Monday, January 31, 2011

Field Trip!

Last Friday, my Sustainability and Materials class took a field trip to a kitchen/bath showroom in the Seattle Design Center.  It was so fun! This is my kind of field trip (:  Here we learned about kitchens, their materials and some fun little extras.  Here are some pictures from the showroom.

Beautiful white cabinetry with honed granite countertops:


We learned that granite is one of the most sturdy and durable countertops {along with the other natural stones; quartz, limestone, and marble}.  Honed granite has a tendency to show water marks more, but I happen to love the simplicity of it.  The difference from regular granite is only that it doesn't have the shiny seal on the top.

Here's the stove/oven area:

Looks pretty and kind of ordinary, but wait!

It's functional, too!  The pillars on either side of the range pull out, hiding away spices and small bottles.
Genius, right?!

Here's the refrigerator covered in panels to camouflage it:


These side pillars pull out also.  It makes for easily accessible storage:


The man giving us the tour also mentioned these pull out pillars are useful in a media room on either side of the TV/media center to house DVD's.  Love it!

Here's another kitchen:


These countertops are made of cement and recycled glass bottles.  It comes in this darker tone, or a white finish with white, clear and blue bottles as an accent.  {I prefer the white one, but we didn't have a sample of that}

Kind of cool, right?

I loved this sink area.  The marble countertops are beautiful:

Although my sustainability class is tedious and definitely on the technical side of design, I'm learning a lot of helpful tips.  I'll spare you the boring fire codes I learned and give you a few random and helpful things I've learned:

* Marble is really fragile.  The lighter parts of marble are stronger than the darker veins. This is why the installation cost is so high with marble. 
* Wall hung sinks are great for universal design, because whether you're in a wheel chair or you're standing, everyone can use them!
* Pull out drawers are much preferred over lower level cabinets in kitchens.  It's hard to find things in cabinets because little things get lost behind bigger things.  With a drawer, you can pull it out the whole way and see everything you've got!
* Vinyl flooring is super toxic! {My teacher really pushed this on us.  I would never put it in any room, but it's still good to know!}

And just for fun, here's some elements I would want in my dream kitchen:

These ceilings:

with this sink {oh wait, make that two sinks!}

Some awesome built-ins:

And some white subway tile with medium toned grout:

Viola!  My dream kitchen.  What's yours?

I'm sharing this post with the lovely Amanda at:
 Weekend Bloggy Reading
Love and Kitchens,

31 comments

  1. I would have loved that field trip!! I love learning through you, sweet friend!! The pull out pieces in that model kitchen almost made me tear up. We greatly lack space in our kitchen and I'd just about die to have all of that storage!!

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  2. What a fun trip! Of course I love the second photo with the pure white cabinets and I especially love the photo of the kitchen with the massive fireplace. Dreamy!!

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  3. WHAT A GREAT TRIP!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this post. I love kitchens. I think a great kitchen sets the mood for the house. I love all the storage elements that were included too! Thanks so much for sharing! :)

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  4. What a fun field trip! You are making me want to enroll in interior design school! I used to be a sales rep for a quartz company so I called on kitchen and bath showrooms all the time and it was so fun to see all the new designs. Had no idea about vinyl floor, thanks for sharing! Happy Monday Michaela!

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  5. talk about my dream field trip. SO FUN. I love these posts and all of the tips. Seriously. It will all come in so handy when we buy our future home. xx

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  6. This would have been a fun field trip to join in on, and yes, vinyl...ugh. Wish it would just go away!
    Janell

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  7. Drool! You are speaking my language girl. I was a kitchen and bath designer for about seven years, and can just stare at kitchen pics for hours!

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  8. ummm, WOW! What awesome kitchens! I LOVE that recycled glass bottle countertop! How cool?!

    And LOVE LOVE those 2 white sinks in your 'dream kitchen'! :)

    ~Lauren
    tickledonline.blogspot.com

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  9. Wow, those kitchens are beautiful! I am so jealous of you... your classes sound amazing! I really wish I had gone into interior design. The countertops with the broken glass in them is so neat! I've never seen anything like it. Keep the great inspiration coming :)

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  10. Ok so you know a heck of a lot more about this stuff than me, especially after that awesome field trim. I'm contemplating the grout color for the white subway tiles in our shower.... The darker grout scares me! But whtie is supposed to be hard to clean. Compromise with light gray? Thoughts???

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  11. New follower from ~Mommy's Moments~ you can follow me back at http://www.avonbykaren.blogspot.com
    I do reviews/giveaways of all kinds of products ... hope you can stop by ;.)

    Karen

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  12. i love interior design! stop by and enter our giveaway!

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  13. I have a thing for white kitchens. It's a problem ;)

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  14. That is a dreamy field trip. And did somebody say, "two sinks." Yes, please.

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  15. What a wonderful field trip, and introduction to your blog! I love your dream kitchen, too-it looks just like mine! Looking forward to many more swoon-worthy home posts!

    xo, Lena

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  16. So my husband was looking over my shoulder as was reading this post and thinks the first kitchen is so practical and I like the look. So, now all we need is the money!

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  17. LOVE your blog! How inspiring!! :-) One of my best friends in the whole wide world is a student at SPU - Katty Rowenhorst... do you know her? Platinum Blonde?
    Thanks for finding my blog and commenting. You are too cute!

    I am following now & added you to my blogroll. Can't miss a post.

    Those pillars... wow! I love them!

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  18. I cannot get enough of those pillar pull-outs or that recycled glass counter! I just cannot wait to have a kitchen half as gorgeous of any of the ones you featured. Mine will definitely be white--with subtle blue touches. Hope your Monday was great! xoxo {av}

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  19. Following you from "I Love My Online Friends" blog hop! You can find me at http://thasuburbanhousewife.blogspot.com

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  20. Two sinks like that would be fantastic! New follower from the Love My Friends hop.

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  21. Oh how fun! Everything is just beautiful! I'm loving your dream kitchen :)

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  22. What a fabulous field trip! Beats the heck out of what I've been doing in class these past weeks :) I love those pillars that serve as storage. Amazing :)

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  23. Aww, I wanna be back in school… What a fun field trip! In one of my sustainability classes we went to the local waste/water treatment center. It was rather entertaining. Such great tips. Thanks girl!

    I really do love that cement and broken glass countertops! <3<3

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  24. your dream kitchen inspiration is lovely!!! i will always love white kitchen and i'm thrilled with mine - so happy we took on our kitchen reno a few years back.

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  25. Following you on Tuesday hop. I'm always amazed how many great blogs that I have yet to discover. Loveyour blog. Would love a follow back . laura

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  26. Those hidden storage options are awesome! How fun!

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  27. what a fab field trip! i LOVE your dream kitchen--the darker grout is fab~

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  28. Now that's my kind of field trip too!!! I would have loved to see the white cement countertop. I think I would have preferred that too. :) Love the little hidden details like the pull-outs. Very cool. My dream kitchen has lots of white cabinets with brushed nickel or chrome fixtures. Very traditional, with lots of built-ins, a big island, two ovens, and a walk-in pantry! :)

    Thanks so much for joining my Weekend Bloggy Reading party. :)

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Thank you for stopping by! If you have a specific question, please email me at hello@michaelanoelledesigns.com. I always reply to emails! Have a blessed day! xoxo

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