Merillat Masterpiece Fairlane in Maple Burnished Praline

If your family is like most, your kitchen is more than just another room. These days, life happens in the kitchen. The kitchen is the hub of your home, the center of all the day’s activities. And even if you have a showcase dining room, you may actually eat most meals in the kitchen.

With your family’s busy schedule, things tend to overlap. Cooking, homework, bill paying, small talk…it’s all going on across the kitchen counter or at the kitchen table. The eat-in kitchen is the new normal, and when renovating your space you need to design accordingly to make it as family friendly as possible.

To begin, put some thought into how you want your kitchen to function – your lifestyle will dictate the design.  Ask yourself what will help make your space operate efficiently and comfortably. Consider all of the ways in which you currently use your kitchen, where your children or other family members hang out, and then develop your solutions around these factors.

For example, how much seating do you need to accommodate your family members? What kinds of activities are performed in your kitchen? Do you do a lot of cooking? Do your kids like to help?  Who else spends time in your kitchen? Don’t forget to consider how your needs may change over the years.

Whether accommodating little ones, hungry teens, busy parents, seniors, or physically challenged persons in your space planning, there are many ways to create an environment that works for everyone.  Here are a few ideas to help you along the way:

• If small children are a consideration, install countertops with rounded corners to prevent painful bumps and bruises.
• Incorporate a lower height area of counter space that provides easier access for children – and also seniors or physically challenged family members.
• Choose cabinets with durable finishes that will take the bumps in stride.
• Consider cabinetry options like Merillat’s SoftAction™ drawers that help slow down the moving parts as excited kids open and shut them. Self-closing concealed door hinges help prevent pinching and keep doors from hanging open.
• To help keep things clean, choose higher gloss furniture finishes that are easy to wipe off. This concept applies to walls too: “the higher the sheen, the easier it will clean.” Satin or semigloss wall paints are going to be your best bet.
• Upholster chairs with washable fabrics or slipcovers for those eventual spills. Plan on replacing in five years or so.
• Make your kitchen warm and inviting with bright, cheerful paint colors and fabrics.
• Microwave ovens, foods and dishes can be positioned at a lower level where less reaching is required.  Installing our Masterpiece® base microwave cabinet is one great way to put that appliance within easy reach.
• Carve out a comfortable niche for homework, games and just hanging out. This might also be a great spot for bill paying or plugging in a laptop.
• For toddlers you might set aside a small area for their own little table and chairs to keep them occupied and within sight while you’re cooking.
• Varnished hardwood flooring (like maple) will stand up to the abuse of an active family. Linoleum and sealed cork are other good options.
• Make the seating area in your kitchen welcoming by providing plenty of room to spread out for the whole family.
• Hang a pendant lamp over your breakfast nook or table to make a focal point that provides task lighting.
• An island or peninsula is a great way to combine informal dining with ample storage space.  Or you might invest in a rolling island to increase storage and work space.
• With so many people coming and going, you might also consider an entryway area or “drop zone” for things like keys, mail, coats, backpacks and purses. Merillat offers a number of family-friendly accessories to help you customize your space, including drop zone and entryway ensembles.

Ultimately, what you’re striving to create is a space that everyone feels comfortable in and can easily utilize on a daily basis. These are just a few ideas to help get you there.  Have additional ideas you’d like to share? We’d love to hear them!

Merillat's Satellite Media Tour with Curtis Stone

You may have seen renowned chef Curtis Stone on your favorite morning TV news show earlier this month talking about the functional innovation of Merillat cabinetry.  The interviews took place at a studio in Los Angeles and were broadcast through satellite to news morning shows across the country in top markets like LA, Sacramento, Denver and San Antonio.

I was in the studio during the interviews and it was quite exciting!  We began the day at 3 a.m. PST (yes that is 3 a.m.!) with the first set of interviews airing in the east coast and we finished up at about 8 a.m. That’s after completing 25 TV and radio interviews that reached 8.9 million viewers! Be sure to check out our video summary of all interviews.

During the interviews, Curtis made a crab mozzarella salad, while demonstrating different functional features of the kitchen and discussed how these features can make life in the kitchen easier.  He highlighted great Merillat kitchen features such as the pull-out spice rack, cutting board kit, deep drawer peg divider, double base waste basket and recycle bin, and even SoftAction drawers. I mean, who better to illustrate kitchen functionality than a professional chef?

We’d love for you to share what makes life in your kitchen easier. Share your stories, tips or even recipes with our blog readers.

You can enter online at DannyLipford.com now until July 25, 2010, and have the opportunity to win a complete kitchen makeover including countertops, flooring, appliances and, of course, Merillat cabinets.

The contest theme is focused on, you guessed it, function.  Because we know with just a few Merillat storage accessories and some savvy design tips, a well-organized kitchen is easy to achieve.  So be sure to enter a photo of your non-functional kitchen and tell us why you deserve a new kitchen full of Merillat’s functional accessories.

The grand prize winner will be chosen based on a number of criteria including appropriateness to theme and creativity, and will be announced at the end of August.

And even if you aren’t the grand prize winner, stay tuned because we’ll keep you posted on the remodeling so you can learn how to make your own kitchen more functional.  Plus, the newly remodeled kitchen will be featured on a special episode of Today’s Homeowner.

So what are you waiting for?  Enter for a chance to win your dream Merillat kitchen at DannyLipford.com!

Merillat Classic Spring Valley in Oak Cider

As the hub of the home, the emphasis on design style in today’s kitchen is greater than ever before.  With so much of our time spent in the kitchen, it’s only natural that we’ve begun to gravitate toward cabinetry that looks like furniture, and appliances that are integrated into their surroundings or make a bold design statement of their own.

For those who can afford them, high-style, high-end appliances lend a wonderful aesthetic all their own to the kitchen. From professional six-burner gas stoves to glass-front refrigerators with architectural curves to retro-modern appliances in an array of crazy colors, there are a lot of great options from which to choose.

Integrated appliances are also an option for those who want a more customized look. An integrated appliance is one that has been custom built to fit your space instead of the more conventional method of building your kitchen to accommodate standard dimension appliances. But, this kind of customization doesn’t come cheap – not only is the appliance itself expensive, but maintenance and upkeep are also costly propositions.

Rest assured there are smaller scale and less costly design solutions available.  Several creative solutions for disguising or hiding away your conventional and small appliances are described below.

Merillat Masterpiece Wall Tambour Storage

Appliance Panel Kits

Camouflage paneling that matches your cabinetry is a great way to personalize appliances whose finishes don’t match your taste, or don’t match each other. It also creates a uniform look for your kitchen, creating continuous stretches of attractive surfaces and finishes around the room.

In this photo from the Merillat Classic Spring Valley collection, you can see how paneling helps the dishwasher fit right in with the room’s design. With matching wood species and finish, the paneling creates a consistent, continuous flow around the room. Ask your designer how to best incorporate appliance panel kits into your kitchen design.

Solutions for Small Appliances

When it comes to your smaller appliances, there are a number of ways in which you can keep them out of sight and help reduce clutter. For example, you can tuck a toaster in an appliance garage or a tambour cabinet with a roll-down door, keep a mixer on a shelf that lifts up and into the open when you need it, and keep a microwave on a sturdy, dedicated, integrated shelf. You can also use curtains, screens and other decorative devices to keep smaller items out of sight.  Explore Merillat’s extensive offering of small appliance and other space-saving accessories.

Quick Fixes

Don’t have the time or budget for changes to your appliances or cabinetry? Some simple yet innovative updates can help lend a unique, customized look to your appliances. For example you might elect to paint your appliances a color that complements the rest of your kitchen decor, or swap out standard hardware for custom hardware that better matches other elements in the room. Hardware can also be removed and painted to match other hardware finishes.

We hope you have been inspired by some of these quick ideas on how to create a more integrated kitchen look.  Do you have additional ideas on interesting ways of disguising kitchen appliances? Please share them with us!

Merillat's New Television Commercial with Curtis Stone

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our new national marketing campaign: The Dream Kitchen for the Real World. Why are we so excited?  Because, we’re determined to let homeowners know, “Merillat has the tools to help make prepping, cooking, entertaining and living in your kitchen easier!”

Through a variety of advertising and public relations efforts, this campaign shows homeowners firsthand how Merillat kitchens are highly functional, and jam-packed with a variety of smart storage solutions. Overall, Merillat can help turn your kitchen dream into a reality.

Tune in!

The campaign kicked-off July 1 with a national TV commercial that puts the “fun” in function and highlights what Merillat is all about — meaningful innovation and functional storage.  To illustrate this message, we’re partnering with renowned chef Curtis Stone. Who better to illustrate the importance of a well-designed kitchen than a professional chef!

The commercial will air for six months on select cable stations such as HGTV, Food Network, DIY and the Cooking Channel and during some of the networks’ most popular shows including House Hunters, Giada at Home, and Kitchen Impossible.

In addition to the TV commercial, you may be able to see Curtis Stone put a Merillat kitchen to the test LIVE on July 6. Curtis’ interviews will focus on tips to entertain and cook with ease, while pointing out Merillat’s great organizational features. Check out the air dates below to see if your favorite morning news show made the list:

• 6:10 CST KIMT-CBS – Mason City, IA
• 7:15 EST WMYA-MY NETWORK – Greenville, SC
• 7:20 EST WPMT-FOX – York, PA
• 7:40 EST WHAM-CW – Rochester, NY
• 6:15 MST KWGN-CW – Denver, CO
• 9:15 EST WTOL-CBS – Toledo, OH
• 8:20 CST WCIA-NBC – Springfield, IL
• 8:40 CST KABB-FOX – San Antonio, TX
• 7:45 PST KCRA-NBC – Sacramento, CA

Listen In!

In addition to TV, Curtis will be doing a number of radio interviews:

• 7:35 EST   WOBM-FM – OCEAN CITY, NJ
• 8:23 EST   USA RADIO NATIONAL
• 8:00 CST   KKVI-FM – DALLAS, TX
• 9:35 EST   WMZQ-AM BALTIMORE, MD

Stay tuned for more information on how Merillat can help make your kitchen dreams come true!

Watch our new TV commercial with Curtis Stone.

The New Merillat.com

I hope you’re enjoying Merillat’s new Web site! With a fresh look and innovative functionality, you’ll find it easier than ever to plan your dream kitchen.  New features allow you to gather info on your own or be guided through an intuitive process to help you hone in on your design, layout and product preferences before visiting a showroom.

We know the Web is often the place where homeowners search for information and inspiration. We want to help homeowners combine inspiration with smarter kitchen design decisions that fit their lifestyles so they get the kitchen of their dreams.

Inspiration for the changes to the site came from our Merillat customers themselves in a usability study conducted by Merillat. Through this research, we learned that our consumers wanted changes that would improve the overall selection process and user experience. Today’s Merillat.com site combines the best of these ideas with additional industry research and includes:

• Improved product navigation that allows you to search by color, making it oh so easy to find your perfect door style.
• A new style selection tool to help you find the design style that fits you best.
• A decorative enhancement tool that helps you visualize the difference small touches can make in a room.
• An inspiration gallery that showcases a number of design ideas and lets you explore unique features.
• New accessories allow for optimal organization and storage solutions.
• A new Ideafolio™ that allows you to transform your kitchen visions into 2D reality. With this tool, you can develop a floor plan and a design scheme that can be printed and shared.
• A new step by step planner is coming soon! This feature, available in late July 2010, will guide consumers through a customized planning process in order to help them find the most appropriate styles, products and features for their lifestyles.

Explore the new site at Merillat.com and let us know what you think!

Merillat Classic Somerton Hill in Cherry Amaretto with Java Glaze

You may have experienced a paradox in your kitchen: you have lots of cabinets, but when you bring something new home you don’t have anywhere to put it. No one wants to admit what’s staring them in the face whenever they open their kitchen cabinets – clutter.  It can slow you down and keep you from finding what you need. Some of us use our cabinets as a hiding place, shoving random items in without thinking about how we’ll find them again or what they may be blocking.

Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to get back on track.  Here are a few simple strategies to help you declutter, reorganize, and reclaim your kitchen.

Decluttering

Merillat Classic Under Sink Tote

Merillat Classic Base Corner Lazy Susan

Merillat Classic Base Drawer Partition Kit

Merillat Masterpiece Wall Spice Door Rack

The best way to tackle the problem, especially if you haven’t moved or renovated in a while, is to empty your cabinets and drawers, give them a thorough cleaning, and then restock them logically, based on what you really need and where you’ll use it.

The first step is to simply empty out your cabinets and drawers, spreading the contents out on your counters and table so you can see what you have. For safety, throw out any chipped dishes, rusted utensils, or scratched non-stick pans.  Also toss any storage containers or lids without mates.

Separate the items you seldom or never use and put them in a box for donation or storage. Items you use less often, but still have need of should be grouped together. Frequently used items make up the last grouping.

Remove your clutter “hot spots”.  Have a junk drawer? It’s time to clear it out and put that drawer to better use. Purge old paper work, expired coupons, that dried up bottle of glue, old batteries, and loose coins. Tools should be returned to their rightful places, and that pile of telephone books can be whittled down to just one or two. Set up a basket by the front door to catch unsorted mail.

As hard as it is, avoid the temptation to over decorate;  there are better areas within your home to display trinkets and artwork.

Lastly, go through your canned and boxed foods and tossed any expired items.  Put unexpired items that you don’t think you will use into a box for donation to your local food bank.

Reorganizing

Now that you’ve purged all of the extra “stuff” from your kitchen, it’s time to reorganize.  As you restock your cabinets, put on your chef’s hat and think about where you’ll use each item, starting with the pile of most frequently used items and then moving on to those less often used. Heavy items should go in lower cabinets in the vicinity of their most frequent use. For example, pots, pans and other cooking/baking equipment should go in lower cabinets near the stove. If you have room for a ceiling mounted pot rack near your cooking area, that’s another great solution that will clear out tons of space for other items in your cabinets.

Store plates, cups and other dinnerware close to your dishwasher for easier unloading. Silverware should be separated into a divider tray and place in a drawer close to your dining area or table. In general, like items should be stored together close to the area of their most frequent use. Also make a point of not overstuffing your drawers and cabinets or you’ll never be able to find anything in them.

Low on space? Mount under-counter racks for stemware or teacups. Paper towel holders, electric can openers, automatic coffee makers and even small televisions can also be mounted under cabinets to keep your countertops clear.

Small appliances that are not used daily should have a home in a pantry, appliance garage or similar location.

Spices used in cooking should be easily accessible from your main food prep area – Merillat offers some great accessories to help you get those spices organized.  In fact, Merillat offers a wide array of helpful accessories to help you organize every corner of your kitchen. Many of these accessories – including wire racks, drawer organizer trays, lazy susans, and spice drawer organizers – can be installed without replacing your current cabinets.

Maintaining Your Space

Now that your kitchen is put back together and your work flow is really FLOWING again, you’re going to want to take steps to keep it that way.  The most important factor in maintaining order is going to be keeping those countertops clear of accumulation by placing dirty dishes in the dishwasher and loose cooking / household items in their designated spaces.  Return small appliances to their storage locations when you’re finished with them. Everything that has been assigned a home – homework, keys, coats, laptops – should STAY there when not in use.

The second factor in maintaining your newly organized kitchen is a no-brainer: simple, daily tidying and cleaning.

• Disinfect food surfaces, wipe down your stove top, and spot sweep the floor nightly.
• Wipe down cabinet and drawer exteriors and wash floors weekly.
• Clean your oven and wipe down tops of cabinets monthly.

And there you have it! Complete these simple steps and you’re on your way to a clutter-free, easy flowing kitchen!

Have you recently reorganized your kitchen? What kind of crazy stuff did you find stashed in your drawers and cabinets?

Even in today’s economy, we continue to offer homeowners, builders, dealers and designers new and innovative products, such as our revolutionary water resistant sink base, CoreGuard^™ as well as 100,000 new product offerings.

We do this by following a series of steps through our Six Sigma efficiency process. This process allows us to develop new products and innovations in a structured and progressive way, which ensures that the products we are developing meet the standards that our customers and homeowners expect from Merillat.

Our philosophy of customer loyalty and constant improvement challenges us to continuously look for ways to create and develop innovative – and in some cases revolutionary – products that our customers need and want; all in an effort to give them more product options and make their kitchens more functional for their lifestyles.

We would love to hear your feedback and thoughts on what products you feel would be helpful to have in your kitchen!

Kitchen Work Triangle

In a small kitchen we know how hard it can be to keep things organized and flowing smoothly. It seems like stuff piles up everywhere, from the week’s worth of mail on the counter to your kids’ after-school clutter.  Combine this with existing storage and work flow issues and things can get out of hand quickly. Take heart; you don’t have to put up with daily clutter and limited storage space.  When planning a redesign, a few simple considerations can help make your kitchen a “clutter-free” zone and feel larger than it actually is.

Layout Options

The first thing to do when redesigning a small kitchen is to choose a layout that fits your space requirements and needs. Here are some options to consider:

L-Shaped Kitchen – This is the most popular design, appropriate for any size kitchen. The L-shaped kitchen is made up of two walls (or legs) and gives you the possibility of having a center island depending on your available space. In general, this design will have 2 or 3 appliances on one wall with the refrigerator typically at one end, the range or cooktop at the other end with the sink located in the middle. This shape of kitchen generally provides good traffic flow.

U-Shaped Kitchen – This design features three walls, with the sink usually located in the middle wall section. The refrigerator and range or cooktop are typically on the side walls opposite each other. The U-shaped kitchen design allows for ample countertop space and cabinetry, and creates a very efficient work triangle.  Using skylights, large windows, under-cabinet task lighting and light colors will help keep the kitchen bright.

G-Shaped/Peninsula Kitchen – This type of kitchen shape is becoming very popular, as it gives you a fourth wall or peninsula to use.  It is usually not suitable for a very small kitchen because there may not be room for the fourth leg.  The G-shape is especially nice if you have more than one cook in the house. The fourth wall section can be used for extra counter space, a cleanup zone, a cooktop, or added seating.

Galley Kitchen – Often called the corridor style, the galley kitchen design is more common in apartments or in smaller homes. Cabinets and appliances can be located on opposite walls for easy work flow.  Placing the range or cooktop on one side of the kitchen along one wall and the refrigerator and sink on the opposite wall also allows better flow.

Single-Wall Kitchen – If you have very little space for anything but a single-wall kitchen, try to place the sink between the refrigerator and the stove for added efficiency. Locate the refrigerator so that the door opens away from the kitchen sink. This is a very common layout for small kitchens with narrow spaces.

The Work Triangle

Whichever layout you choose, it’s important to also follow the basic “work triangle” method in kitchen design.  This is a triangle formed between the sink, refrigerator and stove/oven with no more than 9’ between two areas, and no less than 4’. For more info, check out this condensed view of NKBA guidelines for kitchen space planning around the work triangle.

Cabinets and Lighting in a Small Kitchen

For extra storage, install tall kitchen cabinets that extend to the ceiling, placing the items you use less often on the top shelves. Built-in or fitted cabinets can increase available storage. There are also an abundance of cabinet accessories available that can help you store your kitchen essentials more efficiently.

Both natural and artificial lighting are important in creating the illusion of a larger, brighter kitchen. The best setup involves “light layering” where accent, ambient and task lighting are combined; this can be done inexpensively.  See our recent blog post on choosing the right lighting for your kitchen design to learn more.

These are just a few tips when considering a redesign of your small space to make it as efficient and clutter-free as possible.  Which floor plan fits best with your available square footage and kitchen orientation?

From left: Wendy Albee, Christine Fortenberry, Kimmi Houston (accepting for Meegan Holman), and Melanie Spurgeon accept their Professional Women in Building “Women of the Future” grants.

This January, during the International Builders’ Show, I had the honor of meeting four extraordinary women during the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) Professional Women in Building Awards Luncheon.  Not only did I get the chance to learn about each of these women, but because Merillat is a Diamond sponsor of the NAHB, I got to present them with “Women of the Future” grants.

As a Diamond sponsor of the NAHB, one of Merillat’s proudest contributions is helping to further the education of women in all aspects of the building industry, including business owners, marketing experts, interior designers and mortgage brokers. And with a “Women of the Future” grant, recipients can go on to further their careers by obtaining certifications or continuing their education.  This is especially important as women are increasingly becoming major players in an industry that has historically been dominated by men.

The 2010 grant winners are no exception to the drive needed to succeed in a business that has seen some hard times recently.  The following are just a fraction of their stories:

Wendy Albee, owner of Albee Interior Design in Bothell, Wash., started her career in the building industry when she moonlighted as an interior designer.  She eventually began doing it full time, and in 2001 founded her own company. Wendy is receiving more and more questions about energy efficiency and indoor air quality, so to better serve her clients she’s using her grant to obtain a Certified Green Professional (CGP) certificate.

Christine Fortenberry operated a home building business in the Atlanta area for 36 years, but in 2007, when the credit market collapsed, she lost the business and found herself starting over. This is when she decided to pick herself up and redefine herself as a residential general contractor, and started Fortenberry Construction Services. In her new company she noticed a shift in the way people looked at homes; they want to be close to their jobs, to remodel instead of build and they want their homes to accommodate multiple generations. Christine plans to use this knowledge, along with her grant, to obtain a light commercial designation on her general contractor’s license.  This will allow her to expand her services to include town homes, apartments and other structures up to five stories.

Meegan Holman credits the growth of her plumbing business, AKC Plumbing in Noble, Okla., to the growth of the central Oklahoma market as well as her company’s dedication to providing outstanding service. From the beginning, Meegan wanted the company to be more than just a plumbing contractor, but a partner to their customers.  And in order to better serve her customers she’s using her grant to obtain a CGP certificate.  Meegan says she’s trying to stay ahead of the game when it comes to green building and be the company people think of when they need help.

Melanie Spurgeon of Peoria, Ill., says becoming a builder was almost a birthright.  Her grandfather was a builder, and she spent many childhood days at construction sites. It’s no surprise that when she grew up she started her business, Design Built Homes. A few years ago, Melanie’s grandmother fell in her home, causing injuries from which she never recovered.  It is because of that event Melanie became interested in aging in place and safety for the elderly.  This is why she’s using her grant to obtain a Certified Aging in Place Specialist (CAPS) certificate.

Merillat is proud to recognize the commitment of these women to increasing their knowledge and involvement in the building industry; and I personally wish them all the very best.