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What's New:
You can select that favorite wine rack to suite your taste and decorate your modern house. Umbra offers several very interesting and modern designs.
Loopsey wine rack is made of clear acrylic in shape of blooming flower. Holds 6 bottles and sells for $215.
Cru combines several circular shapes with different attachment points so they can be configured to create exactly what you want. Price is $180
Vinello wine rack is a single ribbon of painted steel, rolled and fastened to create quite an elegant shape. Holds 7 wine bottles and is priced at just $105. Also comes in red.
Other wine racks,
Wine knot wine rack
Wine rack by Radius Design
Flexible wine rack
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The DeLonghi Icona range of small appliances is inspired by the glamour of 1950’s Italy, bringing a touch of old world glamour to any kitchen. All Icona appliances have a unique 3 layer high gloss paint finish, chrome detailing and a solid quality build. In this range, DeLonghi offers a rapid boil 3 kW cordless kettle, a traditional pump espresso maker and a 4- or 2-slice stainless steel toaster. Available in several finishes.
Icona electric kettle has 1.7 litre capacity and conveniently sits on its 360° swivel base which also stores the cord. DeLonghi incorporated a water level indicator, flat stainless steel concealed element, removable and washable scale filter and twin neon power ON lights. The kettle also has non-slip feet and triple-level safety protection including auto shutoff when water starts boiling as well as thermal cutoff and auto shutoff when kettle is lifted from the base. Price is £50.
The 1.8 kW DeLonghi Icona 4-slice toaster comes with electronic controls offering Reheat, Defrost, Bagel and Cancel options – all with neon indicator. Features are extra lift position, variable browning controls and extra deep crumb tray. Price is £60 while the 2-slice model sells for [...]
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 The choices available when choosing kitchen cabinets can sometimes be overwhelming and it is difficult to know where to start.
On top of this, there are a number of terms and descriptions used to classify cabinets styles and manufacturing techniques.
Listed below are some of the more common terms used when buying cabinets, and it is hoped that this list will be added to in the near future.
Overlay:
The term overlay refers to how the door covers the frame of the cabinet. There are basically two different types of overlays.
Standard-overlay means you see the frame around the door and full-overlay means that the door covers the frame. In essence the door is larger on a full overlay cabinet.
Thermal-Foil:
Thermal-foil is a vinyl that is applied over a MDF (medium density fiberboard) door using a heat process. It is used for white or off-white doors. It is very easy to clean and is durable.
MDF Door:
MDF doors are made of medium density fiberboard, which can be routed into a raised panel design. They can be thermal-foiled, stained or painted in a solid color.
The advantage of choosing a MDF door as opposed to a constructed wood door when [...]
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 If you choose wood, you have the choice of solid wood or wood veneer. The latter is cheaper and is less influenced by weather conditions.
The humidity and temperature outside have an effect on your solid wooden kitchen doors, but the biggest influence comes from the changes in temperature and humidity in the kitchen.
Veneer can also give a more uniform look to the fronts (if this is what you want) as the pieces of wood used are cut from a larger piece in thin strips to cover all the doors.
Wood itself is available in all kinds of colors, but it can also be glossed, painted, colour washed or waxed to give it the finish you prefer. Look at the pictures on this site and on the Internet for more ideas and examples.
Cabinet Woods
Pine:
Has a casual, rustic look, some graining, color variation and knotholes. It is the softest of cabinet woods, so hinges may need to be tightened periodically as they tend to pull out of the wood after use.
Oak:
Has a casual look, a lot of graining and an even color tone when stained. It is a very hard wood and looks great [...]
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 There are a number of options when choosing a cabinet material, some of the most popular are, wood, laminate, and metal.
Each has its advantages and disadvantages and it is worth spending some time researching the numerous options.
Wood doors are covered in the next section due the the large number of combinations of styles and colors available.
Laminate
Laminate cabinet doors can have endless possibilities in color, texture and shine.
You can go for a soft look with creamy colours and a matt finish, or, if you want to make a real statement, choose Italian-style with glossy fronts and bold colors.
A great advantage of laminate cabinets is that they are virtually maintenance-free. Wood is a natural product and prone to changes in temperature and humidity and needs a lot of care, but laminate only needs to be wiped clean occasionally.
Laminate doors suffer from a lot less wear and tear than laminate countertops and should stay looking good for a long time.
Glass
Large expanses of wood or laminate in a kitchen can look good sometimes but if you want to break up the monotony, glass doors can be used every now and again. Transparent glass is used [...]
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What’s new on ConsumerReports.org: September 2009 home-related content
 Summer got off to a slow start in much of the U.S., but some features
in our just-posted September issue will pay dividends during the dog
days of August and far into the upcoming year and beyond.
• Freezers are hot. Freezers have been the only appliance to post sales gains this year, and federal, state, and local utility incentives make it even easier to trade your old clunker for an efficient new model. Our latest report on freezers
found that upright models were more convenient than chest-type models.
But upright models also cost more, and during our tests manual-defrost
upright models couldn’t keep a consistent temperature in door shelves.
Our ratings (available to subscribers)
include four excellent chest-type models ranging from 0 to 0. (A
downside to these models is that you’ll have to bend to reach the Ben
& Jerry’s.) Recommended upright standouts cost from 0 to 0.
• Safer, better cookware. As our latest report on cookware
shows, nonstick sets from Emeril and Calphalon provided good
performance and value for under 0. Testers also found [...]
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PartSelect.com is pleased to announce the launch of its Paint Your Appliance Pink contest which runs from July 1, 2009 – September 1, 2009. Contestants can enter to win 1 of 3 Pink Prize Packages valued at 9.97 and help PartSelect donate up to ,000 to Breast Cancer Research.
Breast Cancer is the second most common form of cancer and the second leading cause of death in women. It is so common that 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime.
For each valid contest entry received, PartSelect will donate .00 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, up to a maximum of ,000.
The contest is easy to enter. Simply paint a pink ribbon on any major home appliance and send a photo of it to PartSelect. The ribbon can be located anywhere on the appliance and only needs to be big enough to be visible in the photo. A valid entry consists of one pink ribbon painted on one major appliance. Contestants can enter once per appliance.
Each contestant will be entered into 3 monthly draws to win 1 of 3 Pink Prize Packages valued at 9.97. The Pink Prize Packages consist of a Pink [...]
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Now you’ve chosen the design of your kitchen cabinets and worktops, the next thing is to choose the materials and the colors of your walls.
The most common materials for the kitchen walls are paint, wallpaper and tiles.
Paint
Paint is the cheapest and fastest way to transform the feeling of your kitchen, however, you need to have good surfaces to paint on (i.e. no holes or cracks which will show through the paint).
If your walls aren’t smooth enough, then you can line the walls with lining paper first (a special kind of wallpaper), and paint on top of that. There are also many decorative and faux paint finishes that look good in the kitchen (and which you can do yourself). Talk to your designer about this.
Wallpaper
Regular wallpaper is a more expensive option than paint but it can give just a little more character as it comes in a large variety of patterns as well as colors. When you use wallpapers and paints for your kitchen walls make sure these are specially made for the kitchen as these will be more resistant to humidity and will be easy to clean.
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Tiles
Adding colorful tiles to the backsplash of a [...]
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There are so many choices where cabinets are concerned, such as the door materials, style, color, frames, etc., and so much variation in price that the whole area can be confusing at times.
Hopefully, this section should give you a good place to start.
You may also want to consider the option of having your cabinets refaced. You will be surprised at the results you can achieve by doing this, and also how inexpensive it is, especially if you can find a good deal with a reputable company.
Definitely check it out first, get some quotes and see if makes sense for you. There are plenty of good cabinet refacing advice sites out there, for example, this one.
Cabinet Manufacturing Classifications
The first decision when selecting cabinets is whether to go for stock cabinets, semi-custom, custom units or frameless cabinets. All have their own advantages and disadvantages.
There are the three basic classifications of cabinet manufacturing: Stock, Semi-Custom & Custom, and this can be further subdivided into Framed and Frameless. Pricing will vary depending on your layout, the manufacturer, wood, finish, door style and the interior accessories you select.
Stock
Lowest price range.
Limited selection of door styles, woods and stain colors. [...]
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With so many choices in materials, appliances and accessories, sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start when choosing the components that make up your new kitchen.
A good designer should be able to point you in the right direction and sites such as this can give you some good hints, tips and ideas, but ultimately the choice of kitchen style is entirely up to you.
If you have any questions about kitchen design that are not covered in these pages then visit our Kitchen Design Guide site here.
Planning
Obviously, planning is the first and most important part of buying a new kitchen.
The main steps involved are usually the following:
List the reasons you want to remodel, or the problems with your current kitchen. These can be such things as:
old cabinets
limited storage
old style
too cramped
Measure it fully and accurately. Remember to include the following:
the width of all windows and doors
the position of the window or door from the corners of the room
the height of the bottom of the windows above the floor
the height of the ceiling
the height, width and depth of the appliances you want to keep
the height, width and depth of the appliances you intend to buy
the [...]
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