Color Blocking in Kitchens and Beyond

We all know when it comes to home décor, form follows fashion. So no big surprise that ever since color blocking returned to the fashion runway a couple of years ago, the trend is now showing up in a big way in kitchens and other rooms of the house. Not just for clothes anymore – it has moved from haute couture ateliers to our homes and can be transformative whether its with bold or subtle splashes of geometric color. Depending on your taste, you can go with dazzling color combinations or stick with blending neutral tones.

If you really want to make a strong statement go wild, even neon if you dare, but remember the design can turn overwhelming if there are too many dazzling shades competing for attention. While it’s okay to pair three intense colors, the safest formula that guarantees harmony and good balance is “one bright, one bold, one neutral.” The combination should attract attention, but remain easy on the eye.

Above, a 

kabi

kitchen blends three different colors with ease by balancing the bold orange statement with two neutrals. In an open floor plan it works as the perfect visual centerpiece.

Sometimes all it takes is that one splash of bright color combined with white to add a welcome punch to your kitchen design. This kabi kitchen gets lots of notice in a long narrow duplex.

For a more subtle effect keep everything within the same color family such as blending mint cream, pistachio and sea green. You can also use colors from different families, where two could be neutrals and one could be a brighter shade or just go with two neutrals.

A high gloss laminate with silver accents grounds this kabi kitchen while the white upper cabinets serve to keep things light and airy. A great example of color blocking with a light touch.

Beyond the kitchen there are lots of fun ways to incorporate color blocking in your home. Dress up neutral sofas with a set of bright throw pillows in contrasting hues.

Or try adding color to a bedroom or bathroom with color-blocked curtains. The latter can really make a difference to an all white bathroom.

Denver Life Show House--Worth a Visit!

I had the opportunity to get a sneak peek at the Denver Life 2015 Designer Show House and it is a beautiful home filled with lots of terrific architecture, design and decorating ideas. Featuring 15 spaces designed by 13 interior design firms the 4,700 square foot home is well worth a visit. Located at 1535 S. Clayton the home makes a welcoming, contemporary statement in the Cory-Merrill neighborhood.

Brad Liber of Caliber Construction is a co-sponsor of the event as well as a kabi client.  To that end we were delighted when Brad and his design associate, Caylin Engle, specified kabi cabinets for just about every room in the house from the mudroom and kitchen to the laundry room and all the bathrooms.

The house is open to the public June 1-14 from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm daily. All proceeds from the $15 entrance fee go directly to the benefit of Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver. Be sure and stop by and support this worthy cause and take home some great ideas for your own habitat.

Good looking dining room storage and white kitchen cabinets with a high gloss finish meld beautifully with the decor selected by local designers at the Denver Life 2015 Designer Show House.

Conveniently located off the garage, the mudroom includes a place to sit down, remove and stow shoes, and even a handy water bowl for the family dog.

Boulder Kitchen Tour

If you are looking for some great ideas for your new home or an upcoming kitchen remodel be sure to sign on for the Boulder Dreams Kitchen kitchen tour this weekend.

10 am - 4 pm Saturday, April 25th

12 pm - 4 pm Sunday April 26th

This year kabi is proud to be sponsoring a beautiful home that features not only our kitchen cabinets but a sophisticated entertainment and bar area in keeping with the mid-century modern remodel. Located at 450 Japonica Way the kitchen went from dark and imposing to light and bright with a high degree of functionality. It showcases elegant, frameless European-style cabinets and features clever storage solutions including a pantry with roll out drawers, a sliding spice cabinet and deep drawers for stowing pots and pans.

For more information go to:  www.ihaveadreamboulder.org

There are a total of eight homes on the tour and tickets can be purchased at the first home on the map:  3325 9th Street.  All proceeds benefit the "I Have A Dream Foundation" of Boulder County.

Here's a sneak peek at the kitchen and please come by to see and learn more. Look forward to seeing you this weekend!

Kitchen overall

The award-winning “I Have a Dream” Foundation of Boulder County is celebrating it’s 25th year of serving Boulder County youth. It has helped 780 children from low-income areas achieve their education and career goals by providing long-term personal and academic support, tutoring, mentoring and four-year tuition-assistance scholarships to each graduating student. The organization sponsors entire groups of students from elementary schools, or from low-income housing sites and works with these children and their families through college. 

Inside the Mayor's Design Awards

What Are the Mayor's Design Awards?

Since 2005, the Mayor's Design Awards have been presented to Denver homeowners, business owners, nonprofits, artists and others for their creative contributions to the public realm through innovative design. Winners range from public street art to adaptive reuse of historic structures to tactical urbanism to new community gathering places. Each brings something special to Denver’s unique visual fabric and speaks to the city's collective commitment to building healthy, sustainable communities.

Category:  This is Home

The winner in this category embraced the eclectic style of the emerging River North community. A small, uniquely designed structure it is at home among the industrial- and mixed-use developments that dot the neighborhood but also easily recognizable as a home itself. 

Recognition for kabi

When the homeowners were asked to designate project participants who contributed to making their vision a reality they selected kabi (we were still called General Casework when the project began) as one of the key players. In addition to the kitchen cabinets and master bathroom vanity kabi designed a built in wall unit in the living room and a contemporary storage unit for the dining room.

Certificate of Recognition 

An overall shot of the kitchen in the award-winning house

A close up view of the three different cabinet fronts that work so beautifully together

Convenient built in storage

The master bath room vanity

Command Central

Who doesn't want to be more organized? Whether you fly solo, share life with a significant other, or are running a full on family with kids, dogs, gerbils, etc., everyone has bills to pay, appointments to track, menus to plan, places to go and things to do. Not surprisingly the kitchen continues to trend as the logical place to set up a command post to handle all those day-to-date chores.

So whether your kitchen is in the planning stage or you're working on a remodel consider allotting space for a built in desk where you can work on your computer while you're waiting for the rice to cook.  Include some drawer space for keeping office supplies and notecards handy, and maybe a place to hang a bulletin board for posting invitations and notices of things like school events. Here are some fun examples to inspire you.

For a couple with two young boys kabi helped design a compact work station conveniently tucked around the corner from the main kitchen and dining area.

This kitchen office is intentionally located out of the main cooking and food prep zone.

Small on space but packed with functionality this work station includes open shelving to keep everything at your fingertips.

This office area blends seamlessly with the rest of the kitchen.

Having It All

Considering how much time you spend in the kitchen it is the one room where having all the things you want to make life easier and fun just makes sense. Certainly that was the case for one Denver couple who loves to entertain but also wanted a central gathering place where their two young sons could hang out with the ease. For them having it all meant a beautiful, sophisticated backdrop with lots of hard working storage and a cozy banquette for informal family meals. A combination of kabi laminate and acrylic cabinets, and kabi custom features like spice drawers, sliding drawer storage for linens and serving pieces, a coffee station, and a place to hide the TV among other things gave them just that. Feel free to use their example to start a kitchen wish list of your own.

Marble on the center island provides a touch of elegance, and refrigerator panels create continuity.

Drawers on either side of the stove include places for storing spices and other cooking essentials.

The built in buffet includes handy storage for utensils, linens and serving pieces.   The upper cabinets open to reveal a flat screen television.

The banquette is constructed from a kabi laminate that complements the surrounding wall.

A convenient computer nook provides a place for  paying bills or  looking up recipes.

Cups and other coffee making accoutrement are stashed in a drawer below the built in coffee maker.  When it's time for  that morning pick me up the shelf slides out to create a coffee making area,

The Morning After

If your weekend involved boiling, dyeing, hiding and finding lots of eggs then you are undoubtedly wondering what to do with that surplus of brightly colored hard boiled eggs staring out at you from the fridge this morning. Good news is there are lots of delicious ways to recycle the by product of your family's creative Easter endeavors. If the eggs were colored using dye, just remember to peel them carefully. 

Curried Egg salad Sandwiches

Ingredients

• 
  8 large eggs
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 4 slices pumpernickel bread
• 4 large leaves of bibb lettuce

Pressed Summer Sandwich With Eggs and Anchovies

Ingredients

• 
  1 12-ounce round crusty bread, sliced in half horizontally
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 teaspoons capers
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, loosely packed
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
• 3 anchovies or 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 medium orange bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved 
• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 2/3 cup black olives, pitted and quartered 
• 6 hard-cooked eggs, sliced in half lengthwise
• 
  
• Hollow out the bread by removing most of the inside crumb. Reserve 1/2 cup of the crumb for the filling. Place the olive oil, capers,parsley, garlic, pepper, and anchovies (or salt) in a food processor. Process until the garlic is finely chopped, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Add the bell pepper,tomatoes, onion, olives, and the reserved bread filling. Toss to combine.Layer half the mixture in the bottom half of the hollowed-out bread. Top with the hard-cooked eggs and the remaining mixture. Replace the top of the loaf. Wrap the filled loaf with plastic wrap. Weigh it down with a heavy object, such as a cast-iron skillet filled with cans. Place it in the refrigerator. Let sit at least 10 hours or overnight. Before serving, cut the loaf into 6 wedges with a sharp bread knife.

Classic Deviled Eggs

Ingredients
12 hard boiled eggs
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons yellow mustard
2 teaspoons sweet relish
Salt
Pepper
Paprika, for dusting
Directions


Separate egg yolks and place into a bowl. Place whites on a separate plate. Add mayo, mustard, relish and salt and pepper, to taste, to yolks and mash together with a fork until creamy and smooth. Using a large star tip and resealable plastic bag, pipe the yolk mixture back into each egg, enough to fill yolk holes completely. Dust tops with paprika. Refrigerate. Serve cold.

Or for a twist, try making these with spinach and parmesan cheese.

Ingredients:
Yield: 24
5 ounces packages frozen chopped spinach, cooked,cooled,drained and squeezed dry,finely chopped
12 hardboiled egg, peeled and cut in half
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup mayonnaise
pepper, to suit taste
Directions:
1.  Remove yolks from the eggs and mash, Combine with the finely chopped spinach, cheese, nutmeg,dash of pepper Stir in the milk& mayo, mix well.

2.  Spoon a well rounded tbsp of the mixture into each half egg, cover& chill until serving (up to 24 hours).

Spring Fling

Okay, so maybe you're not on some great spring break vacation in Mexico or Hawaii. That doesn't mean you can't bring a little of that springtime excitement into your own home.  Certainly there's nothing like a huge bouquet of tulips or daffodils on the kitchen table to make you hopeful that summer is on the way.  But we think bathrooms are the perfect place to try out color and be a little daring. Maybe something like a hot pink chandelier over the tub in the master suite or painting one wall a sunny yellow and adding in some bright accessories to match.

At the kabi showroom we just introduced this new eye catching vanity that's guaranteed to add pizzazz to any bath setting and bring a smile in any season.  If turquoise isn't your thing, these drawer and door fronts are available in an array of colors and finishes to complement any style or setting.

The Wearing of the Green

Where did 2013 go?  We were just embracing Emerald Green, Pantone's Color of Last Year, when along comes 2014 and Radiant Orchid starts grabbing all the attention. But with St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner we’ve decided to pay homage to the past and hang onto our affection for the lush, lively green tone a bit longer.  Regardless of the time of year we think these items add a fun punch of color to any kitchen.

The perfect pot for making corned beef and cabbage, a dutch oven is a handy pot to have in your kitchen; it goes from stove top to oven without any worry. Find it on Amazon.

Great for mixing cake batter or whipping up fresh cream, a hand mixer is a budget conscious and space saving investment. Find it on Amazon.

Most measuring cups come in the basic white or black, but that seems boring for an item that many people use everyday. Available at Pier 1.

Colcannon (Mashed Potatoes and Cabbage)

This traditional Irish favorite tastes great any time of year.

Ingredients 

Original recipe makes 8 servings

• 3 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 4 slices bacon, chopped
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 head cabbage, sliced into thin strips
• 1/2 cup water
• salt and ground pepper to taste
• 2 cups fully cooked ham, cut into bite sized pieces

1. Place potatoes into a large pot and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil, set heat to medium-low, and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain potatoes and transfer to a large mixing bowl.
2. Stir milk, mayonnaise, and butter into potatoes. Mash with a potato masher until smooth.
3. Cook and stir bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until fat is rendered, 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Stir onion, garlic, and cayenne pepper into bacon and drippings and cook, stirring often, until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.
5. Stir cabbage and water into onion mixture until cabbage is wilted, about 5 more minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.
6. Fold cabbage mixture into mashed potatoes.
7. Cook and stir ham pieces in the same skillet used for cabbage mixture until lightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes.
8. Stir cooked ham into mashed potato and cabbage mixture until combined.

Seeing Red

It's Valentine's Day and "a young man's (and young woman's) thoughts of fancy lightly turn to love. " For some people that means hearts and red roses but at kabi we have visions of red acrylic dancing in our heads.  Who needs flowers when you can come home to this bright, cheery kitchen with glossy red cabinets?