it.”

“Hmm. Well, there’s still a little bit of skin on it,” she said as she pointed to the orange splotches left by my not-nearly-as-professional-as-Giada zesting technique. “We’re concerned about oranges; but without the skin, well, I don’t know...” For what seemed like a long minute she appeared dumbfounded but never dropped her professional demeanor. “Does the other one look like this?” she finally asked.

Upon learning that it did, the befuddled produce officer, with the apparently unprecedented case before her, decided we could keep them but with the following mandate: “Be sure to eat them soon”. As if that settled the matter. I persuaded my son to eat one right away, but the other forlorange flew under the radar all the way to Central California and I still feel some guilt about that.

I’m not sure there's a moral to this story, but I know this: I'd like a new zester. And if you too could use some newer kitchen gadgetry, be sure to stop back on Thursday when I will announce a FABULOUS GIVE-AWAY! You won’t want to miss it! Oh, one more thing: always eat your cherries before you get to the Ag stop! They take their work very seriously there.